6 Sienna's Story

"My story isn't as painful as those of you guys she said I don't even think it's worth mentioning but my parents and I immigrated here from Earth 2

my parents were a happy loving couple coming to Prylea was a shot at us getting

a better life my dad had managed to get a great job out here, but as soon as we got here everything fell apart

my parents got caught up in all the technology, and the fast-paced lifestyle, the bright lights of the city,

they quickly drifted apart from each other and from me as well I was left alone a lot

my mom who used to take care of me was soon too busy with other things to pay attention to me or do anything with me, she even stopped preparing my daily meals for me

everything here is automated because robots and technology do nearly everything for us,

but back on Earth 2, we don't have the technology to this extent like that,

so my mom and I would do things together all the time

its seen as something that mothers and daughters do to bond with each other

a mom would pass on her homemaking skills to her daughter by teaching her how to cook

and learn various skills that help her take care of her own family in the future,

I missed the times we used to spend together, and it was hard for me to adapt to the lifestyle here,

when my parents were being so distant to me, eventually my dad met another woman

and had an affair with her, naturally, when my mom found out, she was heartbroken and felt betrayed,

she and dad started fighting all the time, and they ignored me even more,

home became a horrid warzone, I had to go home from school to hear my parents yelling and cursing at each other nearly every day,

sometimes I would wake up in the morning to them arguing and then go to sleep at night to them still arguing even after arguing the entire day

if they weren't fighting, then they were ignoring each other and giving each other the silent treatment,

I became invisible in my own home, it's like they completely forgot they had a kid at all, I felt miserable, lonely, resentful, Alienated too

one day I came up with the idea to try to get my parents attention again,

so I stayed out late with some kids after school, we went to the mall downtown and played all evening till past midnight,

I finally went home expecting my parents to have been worried about me, to have been looking for me,

I was fourteen years old, out on the streets by myself late at night,

any normal parent would be frantically wanting to know where their kid was right?

I got home and my dad was sitting on the couch watching the holo screen

he looked over his shoulder at me and was like

"oh you're home" and went right back to watching his show

and my mom just completely ignored me as if nothing happened

they didn't question me, scold me or even punish me, they just acted like it was nothing at all and that's when I realized

they no longer cared about me, anything could have happened to me on the streets and they wouldn't care at all,

I was so upset but I also decided, that I wouldn't care anymore about them either if I wasn't their daughter anymore

then they weren't my parents, I would live only for myself then,

my parents decided to get a divorce, but neither of them thought to tell me about it,

I had no idea it was happening even though they fought all the time, they would often threaten each other that they would leave, but they still hadn't separated

so I went to school like normal one morning and when I came home

the house was empty and my parents were gone, my dad left a note saying they got divorced

and that it was finalized and they decided to go their separate ways, he left me some money and told me to take care of myself from now on

and that was it, I was fifteen by then and abandoned by my own parents and living on my own I should have been upset and heartbroken again

but I wasn't, not really even though I cried a lot, by that time I was just tired of it all, tired of hearing them fighting every day

tired of them not caring about me, just tired of everything, I didn't go to school for the next few days

I just stayed in my bed and slept I felt grateful for the peace and quiet

I felt glad that they were gone, relieved really, I felt like a weight had been lifted off me,

even though I wasn't aware of it I had been very miserable for a long time because of them

can you imagine a fifteen-year-old kid being glad to be abandoned?

I thought to myself that they had given me freedom so I got up one day and sold the house for several

thousand Galactic Credits my parents had bought a large house when they came here so it was worth a lot on the market

I packed up my stuff and bought myself a small and cheap single dormicile in the city near my school and moved there

I kept the rest of the money in an account and used it to feed and take care of myself these past few years

and took up part-time jobs to pay my utility bills tuition fees and other expenses

I'm eighteen now so it's been nearly three and a half years now that I've been on my own I haven't seen either of my

parents since I have no idea whether they are alive or dead or if they are still here on Prylea or left for some other planet

no idea how to contact them nothing"

"that is really awful and sad" Kanna said "I'm sorry sienna it must have been so hard for you to go through that all by yourself"

"you guys have had it harder than me," sienna said

"it doesn't matter who had it worse," Daisuke said putting his arms around sienna and hugging her warmly against his chest

"it's not a contest we all went through hardship from now on, you won't be alone anymore

you're going to be one of us, you'll be the missing piece we needed to complete Silver Shadows"

"you'll be our songwriter, won't you?" Melody asked "we need you sienna and I think you need us too," she said

"We don't want to take just any songwriter from the label" she explained "we want a songwriter

who can understand who we are, someone who can help us tell our stories, and relate with us

the way we want to tell them, and you sienna, you have that talent you can be a great songwriter" she insisted

"from the moment I read your songs in that journal I knew you were exactly the right fit for us," Daisuke said

"I could feel you through your writing I already knew you had been through some difficult

things in your life just by the way you expressed feelings in your writing"

sienna was moved "I Don't know what to say" sienna responded "I'm sure there are plenty of songwriters who are more qualified and skilled than me"

"you're a band that has so much going for you already I went to your showcase and it was amazing,

you guys are already on the road to becoming successful, I don't want to mess that up for you guys,

I have no experience in writing for a band, I'm grateful enough that you guys think I'm talented

that you like my poetry and made it into a song, I could never imagine that happening to me in a million years

but I know nothing about making music, I love listening to it well mostly music from Earth 2, to be honest

I don't even follow boy bands here on Prylea its too superficial for my taste, but I think you guys are different, and you're doing something

that has substance, you guys have so many stories you can tell, you can be really successful on your own as it is,"

"help us" Daisuke insisted "please I am great with composing producing and singing

but I'm honestly terrible at writing lyrics I can't tell a story with words the way you can,

but you are amazing at it truly sienna, just listen to me and trust me, even if you think your writing isn't good enough,

we will work on it together with me and the guys won't let you down,

you heard what we did with After You at the showcase what did you think about it?"

"I cried" she replied "I cried when I heard it because it sounded so beautiful and those were my lyrics your performance so amazing I was truly touched"

"That was just the rough version of the song it hasn't been recorded and produced yet," Daisuke said

"by the time I'm done with it in the studio, it will sound even more amazing than it did at the showcase, it will be a number one hit song on the charts," he said confidently

"sienna please give us a chance," Kanna said softly "think about it ok we will take good

care of you, we will all treat you as a friend, and not just ask you to write songs,

you can hang out with us and have fun too you won't just constantly work"

sienna nodded "ok but I think I would feel better if I got permission from your label to do this"

"oh do not worry about that I absolutely won't give them any other choice but to say yes to having you as our songwriter" Daisuke said

"I want you signed to our contract exclusively you will only write songs for us

and no one else we won't share you with another band you belong to us"

"Daisuke!" Kanna cried in surprise "don't say things like that you'll scare the poor girl"

sienna was gazing at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks his words

were ringing in her ears she felt strange maybe a little off balance

the change in the tone of his voice had a sharp bite to it

at that moment made her feel something like a strange fluttering inside her chest she hadn't felt before,

after hearing all their stories, seeing how they all lived together and took care of each other

like a family, she wanted to trust them, she envied the warmth they had a little bit,

Melody and Kanna seemed more like sisters than friends

"OK" she agreed softly "i'll do it"

"what did you say?" Kanna cried

"um, truth is I'm graduating from school soon," Sienna explained

and I don't have anything else planned, to be honest, I was thinking lately about what I'm going to do with the rest of my life,

but I haven't found anything I wanted to do, but you guys made me feel excited about something for the first time, so I think I'm willing to see where this goes

I don't want to be the reason that the band fails because I'm inexperienced

so you don't have to bet everything on me ill try it out with you guys I can write a few songs for you and Daisuke can compose them

and if they are any good if they become hits then we can continue but if they fail then you guys can try to find a different songwriter how does that sound?"