My brother thinks I need a hobby.
He told me this one day, when I was busy organising my books and CDs alphabetically. For some reason, he ambled into my room and heard me muttering to myself about whether to organise my books by title or author.
With a deep, heartfelt sigh, he leaned on my doorframe and said to me, "Ellie? You seriously need a hobby."



I looked up. "Have you read Ice Station?" I asked him, holding up a book. "It's fantastic."
He glanced at the mass of books lying spread out on my bed, and continued on as though I hadn't spoken. "I mean, I know there isn't much to do in this place," he admitted. "But you could at least find…something."
"What about Temple?" I said.
"What about Temple," he replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I mean, have you read it?" I flipped though the first few pages. "I didn't think it was as good as the others, though."
He just sighed and walked out, murmuring something like "I don't know why I bother."
However, I did realise that I need a hobby. Something constructive to do with my time, apart from schoolwork and reading and writing and trying to play my Dad's piano and thinking of creative ways to file my Mum's research papers.
So I decided to start this journal. It's not like I don't already keep a journal, because I do, but that's for my eyes only. This one can be like a novel. Only it's a true account of everything that happens in Solitaria.
And I've decided – occasionally – to write it like a typical first-person narrative, as opposed to a standard 'Dear Diary' style of writing.
"Wow!", you say.
I know. I'm thrilled to bits as well.



When I told Amelia about it, her eyes lit up. "Cool!" she exclaimed. "Can I be, like, the photographer? I'll take pictures to go with the story. And that can form part of my major work for my photography course."
So she's going to take some pictures, which is good, and she's a pretty good photographer, too.
I think I should start by telling you about Solitaria, which is where I live. It's a miniscule, isolated town (hence the name – whoever thought it up was either a total genius or obsessed with playing cards) with a grand population of thirty-four citizens in nine households. It's such a small place that it isn't on most maps, which is why delivery men get so confused when they're asked to deliver stuff to Lou's shop. He gets a lot of phone calls asking for directions from Eridessa to here.
Eridessa, by the way, is the nearest place that could even be called a 'town'. It's still pretty small, but it has a proper shopping mall and school and a few clubs and stuff. It's a forty-five minute drive from here to there, and the nearest big city is two hours away.
Solitaria is where strange people collect like sediment in a river. Often they're outcasts from the rest of society – people who aren't wanted, or who technically shouldn't even exist.



Here's an example: the guy I called Lou, who runs a shop? His name isn't actually Lou, it's some weird alien name that everyone had trouble pronouncing, so he waved his green hand and said "Look, just call me Lou, OK?"
Anyway, he runs the only shop in Solitaria, which we rely on for pretty much everything we need to buy – food, clothes, and other bits and pieces like CDs and books and things. If we want something else, we have to either order it in from Eridessa or drive there ourselves. He lives above his shop on the second storey, and he has a room for rent, so his house sometimes doubles as a motel for passers-by.
I won't go on with a detailed list of all the families just now, because that would get stunningly boring, and I don't want to lose valuable readers before I even acquire them in the first place. So here goes with an attempt to tell a story about an ordinary day in an extraordinary community.


"Please, Nathan?" pleaded Amelia.
The rest of the group looked over at him. He just stood next to the wall, shifting uneasily from foot to foot.
"I, uh…have a phobia of camera flash," he said pathetically.
Tamara made a derisive noise in her throat, while I said "Well, let's see what happens when we try taking a photograph without flash at night time. I'm sure Amelia would love to try that."
Amelia wasn't listening to my sarcasm. "We really need the whole group in the shot. It's for my major project."
"And my major hobby," I added.
Nathan glanced uneasily from Amelia to me. "Why?"



"Because you're part of the group," I said. "And I wanted a photo of the whole youth population of Solitaria."
"I've only been here a few weeks!" he protested.
"And you still don't trust us?" Anastasia asked, sounding a little hurt. "We're not blabbermouths, Nathan. And we don't exactly have anyone to tell."
He fidgeted. "I'm meant to keep a low profile," he whispered.
"You're living in Solitaria!" yelled Tamara. "You can't get much lower than that!"
The loving and gentle conversation went on for a while. Nathan tried every excuse he could think of, and we tried every encouraging line we could imagine.
Finally, after several minutes of tense arguing, Nathan reluctantly shuffled into the side of the frame. Amelia shifted the tripod slightly to fit him in.
"OK, the timer's set…now," Amelia said, rushing quickly to stand on the side. "Smile!"
I smiled.
The camera beeped at us, then assaulted us with a blinding flash.



Anastasia groaned.
"Ah, my retinas," she exclaimed. "My eyes aren't used to so much light."
Amelia inspected the photograph. "Nup, we have to take another one," she said, and we all groaned. "Adam was blinking."
"Adam, how could you," I admonished my twin. "I mean, honestly. Blinking."
Such are the joys of taking group photographs. It took quite a while before Amelia was finally satisfied with the shot and we could get back to the important task of hanging out.
There are thirteen of us teenagers here in Solitaria, which is a surprising number, considering there are only thirty-four people here in total. We meet each evening after dark in the youth room of the community hall, to discuss school (which we all do via correspondence over the Internet) and just to socialise.
Our group contains two vampires (Anastasia and Oswald – the reason we meet after dark), a zombie (Hannah – the tragic result of parents consulting a voodoo mystic to bring back their dead daughter), and semi-ordinary human beings (Tamara and Jake, children with a werewolf father; Tia, stuck-up daughter of a retired exotic dancer and movie star couple; Artemis, a wannabe emo; Mystery, a wannabe goth; Nathan, whose family settled here very recently and are under witness protection; Adam, my twin brother; Julian, the most annoying person on Earth; and of course myself and Amelia.)
Amelia studied the final image on the screen of her camera. "Mystery, you're not smiling," she told her sister. She tilted the screen. "And neither are you, Artemis."
Mystery gave a sigh. "Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken, Spiritfire," she said, a little irritated.
Amelia frowned in annoyance. "Please don't call me that," she said.
"Is that your real name?" Nathan asked, with interest.
"Is Nathan your real name?" I asked innocently. He dropped his gaze.
"Hey, has anyone else seen those two new girls in town?" Tamara asked us.



Hannah made a noise of agreement. Julian just asked, "New people?"
"That means not someone we currently know," I told him sarcastically. He ignored me.
"I've seen one of them," Tia acknowledged, caressing her hair. "The blonde one. She has gorgeous hair. I wish there was a decent hairdresser around here."
"What, so my sister isn't good enough?" Anastasia asked coldly. Her older sister was training to be a beautician. She was a fast learner and was able to give excellent haircuts. To everyone except Tia, it seemed, who was never satisfied with anything or anyone.
"Does that mean someone's finally renting the room above Lou's instead of just staying for a night?" Adam asked.
"I think so," Tamara said doubtfully. "I saw one of them about to carry a freaking massive suitcase up the stairs, so probably."
"They were strong enough to lift it?" Julian smirked. "Considering what the average girl can fit into a suitcase, combined with the normal amount of upper body strength on a female, that surprises me."
"Would a punch surprise you, Julian?" I asked sweetly.
He looked at me. "From you? It would surprise me, considering your general lack of follow-through on so many things."
"Excuse me, when have I not 'followed through' on something before?" I shot back.



Julian's eyebrows shifted upwards. "It's getting late, I'm not sure we have time to go through the whole list--"
"OK, guys, we get it, you hate each other, now let's go home, yeah?" Amelia interrupted, just as I'd opened my mouth ready to fire back another angry retort.
Instead, I fired it at Amelia. "Oh come on, 'hate' is a strong word. We don't hate each other--"
"I beg to differ," Julian murmured.
"Home time!" Amelia said loudly, grabbing my arm and pulling me in the direction of the door.
"You're a real charmer, Julian," I said, allowing myself to be led towards the door. "If you ever manage to get a girlfriend, I'll send her a sympathy card."
Amelia pulled me out of the room, through the main front door, and outside onto the tiny front porch. "That was a bit harsh, El," she muttered.
"What?" I said. "He was being a real di--"
"So were you," she said, cutting me off.



I stared at her. "Thanks."
"No problem," she replied. "That's what you have friends for, Ellie: to tell you when it's time to pull your head in. We really don't need to witness an argument every single week between you two. I don't even know why you hate each other so much, to be honest."
"Because he's a pretentious wa--"
"Look, never mind," Amelia said, sighing. "Home?"
I exhaled noisily. "Yeah."