Chapter 1
Theresa
I'm tired. Yes tired. I know people say they're tired all the time. But this time I really mean it. I work hard and have never really had an hour of peace since they moved in. Who are they? They are the spawn of Satan himself. They masquerade as toddlers, but I know the truth. They are demons! Insidious, surreptitious and downright sneaky cretins that have crawled their way out of the clutches of hell simply to bring misery into my life. They are referred to as Shannon and Silas. My neighbours' "children". About a couple months ago they all moved into the house next to me. I was a bit put off as the previous neighbours were childless and very quiet. However since the Storms moved in (I lie not, that was their name) life and quiet became vengeful enemies. I never thought of children as evil, however, these twins could sway the minds of parliament.
I was always a bit of a hermit in the small community. I kept to myself for one single reason: people suck. Yes I have never come into contact with one person who has been able to impress me with their characteristic prowess and personable abilities. Yes, that may strike you as odd but I was an only child. My parents died when I was 15 and I lived in an orphanage for the next three years. During that time being the small, quiet black girl earned me the label of "freak" and I was ostracized due to my reluctance to ignore commonsense and suppress individuality. I wasn't a carefree hippie, who believed that "we are all special", I just believed that I didn't want to be a mindless drone in an army of invalids. As such, on the year of my eighteenth birthday, I left the orphanage with a dream to be comfortable. Not rich. Not famous. Not even happy. Just comfortable. It took me ten years to accomplish my goals.
And as soon as I reached that level of comfort, they moved in. It wasn't like the Storms were a bad bunch. However their children like most (all) people I know, sucked. They were loud and nosy. They were always in my yard, interrupting my gardening session. They always had questions and never took "I don't know" as an answer. It was like they got out of bed with a mission to exhaust every adult they came into contact with. So here I was on my knees, in my garden trying to find an inner peace that can only be met when the Storm children either die or grow up. It was the vacation time, so school was not coming to save the day. Shannon, or Princess Shannon as she demanded I call her, came and sat next to me. Note: these children do not process glares for their social meaning of "go away". So that when Princess Shannon sat next to me I did not feel the need to waste a stare. She sat quietly for a few moments. Looking at me, then at the garden, then at me again. She huffed. Then she shifted so that she was on her knees too. She poked the soil. She huffed again. Finally,
"What are you doing, Ms. Burke?" she asked, with genuine concern in her voice. I looked at her to see if she was sincere. It was obvious what I was doing. But there she was, with an expectant look on her face, bright blue eyes repeating the question to me.
"I'm gardening, Shannon," I said, trying my very best not to sound too annoyed.
"I can see that," she announced, "I meant, what are you gardening?"
This time I actually did not mind her question. It seemed she was actually interested and not simply asking to fill her quota with the devil. So I stopped and looked at her. Then I turned to the garden and pointed to the blocks as I told her the names.
"Chrysanthemum, daffodils, hyacinth, and tulips," I said proudly. My garden was not big but it made me happy. I looked at Shannon. She looked over the garden as though making her own assessment. Then after much consideration she looked up at me and broke into a smile so big my mouth hurt.
"Could we grow roses?" She asked. No, the word "we" was not lost on me. I looked at her and ran through a host of replies, but all included yelling and big girl words. So I calmly said
