Gen Two- Chapter Thirty Three

I ran my fingers softly across the sill of the window and frowned at the subtle cold touch of the wood. The hospital did the absolute best it could to keep the heat in and the cold out, but it was impossible for them to make sure all of winter's chill remained where it belonged. The room could have been warmer if the blinds were closed, yet mom refused to block the window unless she was changing. It's not that I didn't get that desire. How many years had she been cooped up in this room for the majority of the time now? Restricting herself more from one of her few connections to the normal world wasn't a pleasant idea. However, I was tempted to go against her wishes for a moment. I truthfully doubted having the blinds closed would seriously make any improvements to mom's health, but it was not a lie to say I had been in a state of high paranoia for a few months.

My hand started to reach for the cord, but the sound of the running water shutting off had me dropping it back down.

     "I can make it to the bed by myself." mom's now utterly ruined voice croaked out.

     "You said the same thing about making it to the bathroom by yourself," Prism teased, "And how did that work out for you?"

My brother was getting calls from acquaintances in his line of work desperate to attach him to their projects since he had long abandoned that one with the horrible director. However, Prism's several weeks of vacation had shifted into an indefinite break from work. Aunt Sunset was house-sitting his place as Prism couldn't get himself to take off to the other side of the country once again when mom had deteriorated as much as she had. His presence was a blessing as he could easily cover dad and me at both home and the hospital when I had to work and dad had to be around for Cerise and Glade.

     "Just because I stumbled once doesn't mean I'm incapable of walking." mom joked back.

     "You didn't 'stumble.' You dropped to the floor like a dead weight." Prism laughed.

     "Same difference." mom shrugged.

     "Riiight."

Prism rolled his eyes and shook his head in amusement. It was beyond me how his chipper attitude never faltered.

I could barely look mom in the eye. My inability to glance her way had only increased ever since things turned south. The radiation had been doing its job just fine. That's what it had looked like anyway. Unfortunately, the little of mom's cancer that clung to her lungs fought back with a passion. It gave us a terrible scare that had us unsure of whether we would be planning on how to further fight back against the illness or if we would be planning mom's funeral. Mom, the hero that she was, battled on with vigor until the worst passed. If only that meant we were out of the woods. That last shred of cancer did remain, and it had to be gotten rid of somehow. With mom's doctor still too concerned about mom's ability to handle what was a highly complicated surgery, he had proposed a very light and short bout of chemotherapy. Despite the fact that it appeared to be doing what it needed to do, I cursed the treatment. Mom was now even more underweight than before. Her face was gaunt and strained. Almost all of her hair was gone. Simple tasks, such as getting up to use the bathroom fifteen feet away, were immense challenges. Her body was so shattered the slightest fever could mean her doom.

     "What is it with you and never getting under the covers?" Prism chuckled when mom instantly curled up to take a nap the second he helped sit her on the bed.

     "I'm too tired to care." mom yawned.

     "That's not a very good mindset to have." Prism said while folding his arms.

     "Well, what are you going to do about it?" mom taunted.

My brother got a suspicious gleam in his eye, but whatever he quickly planned was foiled. Dad marked his arrival with a laugh of his own.

     "This is good training for you," he explained, "When you have your own kids, they'll test your patience like this, except they'll be way more obnoxious about it."
     "Who was worse? Me or Coal?" Prism suddenly demanded to know.
     "Hmm..." dad mused.

Him and mom caught each other's eye.

     "You." they said in perfect unison.

Prism scoffed while a smile finally broke onto my face.

     "Well, I suppose we can say you were difficult in your own ways. You were as high maintenance as it could get, Pris, but while Coal was often more reasonable when he did have those moments of stubbornness his fits were much, much worse than yours. You would simply strut about as if we were too far below you to recognize." dad clarified.
     "That sounds about right." I smirked at my brother.
     "Don't act as if they're singing your praises." he retorted, lightly shoving my shoulder.
     "Did you sneak in some snacks?" mom asked dad, ignoring us and referring to his backpack.
     "Only a few this time. I spoiled you too much last week." he chastised merrily.

Mom pouted.

With those two quickly engaged with each other, Prism felt it was the best time for him to take off to enjoy a break. I walked him to the front door, and when I watched him walk away a craving to grab my coat and take a stroll around the hospital overwhelmed me. It was a plan I was determined put into action.

Until I remembered what was possibly at stake if I did. Every instance when dad and I were alone he warned me that I could be being watched. Buckeye had given no response to dad's lie, but that just made dad all the more certain that he wanted to take action for the breach. I had suggested getting in touch with Officer Noble about the problem, but that was a solution dad instantly shot down. Buckeye had promised he would go after our entire family if dad ever tried to use Officer Noble's resources against him in even the smallest of manners. That included asking for protection. Dad was worried enough that he refused to tell Uncle Blaze anything about the issue as well. The fear remained between me and my father only, and it was driving me crazy.

I slowly trudged back up to mom's room. However, I wouldn't find a place for me there either. Perhaps I hadn't made it clear enough that I wasn't leaving with Prism, because it looked to me as if mom and dad had entered their world where they thought it safe to drop the masks they wore in front of us. The cheerfulness and teasing air mom emanated with Prism and I was nowhere to be found. Quiet music now echoing out from her isolated corner room, the somber expressions she and dad wore as they danced in a tiny circle revealed the real truth of the situation.

Mom must have begged dad for a dance, for it was the lone way he would allow her to get out of bed. Getting up was only for necessities, he claimed. There was no mystery as to why. Mom held her own for a brief moment, but dad soon had to wrap his arm tightly around her waist and support the majority of her weight to keep her up. Her legs shook, and she didn't rest her head against his shoulder merely because she wanted to. It was a painful thing to watch. What made me wrench my sneaking gaze away was the way mom closed her eyes and pulled her expression. She was trying so desperately to ignore the current state of her body and be whisked away by some old, happy memory. I wondered if she was recalling her first dance with dad. Maybe she was thinking of their wedding.

I hoped doing such a thing would help her, but that was a silly thing for me to wish. The song playing from dad's phone was barely halfway done when the coughing started. I didn't need to look at mom to see the way even the smallest of heaves rattled her whole body. I had seen her legs buckle beneath her enough times to know that all the shuffling I heard was dad scrambling to catch her and get her in his arms. He spoke something to her softly, but it was something I didn't need to hear. A sigh escaped my lips as I listened to him get her back to bed. Dad would probably think it more than time to call a nurse to check on mom. Instead of waiting around and being caught skulking about outside the room, I shuffled my way back towards the elevator.

It was a rare thing to find the tiny cafeteria the hospital had empty, but empty it was. The worker appeared to be on break, and no one else was simply about. It was a solitude I was glad for. Solitude was not something I'd had a lot of recently. I clung onto any brief semblance of it I could find. However, I didn't want to be truly alone in that moment.

     "Hey, Coal. How are you holding up?" Holly immediately asked sympathetically.

It was a testament to how often I'd been leaning on her in the past few weeks.

     "I'm...alright." I lied pitifully, attempting to ignore how my hand quivered ever so slightly.
     "You're at the hospital again, aren't you?" Holly wondered gently.
     "Of course I am. How can I not be? I have to spend every second I can here no matter what," I rattled off shakily with barely a single pause for breath, "All I can remember is how much mom said she wished she spent more time with her parents after her mom died. How she lost out on precious time with them because she was too absorbed in what she wanted to do."
     "But you're not doing your mom or yourself any favors by keeping yourself at the hospital all the time. Coal, you...you haven't been right for a while now. You've been so unusually paranoid. I'm constantly hearing word trickle down from Prism that you begin to panic if you get wind that you're about to be left alone even when you're home. I think you need to give yourself a break more."
     "I'm fine!" I snapped with a ferocity and bitterness that shocked even me.

I instantly forced a deep breath into my lungs before I could screw things up more.

     "I'm sorry, Holly," I apologized hurriedly, "You're right. You're completely right. I do know that, but...I'm just scared. It's winter, you know?"

The next breath I took quivered more.

     "Mom only has a few more days of chemotherapy left. The doctor should be telling us then that the cancer is gone. And yet, you've seen how weak she is. She's not exactly going to be popping up to full strength soon. Her health problems began long before the cancer set in. She hasn't made it a winter since then without getting some sort of horrible illness. Another case of pneumonia, a dangerous fever, violent nausea. Hell, it doesn't even have to be anything serious. A simple cold take her out, and I don't think I can be convinced that something won't find a way to catch on to her."
     "Do you want to take a walk at that little fountain park?" Holly suggested after a moment of pause, "I think it'd be better to talk there."
     "I...I would actually really like that." I admitted.
     "Okay. I've got nothing else to do at the moment. I'll meet you there in a bit then?"
     "Actually, could you..." I hesitated, my cheeks burning with light embarrassment, "Could you meet me at the hospital? I would feel better if we walked to the park together."
     "Sure, no problem. The parking is better there anyway." Holly agreed kindly.

I shocked mom and dad when I returned to the room to grab my jacket, for they truly had thought I'd left with Prism. Mostly I just shocked dad though. Mom was pretty much on the verge of a deep sleep when I showed up. Dad was content with my plans with Holly, and we made sure to get in a good embrace and words of comfort before I took off. While I had to wait in the lobby for a bit, Holly got to the hospital much faster than normal. Another tight hug was given, and I firmly grasped her hand in mine as we slowly made our way to the park. There wasn't much talking done. Holly's presence was the best kind of medicine for me. I always felt better now having at least one person around, but having her around granted me a peace of mind and sense of safety I was beginning to forget. She seemed to recognize that. It wasn't until after that long walk and a few minutes of resting on a bench near the fountain that she pushed any sort of topic relating to what we had spoken about on the phone.

     "I've been thinking," she started, "I know there's still a lot of time until your next birthday, but maybe if this kind of stress keeps up it might be better if you delayed your application with the police department. You don't have to join the second you turn twenty-one. Another year or perhaps just an extra semester of classes could give you enough time to breathe until you're truly ready to launch yourself into something so demanding."
     "I'll...I'll keep the idea in mind."
     "Uh, really?"

I nodded. Holly was taken completely aback.

     "That should make me relieved, but now I think I'm more worried than ever. If you were your normal self, agreeing me with about that would be the last thing you'd do."
     "Like I said, you've been completely right about everything," I managed a chuckle, "I am way too stressed at the moment. I haven't been myself, and maybe going ahead and admitting it will help me cope somehow."

Holly did nothing but stare at me for several seconds, but an encouraging smile graced her lips afterwards.

     "Well, it's good to see you try anything that can give you the relief you need. If it helps more, I'm totally good with coming down to see you every weekend once school starts again. The drive really isn't that bad, and Mimosa's culinary school is far too close to Twilight North. She keeps popping onto campus, and it's making me crazy."
     "I would love to see you any weekend you'd like to visit, but I don't want you to push yourself either. You come down when you feel like it, but not if you feel pressured about it." I bargained.
     "That's reasonable. It's a promise then."

At that, Holly abruptly hopped back to her feet and offered me her hand. The two of us were back to walking around when I took it and she snuggled herself into my shoulder.

     "Mom and dad used to love to walk around like this," I recalled, "I thought it was strange when I was younger, but now I can quite understand the appeal."
     "Does that mean you're interested in marrying me someday?" Holly asked out of the blue.
     "What?" I questioned back in confusion.
     "You're comparing us to your parents. I can't help but wonder if that means you want our relationship to have the same kind of outcome as theirs."
     "Well, are you interested in marrying me?" I reciprocated the question, giving Holly a light smirk and raising my brow, "You're bringing it up so suddenly. Perhaps the thought has been on your brain a lot recently."
     "I wouldn't mind it." Holly admitted coyly, lovingly nudging her shoulder a bit more into mine.
     "Duly noted." I teased.

I scoffed to myself and laughed quietly at the unexpected turn in the conversation. Holly wasn't done though.

     "Hey, Coal. I have something big to tell you."
     "You're not going to propose to me, are you?" I continued to jest.
     "Not yet," Holly returned the favor before pausing for effect, "In order to have one more big bash before winter break ends, I'm going to throw you a party."

I shook my head in amusement upon hearing that. Compared to the random admission of acceptance of the thought of marriage, the idea of a party was nothing. Holly set the date two days before all the college kids were set to go back to school. That itself was several days past the afternoon where the good news came that mom was definitely in remission even if she would have to remain the hospital for a while longer as she wasn't strong enough to come home. I wasn't allowed to think about mom during the party, according to Holly's instructions. All I had done for the majority of winter break was work, stay with mom, and only go out if one of my friends dragged me away. I even did my schoolwork at the hospital. However, now was my time to relax and rest and simply have fun.

Holly took a look at my group's participant list, another activity I'd been neglecting, and got things going again by organizing everything with them. I arrived a bit late due to traffic, so the fun was already in full swing by the time I got there. People were playing games, dancing, talking, and generally making a bunch of noise.

Cyan, a group member, had been gracious enough to host the party at his place. I hadn't talked to him much, but it turned out we had a little something in common. His mother had dealt with cancer when he was young. It was a case nowhere near as bad as mom's and she had been living free of the disease ever since the end of her first treatment, but it was a weight off my chest to have someone else relate to my situation even in a small way.

Cyan, along with a few others chipping in, provided a plethora of snacks and drinks. There were also some drink drinks as well. Most of that kind of stuff came from the small bar Cyan's parents had in their entertainment room. Someone also brought a few simple packs of beer. I tried half a can of that before I realized my tastes were apparently too high class for something so generic. My adventure at that bar after the rock climbing incident must have spoiled me. The stuff from Cyan's bar was a bit better, but I didn't down much of that either.

Besides the taste, I simply wasn't in a drinking mood. I also needed my head to be clear for the challenge Holly set for me. Surprisingly, no one else really paid attention to the video game system except for us. We took over the main family room with our cheering, teasing, and pushing as we battled it out lap after lap in one of our favorite racing games.

     "You're as terrible as always, Vivid." Holly taunted.
     "What are you talking about? I'm a whole lap ahead of you."
     "Only because I was accidentally watching the wrong side of the screen."
     "And so who are you to call me terrible?" I laughed.
     "You have that whole lap on me, but I'm catching up fast. That's why." Holly smirked.
     "Oh, that's what you think, huh? How about if I do this?"

Having just obtained an awesome power-up, I finished the final two laps in record time. Holly prevented me from celebrating too much as that victory only put me even in the rankings with her.

The competition continued on for at least an hour. That was when a few others signaled that they wanted to join, but, really, that made things more competitive. It was an all out war for first place. I even managed to forget about mom's issues for the length of the battle. I didn't think about her at all afterwards too, but that was unfortunately because there was another problem to deal with. The several gulps of alcohol in addition to all the normal soda I'd drunk finally worked their way through my system. The main bathroom was thankfully unoccupied, and it was only me in there as it should have been until right after I made myself decent. I jumped a mile when I turned around to wash my hands only to hear the door open and quickly close as someone entered.

     "Mimosa, what are you doing?!" I asked in shocked alarm, my heart racing from the sudden intrusion, "Knock! You could have walked in on me at the worst time."
     "Don't worry. I made sure to wait until I could tell you were all done." Mimosa brushed me off like it was nothing.

I instantly frowned upon seeing the drink in her hand, hearing the slurred nature of her voice, and noticing the detached glaze in her eye.

     "What? Were you watching and stalking me or something?" I questioned suspiciously.
     "Something like that," she admitted with a shrug, "We never spend any time alone anymore. I thought this would be a good chance."
     "You really need to get rid of that drink and not touch any more of it. Maybe it's making you worse or maybe it's not, but I am not in the mood to experiment." I instructed coldly.

To my surprise, Mimosa poured what beer she had left in her cup down the drain before throwing the cup away with a smile. I stared at her cautiously. It had been harder to deal with Mimosa over the break. She had once again made a big switch from constantly being angry at me to acting super sweet. It almost made her appear normal, but she was not back to normal. Her medicine remained neglected, and her outwards agreeable demeanor made it tricky to tell when she was about to cause problems. Case in point...

     "MIMOSA! Hands off!" I belted at her.

I'd, rather stupidly, shifted towards the sink once more to attempt to wash my hands. They were lathered up with soap and drenching wet right when Mimosa pressed her chest against my back like a leech and shoved her hand where it never should be. There was too much of her skin touching mine, and it's not out of the question to say I freaked out. My elbow blasted back and struck her solidly right below her collarbone.

     "OW! Coal, that really hurt! Why are you being so mean?!" Mimosa cried at me after stumbling back and clutching her chest.
     "I'm not being mean! How else am I supposed to react when you keep trying to grope me!? Words clearly aren't getting the message across! Do I have to get a restraining order against you or something?!"
     "If you'd just let me actually do it, you'd like it!" Mimosa professed, "You wouldn't have to worry about Holly, because then you'd leave her because you'd realize you liked me."

I had been taught all my life never to call Mimosa crazy. I'd been told how to handle the sensitive ins and outs of having a friendship with someone like her. In that moment though, all the words that were taboo around her nearly came spilling out of my mouth. I wanted them to come out. Yet, for whatever reason, I could do nothing but glare madly and stomp out of the bathroom with a vengeance and a trapped yell in my chest.

My initial thought was to find Cyan and demand to know why his bathroom didn't have a lock, but a sensible part of me did remain. The wiser course of action was to find somewhere to cool off and get my head back together. Sneaking into what I knew to be a small bedroom seemed like the best plan of action. Little did I know the room was occupied, and I soon discovered I knew even less about the real relationship of the two people who were off in a world all their own. My anger was so great it took several seconds for me to register in the slightest what I saw. No space remained between my cousin and Pastel. Their mouths were connected even deeper than that, and Pastel had just backed Rosemary up enough to the point where she was gently forced to sit on the bed.

     "Um."

They both jolted up and away from each other when I mumbled that horribly confused and stunned syllable out. Those emotions actually made me forget about my rage, and my heart twinged with sympathy when Rosemary half ducked behind Pastel absolutely scared with a blush burning her cheeks.

     "Is...is this because of the alcohol, or something?" I wondered.

Pastel, who wasn't as embarrassed, locked eyes with Rosemary. Thoughts swirled around in both their heads.

     "No." Rosemary half whispered while Pastel shook her head.
     "Oh," I stated with the slightest hint of curiosity before growing slightly amused, "Well, either way, I'm sorry for interrupting. You two get right back to it. It's not like I care."

I went to leave then after it became quite clear neither of them was in the mood to have a nice chat with me, but I felt it necessary to depart with one more reassurance.

     "Don't worry. I won't say anything unless you do."

Mimosa was nowhere in sight when I returned to the crowd. Thanks to the newfound revelation, she was barely a whisper in the back of my mind. All I could focus on was the unexpected couple. I knew Rosemary and Pastel had started to speak after they first met on a group activity towards the beginning of break, but I had had no clue that they had shifted past mere acquaintances let alone had feelings like that. In a sort of trance, I joined Midas, Azure, Citrine, and Gold only to learn another new something.

     "You're going to be moving to Alpine Hills?" I repeated the information Azure relayed.
     "Most likely. I'm still talking it over with mom and dad, but I don't see a reason not to go at this point."
     "Would that mean you're leaving school as well?" I asked.
     "I don't see a point in continuing it, yeah," Azure shrugged, "I mean, I had already been figuring out that following mom and dad's footsteps in business wasn't for me. I was taking classes for it because I had no clue what to do otherwise. Then I go ahead and get offered a really comfy position teaching rich kids of wealthy and elite parents how to snowboard at some of the most famous slopes in the world? What kind of miracle is that?"
     "I'd call it infuriating," Midas jumped in with a tease, "You go on vacation and just happen to get offered your dream job while you're there? How does that even happen?"

Azure shrugged more and held his hands out hopelessly.

     "What can I say? I've been lucky. It is a little sad that I'll be far away, but now that I've got this in front of me I actually can't imagine I would have ever stayed in Berrybrook. Snowboarding has always been my real passion, and this place doesn't have enough snow."
     "Just make sure you send a lot of free passes our way." Citrine bartered with a laugh.

Gold joined in on that train of thought. Those two, and occasionally Midas, continued the prodding of free treats for near five straight minutes. I never said a word, and I was relieved no one noticed. The news of Azure's likely departure was news not well received. It wasn't that I wasn't glad for him, but I suppose I had been working under the naive assumption my friends and I would never part. My imaginings had them living nearby like how my parents and their friends did. We would raise our kids in our own little community. Our close bonds would never break. I really shouldn't have been surprised though that that wouldn't come to pass. Aunt Sunset had moved far away, so it should have been obvious at least one of my friends would do the same thing.

The thought that more of my friends might take off to all corners of the world sobered me up, and that in turn shoved all my worries about mom and my frustrations with Mimosa back on me. The loudness of the party grew suffocating. My intention was to seek out a quiet spot outside, but I was grateful when Citrine showed he hadn't been oblivious to my change in mood.

     "Not all that ecstatic about Azure moving away?" he put it out there before I could say a word.
     "I'm happy for him, and of course that job offer is amazing." I danced around the question.
     "It's perfectly understandable to be sad that a close friend you've known your entire life will now be far away. I'm sure if you talked to Azure he'd say he feels sad about it too." Citrine comforted with a kind smile.

I merely nodded, and then I changed the subject.

     "Does Pastel liking girls have anything to do with her problems with her parents and why you two moved to Berrybrook?" I asked, and the look of stunned amazement on Citrine's expression gave me the answer, "I saw her and Mary making out in one of the bedrooms upstairs."
     "I told them they were getting too careless," Citrine shook his head and chuckled, "About your question, I'll simply say yes. That is the main reason behind Pastel's struggles. If you want more specifics, you'll have to talk to her though."
     "Fair enough." I shrugged.

Citrine then became stubborn about attempting to get me to talk more about Azure, but I just managed to keep him off it by venting about Mimosa instead. He was aghast that this was about the seventh time it had happened. He even suggested himself that a restraining order wouldn't be too out of the question if her behavior continued or if it escalated. Unfortunately, I had to admit that I was fearful it would escalate. Mimosa hadn't been causing problems only with her family. She had been acting up terribly in classes during the last few weeks of the fall semester, and thus the school had warned that continued bad behavior would have her being kicked out. That naturally meant she would go back to living right across the street where chances of her trying to get her hands in my jeans would multiply by the dozens if I wasn't careful.

Finding out that talking about the problem was doing nothing other than putting me back into a bad mood, Citrine got me inside once more where I returned to playing video games, danced a few songs with Holly, winked at a sheepish Rosemary who had reappeared, and generally enjoyed myself until the party was over. Cyan's parents were due back before dinner, and, while they had granted permission for the party, they had been adamant that there was a strict time we had to be gone by. Holly was able to get Mimosa into her car without an argument when Mimosa tried to follow me. I don't know why she thought I might take her home. The roads and the temperature were just good enough to allow me to ride my motorcycle. Even if I wanted to give her a lift, I wouldn't allow her anyway because of dad's 'no helmet, no motorcycle' rule.

Being able to get out of Cyan's driveway with ease, I was the first one to leave. I actually enjoyed the stinging cold air that rushed past me as it helped cleared my thoughts and calmed me. My mood was decent when I made it home.

Still, winter's chill had me craving a long bath. Everyone else was also out, so I should've been able to soak myself in that lovely hot water as long as I wanted without worrying about facing interruptions. However, after parking my motorcycle and approaching the door my beliefs and reality clashed. Someone was home, and it was someone who didn't even live at home. Confusion swirling in my mind as to why Desire was around, my brows furrowed further when I took a good look at her through the frosty front window. She was crying, and she was crying hard. Rubbing at her face to quell the tears apparently did her no good. I hesitated on whether or not to go inside. Besides the fact that I hid behind the front door just out of her line of sight, Desire was too caught up in her emotions to have noticed my arrival. My consensus was to listen for a moment to see what the issue was before I barged in to catch her off guard.

Given how things turned out, it was not the brightest choice I made in my life. It turned out to be a horrible thing that Desire was easily audible despite the wall between us.

     "I'm glad I don't believe in a god, because otherwise I would hate him for turning this into some kind of sick joke!"

Another quick peek showed that Desire had called someone. It was most likely either dad, Prism, or Jasper.

     "I know things have been bad, but I didn't think it would happen this suddenly."

It wasn't because of the brisk wind that whipped snow lightly falling off the roof into my face that froze me. Desire wouldn't be home alone like this at this point of the day without a reason. Something had gone horribly wrong. Her choked words, shaking shoulders, and drenched cheeks only served to terrify me further. My sister had became emotional often due to her pregnancy. I wanted more than anything to believe this was nothing more than that. Sadly, there was no way that was possible. One awful thought clung to my brain. That lone reason for why Desire was so torn apart instantly tormented me with fervor. My heart pounded with such intensity I could honestly feel it crashing against my rib cage. My lungs couldn't make the decision between shriveling up with fright or having me quietly heave as if I'd run home. There were no feelings in my fingers, and every small movement of mine was as difficult as trudging through mud.

I gently pressed my head against the door hoping the freezing sensation would shock me into a better state. Perhaps this whole situation wasn't what I thought. Maybe I was just mishearing things.

     "I thought we were on the right track. We were given the good news, and then this jumps out of nowhere..." Desire sniffled loudly.

My eyes clenched closed so tightly it was painful. I wanted to burst in and scream at my sister to stop talking, but I couldn't move an inch.

     "I-I know you're busy there at the hospital now," she continued to pierce daggers through my heart after a long pause where the other person must have been speaking, "But maybe can you come here just for a little bit? Or get in contact with Wisp, because I can't get through to him. I just need someone with me, especially because I know Coal will be home soon. I don't think I'm in the right state to tell him anything..."

My legs all but gave out from underneath me. It was a weakness I'd never felt in my life, and I begged for it to leave. I begged with a passion to forget what I'd just heard. I wished to rewind time so I could be back at the party. I would invite Holly out somewhere. We would keep on having fun. Maybe somehow fate itself could be changed. The news Desire hinted at with her words would not be news at all because it would not have happened. If I could go back far enough, I could even change it. Give the warning. Do something to let someone know what had to be done to save the day.

I couldn't go inside. There was no chance of that. Passing through the front door would only make the nightmare real for good. If Holly had been home, I would have rushed to her. However, her car had been stuck at the front of Cyan's driveway. She had still be chatting and talking and lingering about with those who weren't quite ready to let go of the party atmosphere. I wonder if she was even on the road yet. None of my friends were clearly home either. Where then could I go?

There were probably lots of places. I could have gone to Grandma Rose's place. I could have gone to Hunter's, Malachite's, or, heck, even Cyclone's or Cattelya's place. I knew where Coconut lived. I'd even visited Raze's house once as her mother had invited me over as a thank you. My feet took total control though. My body urged me to run, so I ran. If I did, then surely the truth wouldn't find me, right? If no one could tell me the words of what would break me like I'd never been broken before, then naturally I wouldn't break. It made perfect sense, and in that moment I believed I could run forever.

I probably broke a dozen track records in my mad dash. That, or the amount of time it took me to speed through the quiet, forested, back areas of Berrybrook's suburbs was much greater than I thought. The distance I covered was immense either way. I was nowhere near home. I barely knew where I was. All houses and roads had longed disappeared from sight. The only sounds were the stiff branches creaking, my heavy, labored breathing, and the squeaky crunching of the snow beneath my shuffling walk. My toes cringed inside my shoes at the freezing wetness turning them solid, but onwards I went. The dryness of my throat and the burning of my lungs didn't register to me. I trudged on towards my unreachable, unknown destination.

It was given that my strength would give out on me eventually though. It had been a long day, and my legs had failed me once before. What truly did me in was the sudden agonizing wave of nausea that dropped me to me knees. My whole body shook and quivered as dry heaves rattled me this way and that. Nothing came out, but I certainly coughed and hacked enough to make up for it. Tears I wanted to cry but couldn't came out anyway thanks to the violent expulsion of air that scalded my throat.

Was I really that shaken up by the dark cloud looming over me? As the fit started to die down, the taste of alcohol mingled in with that of the bile caused me to remember that I had done a little bit of drinking. My experiences with alcohol were teaching me that the stuff seemed to do nothing for a good long while only to strike me all at once later on. The burden of my furious walking coupled with that delayed reaction surely was the cause of my protesting stomach. I groaned and continued to cough as I fought for control. My ears rang- blocking out all sound by the thick pounding still coming from my heart and my ragged breaths. The noises of the world were muted when they returned. However, upon focusing on them to try and regain strength I realized there were noises that should not have been there. The shuffling of clothes. More crunching of snow under heavy footprints. A voice.

     "Fucking finally," a male laughed in exuberant exasperation, "You have been the hardest damn brat to catch off guard. Probably have your bastard father to thank for that."

My head snapped up, all senses on high alert, but it was far too late. Adrenaline fueled speed at least allowed me to put pressure on my feet, but I wasn't half standing yet when a thin but incredibly strong and unforgiving rod shaped object collided with the crook at the back of my head. I dropped like a stone. The pain barely had time to register as I was more concerned with the dark sight of the tree branches waving above as my vision blacked out. Another swing came. Not nearly as hard, but it hit that same spot to deal the necessary damage needed. Fear and vision were swept away as my world became completely black.