bruises // heathers

two // the yellow lady

"Where are we gonna stay?" Asked Elle, after her and her mother had been driving for a few minutes in silence again.

"Well, first things first, I'd like to see some of my old friends. We'll probably stay at one of their houses tonight and look for a house for rent tomorrow." Veronica answered, pulling into the driveway of a small yellow house.

"Who lives here?" Elle asked but her mother didn't answer, she simply stared at the nice little cottage painted a delicate shade of yellow. She straightened out her clothes and smoothed her hair before stepping out of the blue station wagon and telling Elle to follow her.

Veronica took a deep breath and walked up to the house, Elle trailing behind. The two walked up to the door. But Veronica didn't move, she was frozen, so the small hand of her daughter reached up and knocked on the white door. Quickly enough, before Veronica had the chance to scold her daughter, a woman came to the door. The woman wore a cotton yellow sundress. She had dirty blonde hair and big brown eyes that were the color of chocolate.

"Veronica?" The yellow lady asked, to which Elle's mother nodded hesitantly. The look on her face was a grimace, she was regretting coming here. "Come in,"

Veronica and Elle followed the yellow lady inside to see that her living room was also yellow, with yellow furniture. Elle had never seen so much yellow in one space before, but her mother had. Her mother was friends with the yellow lady.

"What are you doing back in town?" The yellow lady asked, sitting down on her yellow chair and motioning for her guests to sit as well.

"I got a job opportunity." Veronica explained to her friend.

"That's great, I've missed you so much!" The yellow lady exclaimed. "Oh, I'm being so rude! This is Giselle, right?" The lady asked, to which Elle nodded softly.

"Ellie, this is my friend from high school, Heather." Veronica told Elle, who gasped at the name Heather.

"You know, Elle, you look so much like your mom it's crazy. But I also see a lot of your dad in you." Heather smiled at the young girl.

"Really?" Elle asked, excitedly. No one ever had the opportunity to mention her father to her, and when they did, they didn't say she looked like him.

"Totally!" Heather beamed.

"My mom doesn't tell me anything about my dad! Were you friends with him?" Elle asked, not noticing Heather cringe a little.

"Heather, can we not talk about him?" Veronica asked, interrupting Heather who was about to start talking more.

"Oh don't be a pillowcase, Veronica." Came another voice, entering the house without knocking and listening before making herself known.

"Heather?" Veronica asked, whipping her head around to see the girl decked out in green again.

"Who else would it be?" The green Heather asked, rolling her eyes dramatically and walking over to crouch down in front of Elle. "Oh she does look like—"

"We are not talking about him!" Veronica yelled in a shrill voice, panicked at the idea of her daughter figuring out anything about her father.

"Um, Elle?" The yellow Heather got the young girl's attention. "Why don't you go upstairs? Our girls are up there actually."

"How are your girls?" Veronica asked her two friends.

"They're fine." The green Heather answered in a snappy tone, she hated the fact that she had ended up pregnant in her senior year of high school. She hated that Heather did as well, more.

"Here, I'll take you to go meet them, Elle." The yellow Heather smiled, standing up and beginning up the stairs with Elle trailing behind her, weary to be away from her mother.

"Mom, who's this?" Asked a tall brunette girl.

"My friend Veronica, from high school, is moving back to town. This is her daughter Giselle." Heather explained. "Be nice." She warned before hurrying back down the stairs, leaving Elle with the two other girls.