At my parents place for a couple days, back in my old room, surrounded by Paramore posters. It made me feel a little nostalgic for the good old days of listening to Renegade, writing Tayley stories, and talking to my friends. You can't dwell on nostalgia too long, but I think I'm in the sweet spot right now; where I miss the old days, but I still want to keep moving forward. The community once present is dormant now, perhaps one day it will return, and my nostalgia will turn into hope. - H

~~~~~

Hayley's POV

A kind of caramelized hazel. Rather intimidating as they seemed to be very pointed, but with kind undertones. He didn't seem to care much about me or anything really. As the weird lady dragged me towards the dining room we broke eye contact. She told me about the house. The year it was built, when her and her husband bought it, how they started an orphanage for children of abuse so they wouldn't have to go into the "corrupt foster care system", it was all very noble, but very boring. And as nice as she was, all I wanted was to be locked in a room alone. That wasn't what happened though, as the last stop on my tour was "my room", where two little girls sat on beds smiling at me.

"Hayley," the woman smiled "this is Melanie and Violet, they'll be your roommates. We didn't think it'd be good to leave you on your own."

It would've been perfect, actually. I just tried to nod, not so much smile. The girls smiled at me.

"We're gonna have so much fun!" The Melanie girl smiled.

"We can have tea parties!" Violet smiled.

The lady smiled and looked at me "see! It'll be great! I'm gonna start preparing dinner, you girls get to know each other."

She left. The girls looked at me with expectant smiles as I sat carefully on the bed deemed mine. I didn't say anything I just played with the tattered laces of my shoes. They tried to ask questions, and coax me into answering, but I wasn't born yesterday, I knew what would happen.

"So...." Melanie said. I just continued playing with my laces silently.

"Ooh I know!" Violet smiled "I'll go get some of Daphne's makeup and we can give each other makeovers!"

Melanie smiled and nodded vigorously. No, no, GOD NO! The girls got up and ran off to get the makeup. Needed a plan, now! I looked around, my heart beating fast, on the verge of a panic attack. Closet! Yes! A closet, I hurried over and shut the door. I felt around the top of the door frame until I found a key! I locked the door from the inside. Finally, alone, safe.

I heard the door open, then their voices wondering where I went. I just cowered in the corner of my decided safe space. I jumped and my heart almost stopped when there was a knock on the closet door.

"Hayley?" Melanie's voice asked softly. I didn't respond.

"I knew she was a weirdo..." Violet said.

I looked down at my shoes, that hurt, but she was right. I was a weirdo, a mistake, a loser. That's why dad did what he did. I didn't deserve to speak or be spoken to.

"Don't say that!" Melanie hissed at her "Hayley she was just kidding." She said to me.

I sighed and just stayed where I was, I don't know how long for, must've been a few hours. My stomach started to growl and ache. I slowly and carefully unlocked and opened the door. It was dark, and the girls were in their beds asleep. I crept carefully along the floor. Until I made it to the door, squeezing myself through the narrow crack that was left.

I made my way down to the kitchen and began my quest for food eagerly. I had a granola bar this morning, that was it. I searched cupboards and shelves.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped and turned, seeing a dark figure with a bat. I looked around for an exit but there wasn't one, this was it, I could feel hot tears endlessly streaming down my cheeks. The figure stepped into the light and laid the bat down. It was the curly haired boy from earlier.

"Hey, it's just me taylor, I'm not gonna hurt you." He said softly, I relaxed slightly. "Hungry?" He asked, and I nodded my head eagerly. He looked at the clock and sighed, but bent down reaching to the back of a cupboard, pulling out a box of cereal.

"Don't let any of the other kids know about where I hide things, alright?" He said seriously. I nodded as he began preparing our impromptu meal. He put some of the cereal in a couple plastic cups and poured in some milk. I raised an eyebrow. He handed me the cup.

"It's 'cereal in a cup'." He said as I stared at the cup in his hand. He sighed, "It's what you do when it's 4am and you can't get into the cupboard with the bowls without waking your potentially angry parents." I still stared at his hand. "Unless, of course, you'd rather have left-over meatloaf?" I know the look on my face was bad, appebtly amusing as he looked at me and let out a soft chuckle, I'd never seen him smile like that before. It was....calming to me, for some reason. I reached out and took the cup. I swirled my spoon before taking a bite of the sugary cereal. It was quite possibly the best thing I'd ever had.

"Good?" He smiled, I allowed myself to smile and nod. "You'd probably love the chocolate frosted Cheerios, they're rad." I felt a blush take over my face as I smiled again. Anything he thought was rad must be.

He smiled at me and we stood across from each other, quietly eating from our cups. The silence was nice, comfortable. It was the first time all day I wasn't questioned. He didn't expect me to talk, and didn't seem interested in forcing me to. When we finished he helped me take care of my dishes and his, and we both went upstairs to our mutual rooms. I crawled into the small bed across from Melanie's, and actually slept peacefully for the first time in a long time.