Chris’s House:
Chris had delayed going home after school if she could. She stayed late and missed the school bus she would have taken to go home. She knew as soon as she walked into the house, her stepmother would have chores for her to do. So, she waited till it was almost nine at night and headed home.

She spent most of that time digging through trash cans and dumpsters looking for soda cans and such. She knew her supply of crackers was going to run out soon and her stepmother wasn’t going to give her any money for lunch at school. She hated her stepmother and her stepbrother.

Her stepbrother always got money for anything he wanted. She had to either beg her stepmother for money, so she could get lunches at school or take money from her stepbrother’s hidden stash. Once she has several bags full of beer and soda cans, she cashes them in and gets about thirty dollars.

She heads towards the nearest grocery store her stepmother wouldn’t be caught dead in. She shops for food items she could hide in her closet, without her mother finding them. She hides some of the money in her backpack, so she’ll have lunch money.

By the time she arrives at the house. Chris notices the front door was locked. She takes her house key out and tries to unlock the front door. She manages to open the front door, as she walks in. She shuts the door behind her and heads towards her closet. She noticed her stepbrother was playing some computer game. The door to her stepmother’s bedroom was closed, which meant she was either asleep or watching tv in her bedroom.

Once Chris is in the closet, she shuts the door and turns the overhead light on. She removes the cover to the crawl space that she has been using to store her foodstuff and such. She puts everything away and places the cover back over the crawl space opening.

The rest of the night, she works on her homework. She didn’t have a lot to do, but she didn’t have anything else to do. She couldn’t surf the internet and she didn’t have a cellphone. She was planning on buying a pay as you go one, soon.

By midnight, she finishes her schoolwork. She yawns as she gathers her shower stuff. She had to keep her shampoo and conditioner in the closet with her. Because her stepbrother has in the past, either jerked off into her conditioner or added bleach to her shampoo.

While she is in the bathroom, she locks the door. Her stepbrother has come in while she was in the shower and stolen her clothes and towel. She had to run to her closet in the nude and soaking wet.

She relaxes in the shower and takes her time. Once she was finish showering and drying her hair. She puts her nightclothes on and heads back to her closet. She hated how her life was and wishes her father or even her birth mother were alive.

Chris lays down on her rags of blankets and closes her eyes. She needs to do something about her situation. She knew one of her friends had an aunt that worked at a law firm. Maybe, she could suggest something to her.

Chris closes her eyes and lets sleep claim her.

Nora Midnight Residence:
Nora had watched as Chris hung around the school until she was forced to leave. She wonders what her family life was like. She packs up all her stuff and heads down towards her new mustang. She still had her other one, but she wasn’t using it as a daily driver anymore.

She tries to recall from memory what they had back at the house and whose turn it was to cook dinner. A smirk appears on her face when she realizes it was Carol’s turn. Carol loved some of the Spanish dishes her mother taught Carol.

Carol spent the summer with her mother just recently and learned how to cook from her. She loved it so much, that she wanted to follow in her footsteps. So, she signed Carol up for cooking lessons.

Nora stops at the grocery store near her house and pick-up a few items for the house. After buying a few items, she heads home. She parks in the driveway and carries everything inside the house.

She noticed Tiffany was folding laundry. Little Maria was in the bassinet next to her. Carol and Melody were sitting at the dining room table doing their homework.

“Hi, mom.” Carol smiles at Nora.

“Hey, sweetie. So, what are you going to make tonight? Also, do you have everything you need to make it?”

“I was thinking about making Pisto and we have everything to make it.” Carol went through the refrigerator and the cabinets to make sure they had what was needed.

“Good, be careful using the knives. Don’t cut yourself, like last time.” Nora remembers the first few times Carol chopped some meat and vegetables.

“I’ll be careful, mom.” A smile appears on her face.

“Mom, how do you pronounce this word in German?” Melody walks over to show Nora the word.

Nora looks at the word/phrase “Vielen Dank”

Melody listens to how her mother pronounced the word “V-Vielen-n D-Dank-k?”

“Take your time, sweetie.” Nora knew Melody still stutters some.

Melody takes a deep breath and centers her thoughts. She hates that she still stutters, all because of the blow to her head from her father.

“Vielen Dank.”

“Very good, sweetie.” Nora hugs Melody. She knew it bothered Melody that she stills stutter.

Melody was happy that she got the word right. She also liked it when Nora and Kelly praised her when she did things right. Her father never did that.

Melody goes back to the dining room table and continues her homework. Nora heads towards her home office and put her school totes in there. She’ll work on grading the test she gave recently, later. She had a policy about spending time with her family.

Nora walks over to check on little Maria. She was sound asleep “how long has she been asleep, Tiffany?”

“Not long. She’s been kind of fussy today.” Tiffany looks at her sleeping daughter.

She was a little concerned about her. She checked her temperature and it was normal. She was just glad that little Maria was asleep.

Nora noticed that Tiffany was concerned. She puts her hand on Tiffany’s shoulder “let me know if you notice anything out of the ordinary.”

Tiffany looks up at Nora “I will.”

Around six in the evening, Carol gets started on dinner. Kelly shows up fifteen minutes later. She looked tired as she walks into the house.

“Rough day?” Nora walks over to her wife and hugs her.

Kelly lets Nora hold her. She felt better being in Nora’s arms.

“We just got a new case and it's going to be a rough one.” Kelly wasn’t a lawyer, but a paralegal. The law firm she worked for did all sorts of cases.

Nora just holds Kelly. If Kelly was this upset already then, the case must be really bad.

“Come on, let’s get you into something more comfortable.” Nora escorts Kelly to their bedroom.