Between the Light and the Shadows (IC - Neutral)

[OmniKitty]

IC - Light | IC - Dark | OOC

It was five in the morning at Alice Home for Girls. Larissa lay awake on her lumpy cot, staring at the dark ceiling. It wasn't unusual for her to have sleeping problems at night, but she hadn't had more than a blink's worth of shut eye all night. Her eyelids were heavy and her eyes burned. She turned her head to her left where her sister, Laycie, was in a restless sleep. Tossing and turning every now and then, but fully asleep, regardless. Larissa turned her head back to the ceiling. Eyes burning more than she could handle, she closed her eyes. After a while she started to drift to sleep, though she could still hear every small sound around her.

She began to focus on every little sound she heard in her half-sleep. The tick of the clock, a random girl snoring, Laycie mumbling in her sleep, morning birds chirping... She ripped her eyes open suddenly. Morning already? A glimpse of early morning light hit her eyes, but quickly faded back to the darkness of night. Her mind racked itself, trying to figure out what time it was. She looked at the clock: 6:30. Her eyes darted back to a window. Still dark. There should be light peeking through by now.. She stood up and pulled back the curtain and sure enough, the sky was bright. Larissa was thoroughly confused. I must be really tired.. She lay back down and drifted back to sleep.

Concerned voices woke Larissa up. She opened her tired eyes and glanced in the direction they were coming from. She could make out some of their voices.

"There must be a storm coming." One of the workers whispered.

"No need to worry, it's just cloudy." Another said a bit louder, as she clapped her hands loudly. "Time to get up!" She called out to the girls in the room. As all the girls started to wake up, the workers continued to talk.

"I just checked online, the radar is clear as can be." Somebody added surprised. One looked out of the window again.

"It's just an isolated storm." Somebody said, clearly annoyed. The conversation stopped for a minute, as they tried to wake up the girls. As Laycie woke up, Larissa gave her a look that told her to be quiet. She nodded in the direction of the workers. She went to go sit on Laycie's bed.

"I think I did something again. We need to leave." We had already talked about this, so it was no last minute decision.

Then Miss Janice joined in the conversation, "I think those girls are up to something funny again." She hissed.

"Two little girls made a storm come? Yeah right Janice." One responded quickly.

[ELizzyK]

Running barefoot through the wet grass seemed like the most freeing activity in the world.  Laycie loved playing hide and seek with all of the furry woodland creatures, but the bunnies had to be her favorite animals.  In fact, one she had named Lulu, was particularly fond of her.  Laycie liked to make a game out of hopping when Lulu hopped.  She couldn't help but laugh at the feeling of the grass tickling her feet as she tried to imitate her furry friend.  Closing her eyes, Laycie savored the wave of peace that washed over her from hearing nature's sounds.  With the tranquility of the waterfall, the birds, and the trees rustling in the wind she was so close to being able to pretend that all of this was more than a dream.  That is, until an urgent voice interrupted her escape from reality. 

"Time to get up!"  Laycie woke up with a start, confused about her exact location for a few moments.  Of course, reality came crashing down on her like a one thousand pound weight all too soon.  Sighing, Laycie thought about how wonderful her dream had been.  She wished that she could stay there forever with no worries or cares.  This seemingly happy go lucky girl would give anything to stay forever in her dream world except.... her sister.  Laycie knew she could never be that selfish, no matter how badly she wanted to give into her desire sometimes.  Her love for Larisa was far too strong.  Glancing over at her sister, she suddenly noticed the look Larisa was giving her.  It was a clear 'must stay quiet' signal.  Even though Laycie didn't know what was going on, she always trusted Larisa's instincts no matter what.

Urgently walking over to Laycie's bed, Larisa immediately said, "I think I did something again.  We need to leave."  The sisters were always prepared for this possibility.  The unpredictability of their lives constantly caused it necessary to always have a back up plan.

Nodding, Laycie couldn't help wondering what would happen next in their lives.

[OmniKitty]

"I think you helped too.. Look at those clouds out there. You've done things like that before, haven't you?" Larissa whispered to her sister. As she listened to the words come out of her own mouth, she wondered just how crazy they sounded. How paranoid does one have to be to believe they caused a storm? At this point, she didn't really care. She was tired of all the stares and especially of the acidic accusations of Miss Janice. At that thought, she was more ready to leave than before.

Luckily, Larissa had urged Laycie to pack their things the day before, despite her objections. They had little left unpacked. Actually, they had little packed as well. They only had three bags between the two of them. Never acquiring anything except the bare necessities, they always traveled light. Nobody seemed to really care what they did, or at least the other girls wouldn't tell the staff anything. They were too afraid of the sisters.

"We need to wait until they aren't looking.. We don't have to worry about the girls, they won't say anything..." She thought again, also thinking about how nobody would miss them, and they wouldn't particularly miss anybody else either.

[ELizzyK]

Seeing the look on her sister's face, Laycie knew the exact answer Larissa wanted her to say.  It was an expression filled with nothing but complete and utter certainty.  Sighing, Laycie whispered her usual response, "yea, I guess we should probably leave."  Biting her lip nervously, Laycie gazed out at the storm raging outside.  Could they really have caused something that angry and powerful?  Shaking her head free of her worried thoughts, Laycie forced herself to move hurriedly.  She would have plenty of time to stress about this new development later, after all.

Grabbing her bag, Laycie smiled at the memory of her sister nagging them to pack.  It wasn't that she didn't trust Larissa's judgment above all else by any means.  Laycie just liked to push her twin's buttons sometimes.  Besides, her silly antics always brought lots of laughter to both of their lips.  For instance, yesterday Laycie had decided to make up a game where she pretended to keep remembering outrageous things she needed.  By the time she had gotten to "I need a circus clown," the twin's were laughing like hyenas on the floor.

With how out of control their lives was, Laycie cherished those precious moments when the two of them were able to just enjoy being sister's.  Looking around the orphanage, she knew nobody would care when they left.  Even though it helped that they wouldn't miss anyone at all, Laycie couldn't help but feel an ache in heart from this fact.  Would anyone ever care if they stayed?

[OmniKitty]

Everybody around them was getting ready for the day and about to head for the cafeteria for breakfast. In the semi-chaos, nobody would even notice them leaving.

Larissa all but whispered to her sister, "Pretend we're just getting ready for breakfast and we'll head out with the last of the girls.." And with that, she did what she had just told Laycie to do, grabbing her last outfit and quickly changing into it. Last night she had set aside a light and comfortable outfit. Ripped jeans, slip-on Vans, and a slim fitting red t-shit. She had no idea where they were going or what kind of terrain they may encounter, so she decided on something simple and versatile. As she was stuffing her night clothes into one of the bags, she jumped at a loud cracking noise from the sky. Thunder. Great. If only they had an umbrella, or even rain clothes. She quickly fished out a thick jacket. That was the best she had.

By now, most of the other girls were already heading to the cafeteria or bathroom, and the adults were somewhere in between, keeping an eye on them all. None were in the room. Larissa stood up. "I think it's about time to head out.." She said wearily.

[ELizzyK]

Laycie observed the other girls at the orphanage with envy.  To them, this was just another ordinary day that forced them to go through the same boring routines as the previous morning.  Laycie often fantasized about what it would feel like to have her biggest worries be nothing more than making new friends and getting up early.   

"Pretend we're getting ready for breakfast and we'll head out with the last of the girls.."  The urgent voice of her sister caused Laycie to jump a little as her fantasy slipped away.  Nodding, Laycie snatched up the clothes she had picked out the day before and hurriedly threw them on.  Laycie mentally frowned at how well she matched, but knew that this choice of outfit would work much better for blending in if they needed to.  Laycie decided to go with black baggy jeans with lots of pockets, her favorite pink and black Converse, and a dark blue long sleeved shirt.  While trying to decide if it would be too reckless to wear a few bright, mismatched bracelets, Laycie heard an angry noise from above.  Looking up at the sky, she recognized the flash of thunder.  Oh yay, their plan was already starting off great.  Rummaging through her overstuffed bag, she frantically searched for any sort of protection.  Sighing heavily, she pulled out her measly hoodie.  It wasn't until now that she realized how very thin it really was. 

It wasn't until she surveyed the room that Laycie realized that it was only the twins left in the room.  Glancing at Larissa in surprise, she watched as her sister stood up.  She already knew it was time to depart, but she paid attention to Larissa's words anyway as she said "I think it's about to head out.."

[OmniKitty]

Larissa grabbed the biggest of their three bags and let Laycie get the smaller two. She knew her sister was already ready to go, so she simply glanced at her in signal to start heading out the door. They walked as fast as they could without being heard throughout the empty halls. They could still hear the other girls gathering for breakfast. They had to get dangerously close to the cafeteria in order to get to the stairs so they could sneak out the back door to the garden.

They slowed down as they approached the glass door to the garden. It was so dreary outside, she had no idea how they could possibly travel in the weather. At least everyone else was less inclined to be outdoors. That was an advantage. Larissa pulled the hood of her jacked over her head and looked at Laycie again, making sure this is what she really wanted to do. "You can stay.." She offered. She didn't want to make any descions for her.