See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

"Miss Evans? Are you ready?"

The woman looked up at the asker of the question, a man in his early thirties. He seemed curious as to what she had to say, but she knew that it didn't matter to him one way or the other.

"We don't have much time here, Miss Evans."

She wanted to yell at him. He was the one who had asked for this interview in the first place and now he was telling her that there wasn't much time. Heartless bastard.

"I'm ready whenever you decide to start asking the questions, Mr. Edwards," she replied coldly. He would get no emotions from her. None at all.

"Just start at the beginning," he suggested, making sure his recording equipment was working one last time. He would listen to the whole thing, probably numerous times, before he put it in writing.

"A good place to start," she agreed. "A shame that it's hard to tell where the beginning is."

"Do your best." She smiled up at him, a smile that held absolutely no humor or happiness. Her eyes were cold and empty. And lost, thought Mr. Edwards.

The woman took a deep breath and began.

"It all started a few months after I turned sixteen."

Ariana Evans walked along the sidewalk to her apartment building. Yes, she still had to walk. She didn't have enough money to buy a car; she barely had enough money to pay for food when she needed it.

She knocked on the door to the apartment she shared with her twenty-one year old cousin, not expecting to get an answer, but hoping there would be one anyway.

She was right. No answer came from the other side of the door. Sighing, she dug through her bag for the key and finding it, stuck it into the lock and turned it.

She entered the empty one bedroom apartment and tossed her bag to the floor, kicking off her shoes as she did so. Stifling a yawn, she trudged into the kitchen and looked through the fridge. Finding nothing that seemed appetizing at the moment, she headed to the couch and flopped down on it, sighing deeply.

It had been this way for three years now. Ever since her cousin Drew had moved out of her aunt's house and Ariana had decided to go along. She didn't get along well with her mother's sister, never had, and she'd rather live a poor, unsure life with Drew than stay with her aunt.

Just as Ariana was about to drift to sleep, there was a knock on the door. She groaned, but got up anyway, dragging her feet all the way to the door.

The knocking came again just as she reached it.

"I'm coming I'm coming!" she shouted grumpily, looking through the peep hole to be sure it was somebody she knew.

It was somebody she knew all right. It was Drew.

She didn't even try to look enthusiastic as she unlocked and opened the door for her cousin, who had just started to dig through her purse for the key.

"Hi!" Drew exclaimed, a huge grin lighting up her pretty face.

"Hey," Ariana replied, not even bothering to wait for Drew to come in. She made it back to the couch and flopped down again, closing her eyes and hoping that Drew wouldn't start talking. No such luck.

"How was school today?" Drew asked, almost too enthusiastically.

"Fine."

"What about work?"

"A pain."

Drew was not at all put off by her cousin's short responses. She had grown used to them over the years they had lived together. It was hard to believe that it would soon be fifteen years since Ariana's parents had died and she'd come to live with Drew and her family.

"Well, I for one had an AWESOME day today," Drew said brightly, starting to chop up vegetables for tonight's dinner.

Only a grunt from Ariana.

Drew continued to be unperturbed; in fact, she started to whistle one of those catchy tunes they always put on commercials that stay stuck in your head for days after you hear them. This one happened to be from some mattress commercial she had heard yesterday.

"What are you so happy about?" Ariana asked. She was more than a little cranky right now (work had been a killer today) and Drew's whistling only made it worse.

"Ohhhh, nothing," Drew said happily. Ariana knew it was something. Drew wouldn't be able to hold it in very long.

She was right.

"Except that guy at work I've been telling you about finally asked me out!" Drew practically shouted, squealing after she did so.

Ariana rolled her eyes. She had been expecting something like this, but it still puzzled her how Drew got so excited and surprised every time somebody asked her out. Truth was: Drew was gorgeous. Girls envied her, guys practically drooled over her. What was so exciting about getting asked out, again?

"Cool," she said, rolling over so that her face was against the back of the couch and closing her eyes. All she wanted to do was sleep.

"I know!" Drew squealed again, causing Ariana to wince. "We're going out Friday night! Oh... Do you think you can handle being here by yourself? I could have a friend come over-"

"I'll be fine," Ariana interrupted, snuggling her face more into the couch. All she wanted was sleep.