The End.

24

"I know. I'm sorry." My dad apologized. He knew that I knew, he also knew that we had snuck around and found out.

"Dad. You kept something huge from us! We aren't nine anymore, we can know about things." I retorted.

"You wouldn't have known what to say even if we had included you in the vote." He said shortly.

"Dad! Don't you see the problem here?" Kyle interrupted.

"The problem is that you didn't come to us with the issue! You knew, so why didn't you confront us instead of sneaking around?" My mom butted in.

"Oh, so now you're a part of our lives again?" Kyle had once again taken things too far. You can tell so many things from simply looking at someone's face, and this time when I looked at my brother, I realized that I wasn't the only one struggling here. Kyle still thought it was his fault that Alison died. Alison? Dead?

My own thoughts struck me strangely. I had developed a sense of pessimism during this that I hadn't even realized.

A door slammed near-by and I was snapped out of my thoughts. Meh stormed off, yet again.

When I finally looked up and out of my trance, my dad was comforting my mom. I glanced at the tears streaming down her face for merely a few seconds before they began to spill out and fall down my cheeks. I sucked in a breath, turning around and running to my room to be alone and pretend nothing had happened.

I walked in and slammed the door. It still smells exactly like her perfume in here. Vanilla-mint twist.

A wave of nostalgia passed over me. That feeling could be one of the best, or it could dig up bad memories. Sometimes even the good memories could know exactly where to put the knife and when to twist it.

"Ali-Cat! I missed you so so so so so much!" I yelled. She had been away at camp for an entire week, and being away from my sister and best friend has all but destroyed me. We may be two years apart, but she understands me. I love her so much. I don't know where I'd be without her.

"Carter, have you seen my lipgloss? I thought I took it but when I opened my bag it was my cotton-candy gloss that tastes good but doesn't look good. Help me find it!"

"Alison you just got home! Don't you wanna watch a movie? The new Hannah Montana episode came on while you were gone."

"I know. I saw it on the way back. Did you know that Marie has a television in her car?"

"No." I said, turning my attention to the hardwood floor and my purple toenails. I painted them for her since that's her favorite color. What happened to the sister that left?

"Tom! I told you we aren't going through this again!" I heard my mom yelling at my dad, again.

"Oh. Have they been like this all week?" Ali must have realized pretty quickly that they had been. Dad had stayed in a hotel for four of the seven days that she was gone. If only she knew. Kyle says it will be best not to tell anyone. Kyle also says that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live under our house and like to sleep in our basement. I don't know what to believe anymore.

"Did you get new perfume?" I said, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah! Like it? I bought fourteen bottles by accident."