Chapter Text
Athena and Kimberly had discovered the world on the other side of the door a week after they moved into the house.
When the Black children had began to unpack the moving boxes, they all agreed that the house was somewhere towards the bottom of the list. This said list included the places that every child had lived in. It started around four years ago when Elora was adopted.
Five children were adopted by Rachel and Sarah Black. Their names were a part of the common choices, they decided to not do the same things to the little girls they adopted. Ophelia. Valentina. Elora. All adopted from people who gave them up right after birth. Athena and Kimberly were the two children to be included into the family that had been from a troubled background.
Athena was the first out of all the children to be included to be with the couple. Kimberly being the second, and then Valentina, Ophelia and lastly Elora.
The house was not entirely theirs. An elderly couple had lived at the top apartment, and a man that had claimed to talk to the dead in the basement apartment. The Black family was placed in the apartment between the attic and the basement apartment. Since there was more children than bedrooms, they had to get more than one child in a bedroom.
Kimberly, Valentina and Elora in one room. Athena and Ophelia in another. Every child felt that their new home was more cramped than they imagined it would be.
Once the basic stuff was unpacked, Athena was found on the front porch by Kimberly, "Athenaaaaa," the girl had dragged out the last letter of her adoptive older sister's name.
Athena closed her eyes and sighed, annoyed that she was called once again as she was drawing, "What do you want?" she asked before she glared at Kimberly.
For a while it had been stressful due to their move. Sarah had decided to turn her love for travelling into a job and was an influencer. They had moved many times and yet as they moved into more and more places, the stress never got any easier.
Kimberly took a seat across from Athena, "Explore with me," she asked with a hopeful smile. Athena shook her head, "Please Athena, I want to explore this place before we have to move again," she whined whilst mimicking an impression of a young child.
Athena remained silent and continued to draw in her artbook. Before Kimberly could whine anymore, the familiar sound of a child's laughter could be heard by the two girls. Athena ran inside the house, meanwhile Kimberly had smiled victoriously at her accomplishment. Athena rushed out and continued her way towards the sound of the children's laughter with Kimberly not far behind her.
The two teenagers had seen the rest of the adopted siblings when they were deciding which game they should play in the new area. Not wanting to be caught yet, Athena swiftly hid behind a tree with Kimberly doing the same, "Maybe we should play something easy because we don't know our way around here," suggested Elora.
"Well then how about we play a game that both gives us the chance to get used to it and also be easy enough to be nice enough for dinner," spoke Valentina, "What do you think Ophelia?"
The final girl shrugged her shoulders, "I don't really know, I am still exhausted from the car ride over here. Whatever you two decide I will go along with," answered Ophelia.
Athena had decided that was the moment she would scare them. As she took more steps towards them, a twig loudly snapped. Athena quietly cursed under her breath. Three heads turned to her direction, "Athena I can see you," announced Elora with a louder voice than before.
Athena played off her slight embarrassment from getting caught by playfully smirking towards the young girl. She stepped out of her hiding place and was introduced to the warmth of the sun, "How did you know it was me exactly?"
"By your hair," Elora answered, "It is very bright and makes you noticeable when you are in the shadows. It looks just like the sky."
"Well then I'll have to make sure to hide my hair next time," Athena said as she put her fingers through Elora's black hair, "Kimberly there is no point in you hiding now," she called out.
"You guys act like children," Ophelia commented with the look of 'seriously?'.
"Look who's talking," Kimberly returns the attitude to Ophelia, "Don't you still need a night light on to go to sleep?"
"Stop it," Athena ordered, "If we want to get used to this area whilst also taking it easy then why don't we play hide and seek? I shall choose who our seeker is going to be, okay?" they all nodded in agreement. Athena glanced between the four of them and had finally nodded towards Ophelia, who gave Athena a sour look in return, "That is for the children comment."
With this new environment, it was easier for Valentina, Elora, Kimberly, and Athena to hide from Ophelia. Athena had heard the seeker's footsteps somewhere around her. The tactic she had decided to use was to find more and more spots to hide. So when those footsteps were heard, Athena took that chance to run down what had appeared to be a little hill and she wasn't the only one down there.
Elora was talking to an older man that had appeared to be in his late fifties or sixties. Of course being worried about her little sister's safety, Athena had walked over to them and poke the little girl on the shoulder. "Elora why aren't you playing like the rest of us?"
Elora smiled back at her, "This man asked me if we were liking the house so far. He is the one who sold it to Mother and Mummy," she explained, "This is one of my sisters, Wybie."
Athena smiled at Wybie, who had given her a short smile in return, "What's your name?" he asked whilst he scratched his head.
"Athena. Nice to finally meet you Wybie. Would like to see you some other time, but unfortunately we must get back before the others worry about us," she said and held Elora's hand. Even though he knew her parents, she still had never met him before. She was still unsure if it was good for her siblings to be around Wybie.
"Of course. I must warn you about that well over there though," his hand had pointed over to the well, which was nearby the sisters. It had mushrooms around it and some dried up mud as well, "A lot of people in the past have thrown stuff in there, actually happens more than you would think."
"Oh really?" Athena tried to be polite and not give away that she desired to return to hide and seek.
Wybie nodded and continued the conversation, "According to the tales from my grandmother the well is so deep and you fell to the bottom and looked up, you see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day," he chuckled, his face gave away that he was remembering a memory, "Don't know if it is actually true or not, but it is interesting to think about."
Athena faked being interested in what he was saying, and she did it without suspicion of her real intentions, "It really is. Again, we have to go, but it was nice talking to you. Hope that we will see you around Wybie," they both waved and made their way up the hill.
Meanwhile, Wybie had allowed a tear to fall down his cheek that he had fought hard for to not be seen from the two children.
Soon enough the game was over with everyone starving for their dinner. A note was left on their front door in one of the mother's handwriting.
Sarah is out for a restaurant experience and I will be in the office working on my book. I am on a tight deadline and will not have the time to make everyone dinner. Please make your own. I promise that we can have food together when the deadline has passed. Love from Rachel.
Valentina took down the note and opened the door. They all began to search through the kitchen for food to make. No one was looking for a specific meal, only things that were acceptable and tasty to put on a plate and call it dinner.
"Can we have chicken nuggets?" asked Elora.
"Sure thing, sweetie," called out Athena.
"What about bacon?" asked Ophelia.
"That'll work," answered Athena.
"I have spotted some eggs over here," said Kimberly.
"Guess we will have a brinner tonight then," Valentina spoke up.
"Seems like it," said Athena, "Does anyone fancy having some salad?"
"Salad sounds good," answered Kimberly.
"Cool, that'll be enough," Athena announced and everyone stopped looking for more food, "Valentina and Elora are on the chicken nuggets. Kimberly you are on the bacon and eggs. Ophelia and I are going to work on the salad."
After dinner the sisters had agreed to watch movies until Elora and Valentina were passed out, a common activity for when they had recently moved and wanted to be near those they were familiar with.
Afterwards, Athena and Ophelia were doing their thing until around midnight. Kimberly had been the most awake in her bedroom as she was catching up on the latest episode on one of her shows on her laptop. As the credits had rolled up on her screen, she was out in a heartbeat.
She woke up a few hours later and attempted to return to her slumber. The emptiness in her stomach could not be ignored though and she made her way into the kitchen for a late night snack.
She searched through the pantry, yet no snack was enough to entice her to eat it nor satisfy her tastebuds. Squeak Squeak. Kimberly stopped what she was doing and turned around. Four mice had made their way down the hallway and into another room.
Not having any of it, the teenager had grabbed a packet of food she had considered before and bolted to her bedroom. She ate her snack and watch another episode on a different show in order to calm her down. Kimberly ended up binge watching a few episodes before she was ready to fall asleep again. The sunlight sneaking into the room through the curtains.