Word #44

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Here is your word for the week!

Actually, it'll be your word for the next few weeks. The community will be on a two-week hiatus over the holiday season and will return on the 7th of January. We hope you all have an enjoyable festive season and look forward to more ficlets in the new year.



Don't look at the word until you are ready to write. When your fifteen minutes are up and you have completed your ficlet, you may either post it as a response here, or post a link to the ficlet in your own journal. If posting on your own journal, please hide the prompt word in some way (ie. under an LJ-cut) in order to avoid spoiling it for others.

Today's word is: eldest

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<b>Title:</b> <b>Fandom/original:</b> <b>Characters:</b> <b>Rating:</b> <b>Word count:</b>

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[laundrylove.livejournal.com]

Title: Eldest
Fandom/original: original
Characters: Ellie & her siblings
Rating: G
Word count: 497

She was the eldest, and that was her only fault.

Her little sister clung to her leg, eyes wide. "I'm hungry." She wanted to tell her to go fix herself some food if she's so hungry, but that would be betrayal, so she sighed and got up from The Chair, named and capitalized as such because it's the only half-decent piece of furniture that inhabits the house. She dragged herself to the kitchen, where the two youngest, the twins, are bouncing a ball on the tile floor.

"Out," she snapped at them, pressing her foot into the small of their backs' to prompt them into moving. They comply, running down the dingy hallway into their shared bedroom, which was also shared by their slightly older brother.

She sighed again and takes a pan out of the cabinet, an old, trusty pan that she has used many times. She filled it with water and sets it back on the stove, twisting the dial so that it will heat quickly. Tossing her head back, she told her sister, "Go get bread." Grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight. Maybe, she hoped, Mom will come home a little earlier than usual, and she can have some too. She makes good grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Here, Ellie," her sister said, sliding across the floor in her haste to hand over the bread. Ellie took them and began spreading butter methodically. She glanced at the clock while her sister entertained herself with a picture book. The other two girls should be home by now. It was barely time for the streetlights to go out, and she didn't want them wandering home with the streetlights out. Ellie shuddered and paused before flinging the bread down into the pan.

"I'n gonna go find Millie and Karina," she said to her sister. "Watch the boys." Her sister nodded.

"Okay." Ellie slipped on her coat and opened the door, wincing at the force of the wind. She closed it softly and leaned over the railing of the steps, peering down the sidewalk. Her face relaxed when she saw the familiar form of her sisters half-running towards her, panting.

"Ellie!" Karina said breathlessly when they had gotten there. "We're sorry we're late."

"Yeah," Millie piped up, pulling the elastic out of her hair. "We're sorry." Ellie sighed.

"Whatever. Don't do it again. Come on. Dinner's cooking." The girls rushed inside, slamming the door and tossing coats everywhere. Ellie picked them up and lays them over the arm of the worn couch before returning to the kitchen, where each sibling has gathered. They don't notice her, too busy arguing about something or other. Ellie stops. She stares at them.

Three boys, three girls. The oldest was only seven, much younger than her twelve. She observed them with fondness, smiling as she watched Millie pick up the baby, the youngest twin, and settle him on her hip. Where was her mother for this?

She was right here, watching it.

It's the price she paid for being eldest.