[@Arista]

Amber stared at her roommate with curious eyes. Mom never let her socialize with other people her age, no matter how much she begged. [i]"If you played with other kids,"[/i] her mother had said. [i]"Then you'd never get to play with me, and you'd have to go back."[/i] That had shut her up real quick. Her mother mentioned something about getting a little sister once, but it never happened. 

Amber decided, with her throat dry and fear in her heart, that she would defy Mommy's number one rule. "I--I'm Amber."