No one never listens, this wallpaper glistens
Don't let them see what goes down in the kitchen
Places, places, get in your places
Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces
Everyone thinks that we're perfect
Please don't let them look through the curtains
∞

I wake up before anyone else.

The room feels cold and everything looks grey. I don't know if it is disappointment over losing the cure, or disappointment over losing the offer. Either way I roll out of bed with no enthusiasm.

It is 5:30 in the morning. I trudge down the hallway to the staircase leading up to the third floor.

Since we moved to this house a month ago, I had been on the top floor only twice. There is guilt there, but I still climb the steps. These steps are different to the ones leading down stairs. Those ones are pristine carpet, but here there is nothing soft. Cold, sterile tiles coat the frame and make the whole journey feel entirely distant.

When I reach the top I face the room. Like a small apartment, there is a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom and a balcony.

And a bed.

Placed at the top of the room, surrounded by machines beeping and flashing in the morning dark, it looks anything but. Her blankets are not patterned like they were when she was little. 

Livinia is not the image of the girl she once was. Someone who loved to play and love; nothing like my cold self, Ellery's pessimism, Halos egotism. Livinia is the one who does not deserve it.

I stop a few yards from the bed, in the centre of the room. The sheets are white as are most things on this floor. Clean cut and cold as if my mother hoped the bareness would help. 

My baby sister is paler than us, being half caucasian. Her skin is dull, almost grey. Her hair is kept short for convenience. Her eyes are not the inhuman purple we have. I remember them being green like Reece's.

"Sorry," I whisper, the noise disappearing into the sterile-scented air. 

We contrast. I stand here in this silk pyjama set feeling sorry for myself. She lie there in a hospital gown, clinging to life when I know she'd just smile about it.

"I couldn't save you."

Sleeping wasn't an option. All I could do was think about every opportunity I had last night to get the potions. I could have apprehended them before I shut the machines off. I could have taken them before I elbowed Black Mask. I could have kept attacking him when he hit the crates. I should have been watching him. 

But I wasn't.

I run out of the room and back down those sterile stairs. I strip the silk away and throw it to the corner of the bathroom before I step into the shower. I blast the water on hot, so much so that my powers start to turn my skin to rock in order to protect me from the scalds.

Defiantly I stop them, keeping it skin, letting the water redden my back and shoulders.

This is it. I feel...stuck. 

Stuck in the truth. She can't die and I'll never be able to talk to Batman again. My mother will just know. 

I get out of the shower tender. I wince at the roughness of the towel against me and step out into my room, still dark from the sun not quite being up.

The house is still silent with everyone asleep. I don't want to face anyone who witnessed last night- Ellery included. School seems the safest option. I can drown in the popularity and everyone's praise and just forget for awhile.

And Tim. Tim will make me feel so much better.

My uniform hurts to put on but I ignore it. Livinia will suffer because of my mistakes, so do I not deserve the same?

With my ballet stuff and my schoolbag, I leave the house at 6:00.

In order to conceal the noise I decide to fly, taking the mid-air route so my mother hears no footsteps or rustling. It takes me three minutes to pick up my keys at the front door soundless before I finally get outside.

It's so early I can see my breath in the air. I ignore the cold as I hastily walk out of the front yard, just incase my mother senses something and looks outside. It's not like I haven't left early to go to Bambi's before, I'm just supposed to let her know first.

She'll figure it out.

I text Bambi, telling her to open the window when I cross her front yard on the corner of our street. I open the gate to the backyard and shut it behind me.

Their backyard looks so lived in. Not in a bad way though. Bambi has her parents, a younger brother and a younger sister. They're a nice Polynesian family. They go to the movies together, they eat pancakes on Sunday mornings, they go to the pier on Saturday nights. They have dinner with their Grandparents every Wednesday and the only time they do not watch evening television as a family is Fridays, because Bambi is with me.

The Hunting family were what one could consider perfect. Layla Hunting is an Obstetrician and Talmai Hunting owns a branch of gyms and physical health centres. They make their living by helping people.

Reece is known to absolutely destroy people in court. He used to be a divorce lawyer, but then he began his own diverse branch with two others and it is notorious for being very destructive. My mother's vanity which we all inherited resulted in her modelling and socialite career. She spends her days working on her line with her cosmetic company, occasionally modelling them and advertising for other brands.

They make their living out of their own evil.

"Why on this green Earth are you awake so early?" Bambi complains when she opens her window, hair half-done. I knew she'd be awake. Her parents wake up this early, so naturally she does too. 

It's...creepy. 

I shrug, "Couldn't sleep."

"Alright man," she waves me off, "Backdoor's open."

Even though sitting at their dinner table eating breakfast makes jealousy rear its head, I would rather be with someone else's family than my own.

◊

◊

"That was an over-reaction."

Sofia does not look impressed when she turns her head to glare over her shoulder at her eldest daughter. Halo slides the balcony door to Livinia's room shut. 

"The day I need your advice, I will let you know," her mother snaps coldly, turning back to face the yard. Halo merely snorts and kicks one of the chairs around to sit by her mother.

"You were not so... apprehensive when you found out I was out there wearing a mask."

That is true. When Halo revealed to her mother that in her senior year she was helping a team of young heroes find magical artefacts, that she fought a Lord of Chaos, that she watched a friend die...Sofia was floored.

So Halo moved cities to attend a different university.

"There is a difference," Sofia says, raising her cigarette to her lips, a habit only Halo knows of, "You told me years later. Those two have been running about-" 

Suddenly, her speaking halts.

Halo feels chills race down her spine, stomach dropping a little bit when she realises what her mother has caught on to. The woman's face shifts into a frown. With one elongated, sharp hand, she places the cigarette down on the balcony rail.

Her eyes are still cast out to the yard, but her demeanour reads something much more dark.

"Before you say anything," the scientist jumps in first, "I only helped them to keep them safe. I gave them tech, I gave them weapons, I gave them costumes- all so they could fight. I tested their powers, measured their restraint. And I... I told the Team about them."

Sofia's head snaps around to stare wildly at her daughter, "So it is is your fault they were in the house, trying to tell me that this team would be good for-"

"What exactly are you mad about? The Team was good for me. What makes you think they can't help them? Ellery might find her place there and Adelaide might loosen up a little!"

Sofia grips the armrest of her chair. Halo is surprised it doesn't give in to her strength when her mother leans forward, venom dripping from lowly spoken words.

"You became a scientist because I brought you to a country where it was possible," Sofia snaps, before standing up and kicking the seat backwards. 

The words are a knife twisting deep in Halo's gut. The complete and utter selfishness of her mother. The woman's exasperating arrogance paired with her constant incentive to pat herself on the back has been a long-time part of Jackson girls' lives.

{D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E // I see things that nobody else sees}

Halo does not let her get away with it. She rips open the door and chases her mother down the stairs.

"Your only advice to me when we got here was to find a rich boy. I did, and it sucked, so I became the rich one!" Sofia is already racing down the second flight of stairs when Halo reaches the middle floor. "I'm only a scientist because that Team showed me your advice was the worst I could have been given!"

Sofia's heels are heavier, sharper than the sound of Halo's boots. They reach the dining room and Halo realises her mother is heading for the garage to escape the house.

Defiant and unwilling to give up the chase she reaches across the table corner and brushes her mother's shoulder in an attempt to get her to turn around.

The touch causes Sofia to twist violently.

"You would speak to me like that? Put hands on me? After all this time!?" She shouts. Her arm raises, ready to swipe the yard between them. Halo recognises the familiar backhands which haunt her childhood. 

But she is no longer a child.

Before the hit can land, Halo clenches her fists, draws her arms in and two large, powerful white-feathered wings sprout from her back. Sofia stops in her movements, frozen with wide eyes boring into her daughters apparatus.

The girl basks in her span's glow for a few moments. It had been a while. Eventually she opens her eyes to stare at her mother.

"I was afraid of these because of you," she explains, voice tight from the painful memories. "You made me feel like a freak, you made Ellery feel worthless, you twisted Adelaide until she became as vain as you. You made us resent you and then you took away something that could fix them."

The volatile atmosphere simmers down to something stiff and awful, reminding both of a harder life in a worse city.

With angered, puffing breaths Halo draws her wings around her. Both women back away from each other, the younger continuing to move until she hits the front door.

Her wings disappear in a sparkling white puff of magic as she rips it open.

Halo leaves, Sofia cries.

◊

◊

Watching the fluidity of my movements to the husky tone of Lana Del Rey's voice is how I spend my afternoon at school.

Hip hop went smoothly. My duo with Lucas is still in waiting, so the group routine can be focused on. Ellery went down to the office to see the head of Performing Arts, so I thought I'd use the time to dance.

Because when I get home, I won't be able to spend any time in my studio. I'll have to barricade myself in my room, so the longer spent here, the less time I have at home.

The end of West Coast approaches. The whole dance is slow, but here in particular it is dramatically drawn out. Long, drifty movements as I spin around the room.

Emotion bleeds into every kick and flip. It is a sadder routine than usual. I created it a long time ago so I could find some sort of relief this way, every time despair crept into the week.

Around and around and around and suddenly there is a figure leaning against the wall by the door.

I stumble to a stop, staring at the smiling intruder. Instantly I feel at ease with that quirk of soft, thin lips.

The song finishes as I straighten up with a small mirth.

"How long have you been there?" I ask, placing my hands on my knees to catch my breath. I glance in the mirror; sweaty, but not dishevelled.

"Long enough to tell that something's wrong," Tim responds, holding that same small, fake smile.

"Clearly you're the one with the issue," I respond, catching my towel when he throws it to me. I walk over to the sound system and switch it off. "What's wrong with you?" 

Hastily to look at least a little bit cuter, I pat down my face and neck. 

Tim chuckles at my question as he willingly picks up my schoolbag alongside his own, "What do you mean?"

"You look like something's bothering you.Is it a Wayne thing? Or, something happening here at school?" I press as I head over to him. He squints like he's trying to figure out how to answer. I keep pushing, because I don't want him investigating what's happening to me.

"Neither," he decides on as we step out of the studio. I switch the light off and shut the door.

"Then what is it?"

"Nothing for you to worry about," he continues to smile, shaking his head.

I can't help but stare at him as we walk down the stairs. Tim has always hidden things from myself and the others, but he has never been so bad at it. It is blatantly obvious that something is wrong. And more importantly, why did he come up here to see me?

"Did you want something? How'd you know I was up there?" I try lightly, locking my hand in his. The school is mostly empty since the clubs have all finished.

"Oh," he gives a little awkward shrug like the question is strange to ask. "I was down the hallway and I heard the music. I assumed it was you."

"Oh," I echo him. I watch his face from the corner of my eye. He eventually loses that little smile as we move lower and lower through the school, expression becoming something more foreshadowing.

The emptiness of the whole interaction has me stopping on the step two up from the bottom. The door to the student carpark is right in front of us. Tim, hardly noticing, continues down to the floor until his hand slips from mine.

He turns around with a soft, still pretty frown. Those cerulean eyes flicker over my body with an expression that looks a lot like wonder, but not the usual kind. 

More like...disbelief.  

Here in this space is exactly as we were a few weeks ago. I had just been handed my duo with Lucas and we were walking down the stairs together when we bumped into Tim. He asked why I hadn't texted him back and I told him to delete my number.

"Is there a problem? You're acting weird- Weirder than usual," I question, analysing him right back.

Both of us jump with a yelp when someone leaps off of the next floor and comes raining down to stick a landing beside Tim.

I know who it is before I have to even look.

Ellery is in a kneeling position, hand splayed on the floor. Her head tips back with a malicious grin on her face that reminds me of our mother.

What's that face for?

"Oh," she begins darkly, slowly rising to her feet like something unholy. When she glances between Tim and I she looks somewhat evil. 

"Ellery-" Tim begins, but she holds her hand up to his face and looks directly at me.

"I'll tell you what his problem is."

∞
Hey girl, look at my mom, she's got it going on
Ha, you're blinded by her jewelry
When you turn your back she pulls out a flask
And forgets his infidelity
Uh-oh, she's coming to the attic, plastic
Go back to being plastic