Everlyn pushed on a box that was atop a stack of three. It fell, and it fell violently, the contents breaking, small plastic pellets spilling out across the floor. The crash it produced became a constant noise in the background.

The girl’s expression and posture were shame, fully aware of the mess she’d made, that she was almost begging.

The constant noise continued.

“A lot of what you were describing was the drink,” the woman said. “I hid it pretty well—”

The little girl snorted, barely audible with the background noise.

“I think you might be mistaking some of the drinking issues with work ones.”

“Don’t you get it?” Ever’s voice was soft. “I’d rather you were a drunken loser than a police detective again.”

And then she was gone, storming out of the room, nearly tripping as she stepped on an angular bit of plastic that had spilled from the box. The noise drowned everything out. A babble of voices, like the neighboring apartments were filled with people and stomping feet. Bangs. Crashes.

The woman reached down to start to pick things up, then seemed to think twice. She stood. “Ever!”

Striding into the next room. It wasn’t a room in the apartment. She was face to face with her daughter, who wore a different outfit. Two girls of similar age stood by, looking upset.

Her hand gripped her daughter’s arm, hard.

“Can we just go, or are you going to shout at me for another five minutes?” Everlyn asked.

“The chance to go was twenty minutes ago. For right now I want to make this absolutely clear, you do not tell me you’ll be somewhere and then duck off somewhere else! This is not a game and it does not win you any points!”

Ever looked at her friends, then back to her mother. She didn’t answer.

“I’m fed up to here with you! I was going out of my way to bring you here, give you the early allowance, and you run off?”

“Mom,” Ever said, voice tense. She pulled back to try and get her arm free of her mother’s grip. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing! I don’t know any other way of getting through to you!”

“Okay,” Everlyn said, mollified, cringing.

“I was worried.”

“I was safe, I was with my friends.”

“There are unsavory elements around, it’s not safe for kids your age to be wandering around without supervision.”

“I get it, fine.”

“Um,” one of the other girls said. A blonde.

The woman turned to her. The girl shrank back a bit.

“I’m sorry about this,” the woman told the blonde girl.

“I should go catch my bus.”

“I’ll take you home.”

“I—” the girl started. “Okay.”

“I’m going to be late for work as it is. It’s not much trouble,” the woman said, straightening.