Megan Alder breathed a sigh of relief as she stood outside her car and gazed at the familiar sight that was her parents’ house. She had just completed her first year of college, and while it was a blast, it felt good for her to be home once again. A gust of wind blew back her light brown hair as she ascended up the walk towards the door. It was open, meaning someone had to be home. However, when Megan peered inside to her kitchen, she neither saw nor heard anyone.
“Helloooo,” she called. “Anyone there?”
Not waiting for a reply, she crept inside. The familiar scent of her mother’s homemade brownies cooling on a plate comforted her. She was about to help herself to one when the baker arrived.
“Megan,” her mother Nancy greeted, wrapping her up in a warm embrace. “We missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, Mom,” the girl answered. “Is Dad around?”
“He’s at work, hun.”
“Whatabout everyone else?”
“Stephen and Carrie are still in school. Jessica is spending some time with her boyfriend.”
Nancy delivered this last bit of news with a hint of dissatisfaction. Jessica was her eldest daughter: 26, headstrong, wild and stubborn. She was also engaged to a man neither Nancy nor her husband much cared for. They still held out hope she would come to her senses (hence they always called him ‘the boyfriend’ and never ‘the fiancé’), but that hope was fading fast.
“I have a lot of stuff to bring in,” Megan said, excusing herself from her mother’s company.
“That can wait,” Nancy assured her. “Sit down and relax. I’m sure you have a lot to talk about.”
Over a brownie and milk, Megan gave her a brief rundown of the semester. Classes were OK. Some were interesting, some were downright repellant. Her grades were decent. Yes, she met a lot of fascinating people, made some new friends. No, she wasn’t getting into trouble. Living with a roommate was actually quite fun. Yes, she was looking forward to next year. She declined to tell Nancy that she smoked pot (albeit only once) or that she got a parking ticket (quickly paid off), but what her mother didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
About an hour later, all of her stuff was inside. Most of it lay in boxes and bags, but she was in no rush to unpack. Megan lay on her bed in her room, snuggling against a pillow and relaxing. So much had happened the past few weeks that it felt good just to be able to do nothing at all. Eventually, she would go back to working at the pharmacy and she would definitely catch up with her friend, but right now she just felt like taking it easy.
“Steve! Quit being such a dork.”
“You’re the dork, dorkface!”
Megan sighed. Her siblings had arrived home from school. Carrie was 15 and generally considered the black sheep of the family. She had dark hair to everyone else’s brown or light blonde. She was thin and bony whereas everyone else had a healthy figure. She was constantly juggling her identity, going from vegetarian one day to devouring a steak the next. No matter who or what she was, Megan still loved her.

At age 11, Stephen was the baby of the family and the only male child. He horded his little brother position with mischievous glee, sucking in parental attention like an affectionate black hole. He and Carrie squabbled often. Megan used to find him an annoyance as well, but being away from him for a few months made her realize she cared about him. Yes, he was immature, disgusting and manipulative, but what were little brothers for?
“Not going to say hello?” Megan chastised as they walked past her room towards theirs.
“Megan’s home!” Steve shouted, rushing up to his sister with his hand out. She extended her palm to give him a high five, but he quickly withdrew it. “Too slow!” he taunted, retreating in a fit of giggling. He hadn’t changed a bit.
Carrie, on the other hand, looked an entirely different person. She had gone Goth in Megan’s absence, forsaking bright colors and t-shirts with witty sayings for black lipstick and a studded necklace. Megan stared at her incredulously.
“Relax, Meg,” she said cheerfully. “It’s still me.”
“I can’t believe Mom and Dad let you get away with this,” she joked.
“They hate it. They tell me so practically every day. But I’m getting good grades and I’m not getting in trouble, so they aren’t going to do anything.”
“Well…it’s different. And that’s cool.”
“How was college?”
“Good, good.”
“Anything cool happen?”
Megan smiled. She was about to tell Carrie of her many adventures when she heard the sound of her father’s car approaching. “Daddy’s home,” she remarked. “I’ll tell you later.”
Drew Adler was happy to see his second-eldest daughter. He greeted her with a quick kiss on the forehead and handed her an envelope.