Dear Diary

t w e n t y - s e v e n

Dedicated to my mom since it's Mother's Day, even though she doesn't know I write fanfiction :)

•~•

"Well?" I said after a while of silence. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Ari repeated.

"Yeah. What's your story?"

"You know most of it."

"But not all of it."

Ari sighed. "Well, I'm the middle child, which you already know. Maddie is twenty-one and Carson is seven. Mom and Dad... I always knew they were fighting. I woke up once to find them screaming at each other. I went back to bed and cried.

"Then they actually did get a divorce, and it was sad, but I knew it was coming. Mom started dating Geoff soon after, who is a complete jerk. She had lost her job, only began dating him because she needed someone to help support the family, but then Maddie and Carson liked him, and he liked them, so they stayed together, even after Mom got another job. The only person he hated was me."

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you," I said softly.

Ari shot me a look. "He does. He hates me with a passion."

"Then why did he save you?"

Ari went rigid, and I knew I'd struck a topic she didn't want to discuss.

"Most likely because he cared about Mom and Mom cared about me and he didn't want to see her become even more depressed than she already was," she replied stiffly.

"So where are they now?" I asked.

Ari slouched. "I don't know," she said quietly.

I looked at her. "You don't know?"

Ari nodded sadly. "After I was put into the hospital, they moved and didn't bother staying in touch with me," she mumbled. "Probably thought I was a lost case; I wouldn't get better, they thought, no matter what the nurses did."

I thought back to the second day I had visited her, when I had given her the chocolate, when I briefly mentioned her parents, when she stiffened. This must be why.

"I was fine with it at first, since I had wanted to move out so I wouldn't be stuck with Geoff, but after a while, I hated it," she continued. "I didn't get to see Mom; I didn't get to see Maddie; I didn't get to see Carson. It was lonely, and then the truth hit me: they didn't even love me anymore."

"I'm sure they still love you," I said. "They're your family after all."

Ari laid down, closing her eyes. "If they love me, then why were they so willing to give me up?"

I didn't have any words, and when I said nothing, Ari said, "Exactly."

"Are they still in Ireland?" I asked.

Ari shrugged helplessly. "How would I know?"

"What about your dad?" I pressed. "Where is he?"

Ari shrugged again. "I don't know." She opened her eyes and peered up at me. "Are you saying this because you're kicking me out?"

I was shocked. "What? No! No. Ari, I'd never kick you out. Why'd you think that?"

She was crying. "No matter where I go, I always manage to annoy people, and then they stop loving and caring for me."

I sat down next to her, and she hugged me, pressing her face into my shirt. I hugged her back.

She pulled away after a bit, rubbing her eyes. "Why are you asking, then?"

I shrugged. "I guess because I don't want you to have to face the same thing I'm facing: living without anyone who loves you in your life."

Ari opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it, looking confused.

"You should probably get some sleep," I said, standing up.

"Why don't you sleep?" she questioned tentatively.

I stood there.

"Is it because of your memories?" she continued, standing up next to me. "They haunt you at night, don't they?"

I nodded. "Every time I close my eyes, they're there."

Ari nodded quietly, and when she walked off, I wondered if she knew how it felt, to always relive the same memories over and over, never getting any sleep.

"Ari," I called. She turned around, her hand on the doorknob to my room. "What's Geoff's last name?"

She gave me a weird look, but said, "Russ." She turned the doorknob, and before she stepped into my room, said, "Goodnight, Niall." Then she closed the door.

I grabbed my laptop from the floor and powered it on, going to Google. I went to a site that showed people's phone numbers and addresses once you typed in their last names. I typed in Merrivale, Ari's last name, and only one number/address came up. I quickly jotted it down before typing in Russ. Five numbers came up, and I scanned the list, eliminating two that said Ross instead.

I found one that was G. Russ and, guessing it was Geoff, I jotted it down.