Kinkajou awoke with a start and slipped out of bed. Red and Blue lights flashed against the wall and sirens blared loudly nearby. She rushed to the window, where a police car was pulling into the front parking lot of the penthouse. What is going on?

An officer left the car and went into her building. Maybe this has nothing to do with us. But what if it does? She thought. Kinkajou pulled on a thin robe over her night gown and soundlessly padded down the stairs. Worried murmurs sounded from the living room, getting louder with every step she took. She suddenly stopped, pressing herself against the cold wall to avoid getting seen. Her parents were in the living room, talking to a police officer.

"Yes, this is her," explained her mother. She was holding up a photo of Kinkajou's sister, Glory, with her caramel colored hair thrown over one shoulder. "I got out of bed at midnight to get a snack but there was food missing from the fridge. I thought she was the one who had eaten it so I went to remind her she was on a diet, but she wasn't in her room!" Continued her mother. "Most of her clothes were missing, and I couldn't even find our dog, Silver! There
was also a note on her dresser. It reads: 'Tell Kinkajou I did what she wanted'. I think she ran away."

Kinkajou squeezed her eyes shut. No no no It's all my fault, I sent her away! Her mind raced, taking her back to the day before.

*FLASHBACK*

As usual, Mr. and Mrs. Bright had left for work early and the two sisters were the only ones at home. However, this was not a usual morning. Glory had been avoiding her younger sister for 5 days now, and Kinkajou was sick of it. "Glory, why are you ignoring me? Can you just tell me what I did?" she asked in irritation (and Kinkajou was rarely ever irritated) Glory was silent, frowning at her waffles. "Whatever it is, I'm sure I can fix it!" said the younger Bright sister, sounding far too much like some sappy school counselor. Glory couldn't stand it any longer. "No, Kinkajou you can't fix it! When will you grow up and realize life isn't some stupid fairytale where everyone loves you! Are you really going to pretend like this family isn't absolutely ruined? Just look- Dad can't even spend a month at home with us and frankly I'm beginning to understand why !"
Kinkajou tried to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. But it was no use. "Yeah? WELL MAYBE I CAN'T STAND YOU EITHER! MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST LEAVE!" She screamed. Glory huffed and charged out of the apartment, not even bothering to close the door behind her. Her waffles were left uneaten.

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Kinkajou's father (Who had come back from a business trip a week ago) looked at his wife in confusion. "Glory would never do that. Why would she?"

"Ha!" Her mother barked a laugh. "As if you know anything about your own children! You're barely ever here! Do you even know how old they are- oh, right you have no idea what commitment is, and won't even bother to show up to your own daughter's birthday!" She snapped. They began squabbling, and the police officer who had been there retreated slowly out of the room to give them space.

It was time to take responsibility. Kinkajou came out from behind the corner. "Please stop! It's my fault. We got in a fight yesterday morning and she said some really mean things to me, so I said she should leave, but I didn't think she would actually run away, I was just angry! I'm so sorry..."

When Kinkajou imagined what would happen next, she though her parents would stop arguing. Their faces would soften, and her mother would give her a sympathetic look and pull her into a hug along with her father. They'd go searching for Glory together, and when they found her, she would finally realize that happy endings are possible, and no matter how hard things seem at the moment, love will always persist. They would finally be a family.

But that wasn't what happened at all.

Her mother narrowed her eyes at Kinkajou. "You're right. It is your fault. How could you be so naïve? Why will you understand that your actions have consequences? You're always so caught up in that little world of yours, constantly blabbering on and on about the most pathetic little things, you never even notice there are other people around you! And at least if you could do something useful for once, like THINK AHEAD, maybe we wouldn't be here. But you're just so ignorant and selfish, all you ever do is get in the way and annoy people!" Her mother took a step closer, rolling her eyes in disbelief. "And don't even get me started on your appearance! Your hair is absolutely ridiculous, why won't you just cut it already? And you're almost 16 years old- If you stopped dressing like a 2nd grader, maybe someone would take you seriously!"

"Lychee, I think that's enough!" Her father interjected. But her mother didn't stop. "Well now you finally see what arrogance does!" She continued. "Thanks to you dear, your sister is gone and probably never coming back. I hope you're satisfied!" With that, she charged out of the room in the direction the police officer had gone. Without hesitation, her father followed.

Kinkajou tried to tell herself her mother didn't mean it. She was probably just frustrated and stressed- But the tears still came, clouding up her eyes until all she could see were blurs. Is that really what I'm like? Have I been ignoring it this whole time? She tried to say something back, but her mind was blank- that's because...she's right.

For a second, Kinkajou just stood there in the dimly lit living room, tears clouding her vision and threatening to spill no matter how hard she tried not to cry. Then her knees finally gave in and she collapsed halfway on a plush armchair, sobbing uncontrollably. She had been insulted many before - you get used to it when you're the constantly defying the standards everyone else sets. But whenever someone made fun of her, Kinkajou just thought to herself that they had no idea how awesome she was on the inside and hadn't truly met her. But this was different. Her own mother  thought she was immature and ignorant.

Pathetic

Naïve

Ridiculous

Annoying

Ignorant

Her mother's cruel words repeated, over and over inside of her head, every time more painful, ending only when she finally fell asleep.

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Kinkajou woke up exhausted after barely 3 hours of sleep on the scratchy living room carpet. For a second the events of last night were impossible to remember and irrelevant, and she half-expected Glory to walk by sipping on a Starbucks dragonfruit drink. But that didn't happen. And then it all came rushing back and she wanted nothing more than to skip school and just lay on this carpet forever, despite the fact that it was extremely uncomfortable and her dog had actually peed on it before. But she had never missed a single school day on purpose and right now, the last thing she wanted was all her friends to think something was wrong and tell her more nonsense just to make her feel better. She packed her bag grudgingly and threw on an oversized grey hoodie belonging to her sister along with some black lulu lemon tights. But something was still wrong. She walked to the bathroom grabbing a pair of scissors on the way.

Kinkajou stood staring in the mirror, looking disdainfully at her long blonde hair with streaks of rainbow. Ridiculous. She raised the scissors to the length of her shoulders.

snip

snip

snip

done.