I sighed, looking at the clock; midnight, yet again. Eight full days had passed and no sign of Mr. Kenneth anywhere. There was a news report about it, and the media tried to get an interview with me, but Justin kept most of them away. Justin stayed with me most of the time, and when he wasn’t with me, Sarah was, occasionally George was with her. I had been excused from school for a while, until I was able to get back on my feet. I was grateful; there was no way I could have finished homework after something like that. Although, I knew I needed to do it eventually. I wish they would have excused me from that, maybe they will, I’m not very sure. But they, as in the school board, excused Sarah from school as well, as long as she was home taking care of me; same with Justin. Since I had no other family around, it was obvious that they were my family. Sarah was like a step-in mother, in a way, and Justin was like a step-in father, in a way. Of course, she was still my best friend and he was still my boyfriend; but with them acting like my parents, comforting me and helping me, it helped me recover quicker than without step-in parents.

I looked at the clock again; twelve-O-one. I sighed in aggravation this time. The darn clocked seemed to go slower and slower. I wanted the morning to come so I could see Justin. I stared up at my ceiling, which actually I could not see because it was very dark in my room. After such an event, one would think I wouldn’t want my room to be dark, but I can’t sleep when there is light in the room. Somehow, no matter what Mr. Kenneth may have done to me, I couldn’t help but not really care. He was nowhere to be found, and would probably stay that way for a while.

I turned over and hopped off my bed, turning on a lamp and opening a drawer. I took out a pink photo album and opened it, flipping until I found the picture with an army man in it. I slowly took the picture out and looked at it carefully.

“Cole, why didn’t you ever write back to us? None of us knew if you are alright or not. I wish you would come home-” I sniffled, “No, it might be best if you stay where you are. Mother is dead along with Karen, you wouldn’t have much joy coming home.”

I put the picture back in, not sure what else to say. I wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead, healthy or sick, alone or with others. I hoped he was alive, healthy, and with friends, but I didn’t know; and what good did silly hoping do? Nothing. I had hoped he would write back for years, but never did a letter come. Mom automatically thought he was dead, but Karen and I disagreed silently. If we went against Mom she wouldn’t take it very well, so we kept our mouths shut.

I sighed while putting the photo album back up and turning off the lamp and lying back in my bed. I glanced at the clock once more; it was now twelve-thirty. I exhaled sharply; I was glad time passed but it didn’t pass fast enough.

“Alright, let’s see, what can I think about to pass the time? Ah, what are all the big things that happened in my life? Hm, to keep from getting too upset, I can look at the bad and the good side of it all.” I frowned, what good came of my sister’s death? I shook my head slightly. “No, stop it. Start from the beginning… our fifth birthday party; Karen and I got to dress up like princesses and we got to eat our cake with real silver forks; now that was a first at home! We always had to use re-used plastic forks. Well, there’s the good, what was the bad? ...Oh, Cole had to leave the house because Mom wanted it to be an all girls night. That was horrible – good thing Karen was there to protect me from my nightmares. Hm, even that young I knew something would happen later. I wonder if Karen ever felt it?

“Moving onto the next thing; when Cole left to go to the Army; sad day but we were proud of him. Yes, young as we were, in sixth grade, we knew how important that job was, and we were proud to bring our pictures of him in uniform to show our friends. It was admired for a while, until all the letters stopped and news of him stopped in eighth grade, just about a month before-” I swallowed and looked at the clock, one-fourteen. “Before Karen died. Obviously the bad is that she died in such a horrible way; a good thing about it?... Justin. I realized how much Justin meant to me and how much he loved me.

“Few months after that Mom purposely over-dosed on medicine she actually stole and killed herself, leaving me alone. What did I care? That woman hadn’t really shown us real care and love since our ninth birthday party! Once she got hooked on drugs and went out drinking a lot, she was more of an annoyance than a mother. The good side of her death? Easy; her death. Not saying I wanted her dead, but all she ever did was cry every single day and cry out Cole’s and Karen’s names. She never thought about how I must have felt, nor did she even try to help me with anything. I went through a depression period as well and tried to kill myself; she caught me every time but did nothing. She just stared at me and walked back out the room. It was Justin who eventually began to sneak in at night to help me out.” I smiled, “He was always there for me. Never tried to force me to do anything against my will, always cared for me and was never ashamed to hug me, always told me the truth and was so romantic and spontaneous…”

“Prince Charming is here.” I heard Sarah’s voice right by my ear. I opened my eyes with a slight jump; I didn’t even realize I had fallen asleep.

“What?”

She laughed softly, “Justin is here. I’m leaving to go to school okay?” I nodded and turned back towards my pillow. Not that I didn’t care Justin was here, I was just suddenly so darn tired.

“Hey baby.” Justin put a hand gently on my back, although the covers were between his hand and my nightshirt.

I scooted over a bit and whispered, “come see,” and patted the bed lazily. I could hear him chuckling; I was tired and I didn’t care. He sat on the bed, which wasn’t what I wanted so I put my hand on his shirt, grasping it tight, pulled it down towards me. Of course, I just woke up so my strength in my hands weren’t exactly up to par, so my hand slid back off and hit the mattress. I groaned slightly in agitation. He chuckled again and leaned forward to kiss my forehead and finally put his head on the pillow with mine and kicked off his shoes and put his legs onto the bed. “Thank you.” I mumbled and put my arm around his chest.

“Are you hungry for breakfast or do you want to sleep?” He asked gently.

I yawned, thinking, then shrugged, “I dunno.”

He grabbed my arm and put it back down by my chest and wrapped his own arm around me, pulling me closer to him, and kissed me, “I love you so much Kristie.”

I smiled as my eyes began to produce tears, “I love you more Justin.”

He chuckled, “I don’t think that’s possible.” He then suddenly sat up and picked me up, bridal style and brought me out of my room into the living room.

“Where are you bringing me?”

“To the living room; we can’t just sleep all day.” He chuckled and placed me down on the couch gently. I sat up to see he had already set up a game board on the coffee table; candy land.

“Justin, this is a little kid’s game;”

“If you win I’ll get you strawberry ice cream-”

“You’re on!” I reached for the deck of cards and pulled the top one; double red spaces.