Far And Away.

Florence Walsh sits in her mother's art studio every day. She finds the atmosphere peaceful, and due to the gigantic dead bolt lock on the door, the outside world is unable to intervene with her, and whatever new writing assignment she is working on.Writing is one of the many things Flora does to pass the time. She isn't like the other teenagers with the late nights, partying, and ridiculous amounts of drug use. Flora is exceptionally ordinary, with a large dose of shyness thrown in to compliment the personality.

She focuses on school, and can't wait to get out of Cincinnati. She has always felt like there was a missing piece in her life, especially since her dead beat father left her and her mother high and dry about three years ago.That's when she became incredibly close with her mother, Donna, and shut everyone else out. Flora became interested in writing and music.

Now she found her pale hand flying across the ink stained piece of paper. Light was streaming in from the gigantic stained glass window in front of her. Flora's mother designed it a few months ago. It was a gigantic dragonfly, with a beautiful scene of flowers in a field behind it.The window was dedicated to her daughter, and the comfort she brought Donna while she went through the divorce. It was for her little Dragonfly.

Flora's pen ran dry of ink. She groaned, and threw the pen in the trash can by her mother's desk. She opened up a drawer, and began digging through the art supplies to finally come across a pack of black ballpoint pens. She smiled as she opened up the cardboard back, and grabbed a pen from the middle of the row.

She uncapped the pen, and retraced the few words on the paper affected by the overworked pen. Flora heard the door to her mother, and her's apartment open up. The new pen was thrown down on the paper, and forgotten as she ran into the front room. Her mother placed her purse on the counter, and walked over to Flora, wrapping her in a warm hug.


"How was school, Dragonfly?" Donna asked, a small smile on her face, expecting the same reply she always got.

"The same." Flora shrugged. Donna sighed, and took in her daughter's beautiful brown hair that resembled her father's, sparkling blue eyes with licks of gray, and pale skin. Her cheeks were heated probably from the warmth that radiated from the window.

"The same?" Donna raised her eyebrow.

"You know what I mean. Sitting in the back of the classroom, hating everyone, because I'm such a loner." Flora said deviously. Donna grinned at her daughter.

"Did I raise you to become such a smart ass?" She asked.

"No, I think it's a natural talent." Flora grabbed two cups out of one the old cabinets lining the two girl's kitchen.

"I think it's a natural curse." Donna laughed, and walked into her bedroom, as Flora filled the cups up with water. She placed them in the microwave, and after about a half a minute took them out.She put two tea bags in the steaming cups of water, and bobbed them up and down. Donna walked back into the kitchen, and sat down on one of the stools.

"Mm I smell mint." She smiled.

"Mint tea." Flora said, handing her mother the glass. She watched as her mother took a sip, and raised her eyebrows.

"Good lord that's strong." She said biting her tongue.

"It's peppermint!" Flora said, laughing.

"I don't know what that is. Definitely not peppermint." Donna said.

"Ungrateful." Flora shook her head, taking a sip of her own tea. She made a sour face.

"I told you." Donna said, pouring the liquid in the sink. Flora stuck her tongue out, and walked over to her backpack. "Have you not done your homework yet?"

Flora bit her lip, and shook her head, "I was writing..." She said looking away from her mother, suppressing laughter.

"What did I say? School work before writing, Flora!" Donna put her hands on her thin hips.

"I'm sorry! I just started a new story! It's about the Civil War. It's from the view of a confederate soldier, and I'm really excited about it." Flora took a notebook out of her backpack, and began working on her long winded trigonometry homework.

"Sounds interesting." Donna said grabbing an apple out of the basket on the counter.

"It is! Now you see why I was writing it?" Flora smirked at her mother.

"I guess so.." Donna walked in to her art studio, leaving her daughter to work on her homework.


Flora sighed as she started a routine with the sheet of problems. Write down the problem, find the formula, type it into her calculator, and write down the answer. Then she repeated it over and over again. Flora was a straight A student. College is one of the biggest things on her mind, considering she wanted to be a writer for Rock Forever magazine more than anything. She had almost every issue, and it was her ultimate dream.Donna walked back out of the art studio, and smiled at Flora, who was now hard at work on physic's homework. She sat down beside her.


"So.." Donna said, "A new family moved in next door."

"Oh?" Flora said, wondering why her mother would think she'd care.

"They have a son your age. Maybe you should go introduce yourself." Donna was always desperately trying to get Flora to make friends. It seemed like an impossible feat.

"Eh." The small girl shrugged. "Do I have too?"

"It would be the neighborly thing to do." Donna smirked.

"If I just moved in to a new building I wouldn't want random people knocking on my door." Flora said, not looking up from her notebook.

"That's because your antisocial. I'm going to invite them over for dinner." Donna said.

"No!" Flora groaned, "Mom please? What if it goes horribly wrong then I have to see him everyday at school!"

"Or it could go horribly right and you have a new friend!" Flora stuck her tongue out at her mother.

"Whatever." She shook her head, and closed her notebook.

"Be out here by seven, I'm going to invite them now." Donna said, sliding on her favorite shoes.

"Aye aye captain." Flora said throwing a wave in her mother's direction, and walking into her bedroom.

Notes

First chapter! Written by ItsAllDoneForYou.