And Then She Stopped

chapter one

Maya Hart. I think, if at all possible- and if it was Maya would definitely be the one to make it possible, had too much heart. I think, she'd had so much of her heart taken away and she spent so much time giving her heart away that she didn't have any leftover for herself. I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end, even if it was just for a little while, but I... I think I stole some of it too. And I'm sorry for that. I'll never be able to say how sorry I am.

Her bedroom was composed of rustic elements like the stains in her mattress and the crack running entirely across her ceiling. To any average person this room, this apartment, this neighborhood, would seem to be an environment incapable of providing a suitable shelter and stability for any human being. However – anyone living in this neighborhood wasn't there for the shelter or stability, they're all here because they have nowhere else to go.

Most of the people here hated it, the American dream was most definitely not living in a building that looks older than America itself. Regardless of their thoughts or even their actions the people who lived here were categorized as the "runts of New York". Fancy people in their fancy cars only drove through here on rare occasion but when they did they'd always roll up their windows. It isn't fair, but neither is life- or death for that matter.

Maya, despite everyone else's opinions, loved it here. "Loved" may be too strong of a word for the situation, but – in spite of what she led others to believe - Maya always tried to seek the best of everything. There was so much bad in her life that if she stopped running away from it all for even a second, she would be completely engulfed in darkness.

She lay on her back, gazing at the crack in the ceiling, waiting for her alarm to go off. As always at this time, she was fully dressed and ready for the day. There was so little for her to do to get ready she was always finished before it was even time to wake up. Maya never had the money to buy makeup to put on, her mom couldn't afford the extra electricity for her to curl her hair, they never had any food, and quite frankly she didn't have enough clothes to spend an hour picking out an outfit.

When her phone, the phone given to her by Mr. Matthews, started beeping at 6:00 (am of course) she slid the alarm off, slipped the phone into her pocket, and left for her walk to Riley's place.

Riley's parents, unlike Maya's mom, had good jobs with decent pay. If you were to compare the two different living situations Riley lived like royalty – and yes, often it bothered Maya how much she took it all for granted.

Just like every other day Maya came in through Riley's window, which never seemed to be closed. Riley hated her room, she felt she was too old for the teddy bears and purple painted walls. Maya – however- loved Riley's room, because there wasn't a crack on the ceiling, mold in the corner, and stains on the mattress of her bed (the origins of which are entirely unknown). She tried her best not to think about all of this though, she couldn't stop running. She couldn't let all of those emotions catch up to her.

"Mornin' sunshine!" She said, lying next to Riley, who was still in bed. Riley turned to face her with a smile.

"Peaches."

"It's time to wake up, darling the day isn't waiting for you to start!" They both sighed, and laughed. They did this every morning but it was something that they could never get tired of, like cake or pizza.

Riley got up and dressed and then they were both on their way down to the kitchen for breakfast. Topanga had laid out a plate of pancakes with a large selection of toppings. Maya took only 2 pancakes and dressed them with assorted fruits and whipped cream, even though all she wanted to do was eat all of the food on the table considering the breakfasts she ate with the Matthews was the only food she got for the entire day.