"Oh," she said. Lee took a regretful step into the kitchen just as Edgar released me. I brushed my hands down my shirt, a nervous habit. Lee was looking at the floor, with pure amusement in her features. Walking in on her brother hugging a girl. I bet she would dish this to their parents later.

"Hello Lee," Edgar sounded so calm. I looked at him, wondering if he really didn't mind being caught. He looked at ease, standing but a foot from me. Lee smiled at him and went to the fridge, while I heard a shy chuckle trying to be muffled.

"So, kitty cat, when do I get to pet you?" Lee's mock sarcasm shined in her face when she came barreling around with tons of letfovers, cascading in her arms. They tumbled on the counter across from us. As she worked, Edgar explained what he already told me. I didn't listen.

Why had he hugged me? Of all things, a hug?

I wasn't used to being so puzzled. I obviously wasn't used to hugs, also. In that moment though.. I would trade anything in the world to be there again. It made me have a sense of safety underneath all my confusion.

During my thoughts, I caught hold of their conversation. I wish I hadn't afterwards.

"Meridian came in after you left," Lee's voice was teasing,"She asked whether you came in for your afternoon hit. She was a little unnerved to hear about you with-," she broke off when she noticed I had come around to listening.

'you with-', but with what? Another one? With a monster? That was a little hypocritical I thought. She was one too, y'know! I could smell the soft scent of fur on her skin.

"Well, I think you should call her. She's mad about you calling off your dinner the other night", she hustled the food together. It looked like we would be joined with the whole family soon. I cleared my throat a little, catching Edgar's eye.

"I should really be going. My aunt will flip soon enough, and spill to my dear old uncle," I reached the door frame to the living room by the last word. I heard no one follow, so I showed myself out. When I got to my door though, someone shut it before I got it one inch open.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" Edgar was leaning on my door nonchalantly,"What I mean was, will I see you out of school, tomorrow?"

"I don't know, I might become busy, or you might," I tried to be evasive. Would he really want to see me tomrrow? Would I want to see him? That was a silly question. Of course I would. But he, he has... obligations.

"I won't be," he smiled, and raised his left eyebrow,"If I maye ask, what would you be doing tomorrow?"

I got frustrated with his smiling face, and ended up pulling my door open. After watching him almost fall to the ground, I felt a lot better.

"Seeing a friend," I mumbled when I moved into my seat. His hand caught at the door before I could slam it.

"That friend would be me, Abelinda," he leaned in so his face was close to mine,"I'm not finished with you yet, kitten."

Somewhere in his throat, came the sound of a purring cat. The sound was low, but it made my spine tingle. He slowly back away from me, and closed my door with a light push.

I watched him walk to his front door, his smooth step irritated me. When he got there, as I knew he would, Edgar turned around and smiled at me wickedly. I started my car fast and hit reverse, and stomped on the gas. The squeal my car gave was embarrasing, but I did not care one bit.

When I arrived at my new home, my Aunt and Uncle's, I resurfaced from my numb state. I started wondering how come I didn't see one red flashing light behind me on my way home. I had to have gone over 20 mph of the speed limit at least. Nope. Not one. Weird.

What was really weird was that the reception I got when I walked through the door. Aunt Jen was agitated, that was obvious. Before I could slip out one word, she was zinging away on the local gossip. Gossip about me.

"So, I went shopping today, Abby. While I was in the fruit section, guess what I heard!" She was shaking to let me know.

"Uhh..." was my great response.

"A little cherry let me know that my niece was flouncing around with a boy at the coffee shop. A coffee shop that boy's sister owns! Even left with him!" She put her hands on her hips, and raised one eyebrow at me.

Response? 'Oh, don't worry, he's like me.'
Nope.
'Calm down, it was a coffee and a show around the town'- that was good right?
Didn't use it though.

"E-Edgar just wanted to uh.. Wanted to let me see the uh, uhm, the town, Aunt Jen," I was proud to have gotten that all out. I was pressing my hands together so hard, I knew I was going to lose the feeling in them anytime now. Aunt Jen didn't seem to believe my excuse, but she let it pass with a huff. She turned around, and headed for the kitchen, muttering something about 'What am I gonna tell the girls..?'

I had another burning moment, wondering why in the heck Christian wasn't a girl. It would make this living arrangement easier. Aunt Jen would fuss over him, not me.

Speaking of Christian, he was rolling on the couch, just about having the laugh of his life. Let's see if he gets the last biscuit tonight at dinner again.

In my room, I threw my bag down and started in on my cork board. Tearing all the notes down, and replacing them with new ones. About getting a job, homework, projects that needed to be finished, even a goals list.

When I sat on the floor, I squashed an old note that used to be on the board. When I smoothed it out, I found it wasn't a note. It was a picture.

A man was sitting with his arm around a young woman. He had the comb over perfected. He face was a little worn, but handsome all the same. A little mustache made its home on his upper lip, giving the effect of an older-wiser look. His smiling eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses.

The woman to his left was almost the opposite. A bright face, with a smile so beautiful you'd think it would make you cry. Her long locks were curled slightly at the ends. Their blue eyes seemed to eminate love for the little toddler in her lap, who wasn't even looking at the camera. It's eyes were only for the two parents it sat with. It was a happy family picture. With love and caring intertwined through them all.

I crunched it into a ball and threw it under the bed. Trying harder than ever not to think, then laid on the bed, concentrating on breathing. Deep breath in through the mouth, smoothly out the noise. Over, and over. Until, finally, she fell asleep.

Through the layers of sleep she fell through, she ended up on her bed. Her bed from a younger Abby. It was sparkly, with unicorns running across pink clouds to a sunset at the end of her bed. She knew she was dreaming then, because she heard a voice she's missed for the last 6 months. Soft like feathers, it drifted to her.

"Abelinda Marie, you better have your toosh in bed! I'm coming up," her mother's voice sent a shock down her back, then up again. She heard footsteps leading to her bedroom, and scrambled under the covers, a reflex almost. The door opened and her mother walked in. The smile she wore, exactly like the picture, made Abby's eyes burn.

"So, is my little girl ready to get tucked in?" She laughed at my sour expression.

The scene abruptly changed.

The woman that had bent down to tuck her in was now pulling her roughly up and out of the door, leaving a white bedset in a mess on her floor. Her mother looked aged, pain stricken and worried.

"Mom, what's happening?" She asked bravely while being shuffled down towards the kitchen's back door.

"They came. They're out front. Your father is waiting for you around the corner in the truck, run fast!" She pushed me in the direction  she pointed, but I froze

"You aren't staying behind,"I pulled her sleeve ruthlessly. She looked at me, and the strength that held her.

"Abelinda, go. I'll just slow them, I promise you, I will come later," she shoved me towards the corner street, then ran, and I saw remnants of her clothes flying before she was fully in the house.

I woke up with a start.

My clothes from yesterday were still on, and a little hot, and sticky with my sleep sweat. When I ventured towards my closet, my clock confirmed I had slept for five hours. I had missed dinner, but strangely wasn't hungry. I also missed my opportunity at re-doing my corckboard,

Stripes flashed in my mind. The last memory of my mother. My mother in her real skin.

Tears welled up in my eyes painfully, as I turned for my bed. When I sank slowly down, I prayed urgently for no dreams.

The night was passing swiftly. All dreams forgotten, and sensless oblivion poisoned my mind.

Floating over the black goo in my mind, I saw pictures I could handle. My aunt's face with a frustrated and almost disappointed look. Christian when he was in High School, morfing into the lazy one now. The look in my Uncle's eyes in the next image, made me smile, while his was bright, and lively.

And the last, was dear Egar's. His green eyes staring up at me from a desk in the back. Frozen it seemed, like I entranced him. The image changed every few seconds... changing to each time I had looked back. The emotion in his eyes altering. Wonder. Amazement. Worried. Curious. All the while holding still his pencil, and most of his body. His foot was jiggling anxiously though, I noticed indifferently. I wonder why he so anx-...

Then, a sound cracked my cocoon. When I jolted out of bed, I hit a pair of hands.

"JESUS CHRIST!", I got half of it out, while the rest was muffed out by one of the hands I had hit.

"Abelinda.."

The sighed name meant nothing, the desperation in it was flawless. But the hand on my mouth was not rough, it treated me like a new born, while the other moved to rub my back.

He sighed, not a name, but some weird word I didn't know.

With all my focus on him, I didn't realize what was being hurtled toward me the next second. I was out.