Signed by, Andrew Oliver

Chapter One

I was thinking about it for days. Suicide, I mean. I hadn't been this sad since the time when my dog ran away, and we found him on the street, dead. He was an old dog, though, and he didn't have much left going for him. My dad said that it was his time to go. I appreciated my father after that, for a long time.

All of that went to waste though. Last week, my parents plane crashed into the mountains. They were on their way back from a business trip in the U.K when the pilot lost control and crashed. All 377 passengers died that day, including all the workers on board. Ever since, this sort of somber blanket was laid down on top of the town, and we haven't been the same since. Well, it won't be better for awhile. A lot of people lost family that day.

I wasn't particularly close to them or anything near the time they went on that business trip. They'd been trying to reach out to me while they were gone all August, but I was always busy or doing my own thing, which, to be fair, wasn't always the case. In reality, I was drinking coffee and reading and going to school, which was the norm for a sixteen year old like myself.

After they passed, I moved in with my aunt. She's been widowed since she was thirty-six because my uncle got in a wreck when I was about ten. When I walked inside, I do have to say that I was pretty impressed. I could tell she was doing pretty well all by herself, having her daughter, or my cousin, moved out and living well somewhere down in Texas.

"Sweetie," she said as she kissed my forehead, "things will be okay. I miss her, them, too. I know things are hard, and it'll be that way for a little bit, but things will get better eventually."

I looked at her, then back down to the blue rug she sat on the wooden tile beneath. I was sitting on my cousin's old, sheet-less bed.

"Andrew, I know you would rather not talk, it's okay. Whatever I say, you don't have to respond to at all." My aunt reached over and brushed back my brown, forehead-length hair.

She got up and put her hands in her back pockets and went towards the door. "Elizabeth called before you got here. She said she's flying into town in the morning. I thought you should know."

I looked up from my hands as I was fiddling with a picture of my parents, and nodded, then quickly looked back down.

"Say," Aunt Susie exclaimed as she tapped the doorway, "we stop by the mattress store and get you a nice comforter tomorrow."

I looked up again and set the picture down on the nightstand. "Sounds nice," I retorted. She looked at me and smiled, then turned away down the hall.

The next morning, when I woke up and went downstairs, Elizabeth was there eating toast with Aunt Susie. My aunt turned to me when she saw me in the hallway. "Morning Andrew! Come say hi to your cousin." I inched towards her and sat down at the table.

"Andy, hey!"

I smiled at her.

"Quiet, like always, ain't he?" She looked at my aunt then laughed. Aunt Susie stayed quiet, and Elizabeth eventually stopped. Elizabeth turned to me. "I'm sorry I was never around that often."

"It's okay."

Elizabeth flung her arm around my shoulders, and smiled. "I'll get you some breakfast?" My aunt suggested.

"I'm good," I replied. She sat back down, and Elizabeth threw away her plate. "When are we going to the store?"

"Soon," Aunt Susie said, "so get ready."

I got up and did just that. I combed my hair back, put on a red tee and then some khaki pants with high-top converse. Afterwards, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Then I walked outside and met up with Elizabeth in the car.