Same House, Different Family (CM)

Steel City: Residential Zone

Grace Morgan and her sister were in a park, looking at the house across the road. There weren't any children here at this hour, so they had the park to themselves. Grace pushed her feet against the ground, sending her lazily swinging back and forth. The chains of the swing squealed, but she didn't hear that. She was focused on the windows of the house, where a family was enjoying dinner.

That had once been the Morgan family house.

"Between all the moving, this was the house I liked the most," Grace said. "And now someone else is living in it. It makes me mad. I suppose I wouldn't want to live there anymore anyways, but still...it seems strange that people are just living there now, as though nothing has happened." Grace kicked a rock with her boot. "You know what a scapegoat is, right? They didn't do anything to me, but I still don't like them." She narrowed her eyes. "Because they are where I want to be."

Grace looked at her sister. "We'll sleep anywhere that's safe. The library, maybe. A homeless shelter, if we can find it. The actual place doesn't really matter. I'll find us a place for tonight, but there's something I want to do first." She looked at the house again. "It's not that I miss the house. Shelter is shelter. I just don't want them living there."

Grace stood up and walked across the street. The family was distracted by something inside, so they didn't notice her approach. She made her way to the shed. It was unlocked, and the gas grill was still hot. It still smelled like hamburgers. Grace pulled the grill under the overhanging front deck. Walking back to the shed, she retrieved a small can of gasoline and placed it on the grill. Setting the grill's heat to low, she closed the cover and walked back across the street. It was only a matter of time now.

She sat back on the swing and waited to watch what was to come. "We're starting over, Christal. This is everything left of our past, and it is going up in flames." She touched the collar around her neck. She wasn't actually going to get rid of everything, but she didn't mind watching the house burn.

So she would.

A sparkler? Grace looked at her sister. "I'm not doing this because it's fun. What are you, a kid?" Christal was smart, so she probably understood what was actually going on. Grace had no doubt. There simply wasn't much else to talk about. Christal had always been more...energetic, making Grace feel like the older sister, even though they were twins.

The gasoline can exploded into flame and the house quickly caught fire. The family ran out the back door a moment later, not wasting any time. Grace was kind of impressed. Normally, people would allow greed to get in the way of their survival, trying to grab whatever valuables they could manage with their lives on the line. This family, though, despite the loss they were experiencing, just seemed glad that they were all still alive and unharmed. Their expressions of such feelings could be heard where Grace and Christal were sitting.

Grace hunched over and rested her face on her crossed arms. She didn't want any of the people to get hurt. Burning the house was good enough. The house, the symbol of their previous lives, would soon be cinders.

"Okay. We can go now. We'll pick up some food, but we're not paying to sleep anywhere, with anything." Grace stood up. They should probably not be watching the fire when the fire department arrived. That could make things complicated. "Where do you want to eat? Hopefully nothing's gone out of business."

Grace allowed her sister to hug her, but didn't hug back. She knew that Christal loved her, and Grace was supposed to love her back. Grace didn't really "feel" love, though. Not usually. To her, love was a responsibility. It was why she was sticking with her sister, watching out for her, and taking care of her.

The end result: Grace loved her sister, but she wasn't going to give her a hug unless she "felt" it, and that wasn't likely to happen.

"A new place? We could try that. We won't be robbing the store, but we won't be paying for it, either." Grace pulled out some of the cash that the assassin had given to her. It was a small portion of the money the gang had been stashing. It was drug and blood money, and now their blood would be paying for the Morgan sisters' meal. "The grim reaper will be paying, like a true gentleman."

A small smile came over Grace's face. It was a smile that showed no joy, but something else. The eyes were the window to the soul, and Grace's soul was a frozen ball of ice.

They arrived at McKoori's. Grace ordered a burger and something called a frosty mountain. After getting their trays, the sisters sat down. "We have enough money to last about a month. We will need to start making some money before then. Neither of us are over 18, so we can't work full-time. That will limit our options. I'm open to suggestions."

Working at a hotel? That might actually work out really well. A lot of employers needed to know your address before they hired you. The sisters didn't have one, but if they could stay at the place they worked, there would be no problem. Grace was impressed with her sister's insightful suggestion.

And then suddenly, that positive impression faded away. Christal was eating chicken wings that were too hot for her, and for some reason she was stuffing them in her mouth as fast as she could. It seemed that she was intentionally making the pain worse, and then trying to make it go away with some ice cubes. She asked Grace to get her some ice cream, while still stuffing more of the hot sauced wings into her mouth.

Her sister was an idiot.

Grace stood up and ordered some french fries, along with the shake that Christal had requested. Both were ready surprisingly quick, and Grace returned to the table, giving the shake and half the fries to her sister. "The fries will help delude the intensity. Next time don't order anything spicy, or anything else you don't like. Or at least spit something out if it's too hot." Grace sounded a bit angry, so she took a moment to cool down. "The hotel thing is a good idea. We'll clean rooms and stay there. The pay is terrible, so I'm sure we'll get hired easily."

Grace stared out the window. "It doesn't matter. Whichever one we come across first. The first one that allows dogs." Was that too much to ask for? Well, maybe the guests didn't have to be allowed to have dogs. As long as Grace could have one, that would be fine. "Maybe I could pass it off as my seeing eye dog." It was a joke, but Grace had never been good at telling jokes.

She didn't even have a dog right now, but she wanted to get one. There was a spot in her heart that could only be filled by the proper companionship a trained dog provided.

Dogs also provided protection, and as Grace looked outside, she longed for that most of all. "It's dark out. It's going to be dangerous to travel. We need to find our place for the night, and it has to be somewhere close." Grace stood up, expecting her sister to do the same. "The library is already closed. There's a hotel down the street. We'll sleep in the bathroom and apply there in the morning." She headed for the door, looking back to make sure Christal followed. Her eyes were suddenly serious, for she was regretting not grabbing some sort of weapon in the shed by the house. "Stay alert."

Christal was in a good mood. Grace doubted that she was actually paying much attention to her surroundings. What an idiot. Oh well, at least one of them could be happy. Grace contained her annoyance, even as Christal started window shopping. Even considering the large stack of cash in Grace's pocket, they couldn't afford very much. Not until they actually got a job.

Christal asked if a weapon store made a lot of money. "I'm sure they make a lot of money, Christal. I'm also sure that people who sell weapons probably own a few of them. Their security is going to be insane, so don't even think of trying to steal anything."

A man was approaching from ahead. Grace kept her chin up and her eyes narrow. She looked the man in the eyes as he passed, trying not to show any weakness. The man looked back at her, wary of her intense stare.

When the man passed, Grace relaxed a little bit. Had the man actually tried to harm them, Grace was sure he would have had no problem doing so. The two sisters were weak. "Don't you get it? The world is not safe. Everyone out there wants to hurt you. Don't encourage them."