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Chapter 4

  Each home, small in size. Everyone seemed to know everyone. Natasha's neighborhood was nice. For a trailer park.
  "That's my place down there," Natasha said, pointing to the corner of a brown trailer.
  Natasha held the handlebars of her bike and pushed it forward, leading me to her home. On the way some of her neighbors said hello. Everyone was very friendly to us. It was nice.
  "And here we are," she proclaimed. Natasha pulled her bike to a bike rack and locked it up. "Mind helping me with the bags?"
  I nodded. "Of course."
  "Okay, hold on. Let me get my sister to hold the door." She quickly ran to one of the other houses. On the lawn of that house were two little kids playing with a sprinkler. One of them started to follow Natasha back.
  "Just hold the door, Sally," she told the little girl.
  Sally was tiny and tan and had to be at least six years old. She had light brown hair tied into braids, dripping wet from the sprinkler. She seemed irritated by her sister but helped anyway. She looked at me like I was an alien.
  "Natie, who's she?" Sally asked, holding open the screen door as we entered.
  I smiled. "I'm Krissy."
  Sally glared at me. "Did I ask you?"
  Natasha glared back at her sister. "Don't be rude to guests, sassy pants."
  "Natie! Don't call me that!" Sally yelled, stomping her feet in rage.
  Natasha just laughed and put things away.
  I couldn't help but let my eyes wander around the room. There was a couch, a TV, some framed pictures of friends and family. It reminded me a little of Vince's house. I felt a pain in my chest at the memory. It burned so much that tears started to come from my eyes.
  Natasha turned and looked at me with a smile on her face, then her smile fell. "Krissy, what's wrong?"
  I shook my head a wiped my tears away with my hand. "It's nothing. Nothing at all."
  "Well, if you say so. But if you want to talk, I'll be here for you." She began to grab two cans of pop from the fridge. "Here, take it. These usually help me cheer up."
  "Thank you," I mumbled as I opened the can.
  After a few sips I began to feel a little better. "So Krissy, how do you feel about playing a game while we wait for Grace and Aaron?"
  "A game sounds fun to me."
  Sally walked in with some board games. "I wanna play too!"
  "I thought you didn't like playing games." Natasha said, picking through the boxes.
  "I still don't like games. I just hate her more," she said, pointing to me.
  "You don't even know her."
  "Neither do you! Why do you want to spend time with a stranger?!" Sally yelled, then ran out of the room.
  "Just ignore her. She hates people she doesn't know. She was that way with Grace and Aaron too." Natasha continued to pick a game.
  "She does have a point though," I mumbled. Natasha looked up at me. "I mean, you just met me yesterday, and yet you treat me as if I'm an old friend. Why?"
  Natasha smiled. "When Grace told me you just moved here, I figured you'd be lonely. I mean, I would be. I might not have ever moved away from anywhere at any point in my life, but it's common knowledge that someone would be sad or home sick. It's only natural."
  "I guess you're right," I replied. "You need help picking one of those?"
  "Well if we're going to play it together, I think I will need your input."
  "I get it, I get it," I laughed.
  Before I could even look in the box, there was a knock on the door.
  "I'm coming in!" Grace's voice chimed.
  "Hey Grace," I said, smiling.
  Grace froze, then smiled, then jump hugged me. "Krissy! I didn't know you were coming!"
  "I ran into her when I was out shopping," Natasha said, looking through a game box. "Do you remember what happened to the green piece?"
  Grace cringed. "Didn't I get mad at Aaron and flip that board over?"
  "Oh yeah. No wonder I haven't played this game in forever."
  Soon enough, Aaron walked in. "Hey ladies!" He paused and glared at Grace. "And Grace."
  Grace stuck her to tongue out.
  "Do they do that all the time?" I asked.
  Natasha nodded. "Sad to say yes, but it's true. You're never going to meet people like those two anywhere else."
  I shook my head. "No, I know two people who act just like that."
  "Really? Who?" Grace was eager to learn.
  "My two best friends, Vince and Wendy."
  Grace waited for more. "Well, go on! Tell us about them!"
  "Let's not push her, Grace," Natasha chimed in with a glare.
  "Well why the hell not?!" Grace yelled.
  Aaron put a hand on Grace's shoulder. "She must miss them a lot. Talking about them might upset her."
  Natasha nodded. "Right."
  "I'm still right here you know." I butted in.
  "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a sad topic," Grace said glumly.
  "It's okay," I replied. "I'll just tell you about them some other time. Hey, while we're on the topic of friends, how did you all get so close?"
  Aaron cleared his throat. "It all started in the first grade."
  "No it was after that," Grace amended. "Well we knew about each other in the first grade, but didn't get close until a year later."
  "Can't I ever tell a story?"
  Grace shook her head. "Not if I'm in it. Any who, we all got really close on a field trip. Our teacher paired us in a group together so we could get to know one another."
  "We were in the woods," Natasha added.
  "Yeah," Grace said, smiling. "But then I wandered off away from the teacher and they both came to stop me. Then we got lost."
  "I still hold that against her," Aaron pointed out.
  "Oh get over it you big baby!" Grace smacked his shoulder. "Okay, where did I leave off... right we got lost! So any way, we were all a little scared, we were young after all, and we decided to just sit until someone found us. We began to talk and found out that we enjoyed hanging out with each other!"
  "We sat out there for two hours, then someone found us," Natasha said, taking another sip of her pop.
  "And that's the story! Now want to hear some funny ones? Or one that's more personal? Like the one when Natie--"
  Grace was cut off by Natasha's hand. "That's enough." Her eyes were cold. Natasha removed her hand from Grace's mouth.
  Grace nodded. "Okay. But really Natie, it's not like--"
  "I said enough, Grace. Would you like me to tell everyone in this room the secret you told me?"
  "You better not," Grace muttered darkly.
  "Then don't tell stories that aren't your own."
  The room was quiet for a long time. Then Aaron broke the stressful mood.
  "So, Natie! What have you got to eat? I'm starved!"
  Natasha snapped back into reality. "Uh, let me see." She got up and went into the kitchen.
  Grace just stared at the floor and said nothing. Added no comment. She didn't even give Aaron a dirty look. She just kept her head down, as if to protect herself.
  "Grace you okay?" I asked, shaking her shoulder.
  She quickly snapped her head up and looked at me. "Yeah, I'm okay! Just a little tired is all! Every thing's fine! Don't worry!"
  I nodded. "If you say so."
  "Hey, how do you guys feel about some burgers?" Natasha said from the kitchen.
  We all nodded in agreement.
  "Well okay then! Burgers it is!" Natasha began to hum as she prepared to make the food.

  The day slipped away quickly. We were so caught up talking about nonsense. About places we've been, places we'd like to go, and even what subjects we disliked. Soon it was dark and time to go home.
  "Hey, Krissy! You can get a ride home with me!" Grace yelled.
  "Okay!" I yelled back.
  Natasha stopped me before I left. "Did you have fun?"
  "Yeah, I did. Thanks so much for inviting me."
  "Oh it was no problem at all. Come back anytime you'd like."
  "I think I will," I replied with a smile. "I'll see you around!"
  "Get home safe!" Natasha yelled as I got into Grace's mom's car.
  "You girls have a good time?" Her mom asked.
  "Yeah," we both replied.
  The ride was shorter than I thought it would be and soon we were home.
  Grace's mom went inside. Grace stayed outside with me.
  "Hey, Grace? Can I ask you something?"
  "Sure, what is it?"
  "Where was Natie's mom? She said she was there, but I never saw her."
  Grace frowned. "She told you her mum was home?"
  "Is something wrong?"
  Grace shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just that... Natie's mum isn't really there, you know?"
  "You mean she's dead?"
  "No, no! That's not what I mean at all! I mean, she's not all there mentally, and she stays in bed a lot. Her mum got into a bad car crash some odd years ago and it really messed her up. She's not a nut or anything, it's just that she doesn't remember much. The doctors say she might not ever get better."
  I felt a pain in my chest. One much worse then any pain I had felt before. I felt horrid.
  "Oh my god," I uttered. "What does she have a hard time remembering?"
  "Not much, just names. And her own daughters."
  Now I really felt bad. "How does she act towards them?"
  "She's nice to them. In all honesty, she treats them better now than she ever has. And by that I mean she's more relaxed about them. She feels bad for them. She just thinks that the two of them are her dead sister's kids."
  "Does she really have a dead sister."
  "No. The doctors think it's best not to mess with her memory too much, so they made up that story. Personally, I think the story they made up is worse for her mental state than her finding out that they are her own kids, but, hey, I'm not a doctor. I still can't believe that Natie can still be so kind to people. She's a strong person."
  "That's horrible. It's amazing how well those two can handle it."
  "Yeah, Natie is taking it well. But for a long time, Sally didn't trust anyone in their house. She thought everyone was going to take her mum away, or make her mum forget her."
  I remembered how Sally acted towards me. "She still doesn't trust strangers."
  "Seems so." Grace looked at her wrist watch. "It's late. I should be heading on in, and so should you. And don't worry about Natie."
  "All right." I replied with a weak smile. "Good night."
  "'Night." I watched as Grace went inside, then walked to my own house when Grace shut her door.
  The moment I walked in, my mom was ready to ask me questions. "So where were you? Did you have fun? Were you polite?"
  "Mom, one question at a time!"
  "Right sorry."
  I told her where I went, what it was like, and told her that I said 'thank you'.
  "Well that's good. But don't stay out so late next time!"
  "Okay mom." I said as I walked off to my room.
  I checked my cell for any new messages. There were none to my amazement. It seems that Wendy couldn't think of anything else to ask and that Vince didn't know what else to ask. I cracked a smile thinking about my dorky friends.
  I picked up my scrapbook and decided to read some pages, but then I realized how tired I was and decided to sleep.
  I figured I'd read it some other time. Maybe on a day when I wasn't so stressed.

(Please read artist's comments. Thank you.)

Description
Chapter 4

  Each home, small in size. Everyone seemed to know everyone. Natasha's neighborhood was nice. For a trailer park.
  "That's my place down there," Natasha said, pointing to the corner of a brown trailer.
  Natasha held the handlebars of her bike and pushed it forward, leading me to her home. On the way some of her neighbors said hello. Everyone was very friendly to us. It was nice.
  "And here we are," she proclaimed. Natasha pulled her bike to a bike rack and locked it up. "Mind helping me with the bags?"
  I nodded. "Of course."
  "Okay, hold on. Let me get my sister to hold the door." She quickly ran to one of the other houses. On the lawn of that house were two little kids playing with a sprinkler. One of them started to follow Natasha back.
  "Just hold the door, Sally," she told the little girl.
  Sally was tiny and tan and had to be at least six years old. She had light brown hair tied into braids, dripping wet from the sprinkler. She seemed irritated by her sister but helped anyway. She looked at me like I was an alien.
  "Natie, who's she?" Sally asked, holding open the screen door as we entered.
  I smiled. "I'm Krissy."
  Sally glared at me. "Did I ask you?"
  Natasha glared back at her sister. "Don't be rude to guests, sassy pants."
  "Natie! Don't call me that!" Sally yelled, stomping her feet in rage.
  Natasha just laughed and put things away.
  I couldn't help but let my eyes wander around the room. There was a couch, a TV, some framed pictures of friends and family. It reminded me a little of Vince's house. I felt a pain in my chest at the memory. It burned so much that tears started to come from my eyes.
  Natasha turned and looked at me with a smile on her face, then her smile fell. "Krissy, what's wrong?"
  I shook my head a wiped my tears away with my hand. "It's nothing. Nothing at all."
  "Well, if you say so. But if you want to talk, I'll be here for you." She began to grab two cans of pop from the fridge. "Here, take it. These usually help me cheer up."
  "Thank you," I mumbled as I opened the can.
  After a few sips I began to feel a little better. "So Krissy, how do you feel about playing a game while we wait for Grace and Aaron?"
  "A game sounds fun to me."
  Sally walked in with some board games. "I wanna play too!"
  "I thought you didn't like playing games." Natasha said, picking through the boxes.
  "I still don't like games. I just hate her more," she said, pointing to me.
  "You don't even know her."
  "Neither do you! Why do you want to spend time with a stranger?!" Sally yelled, then ran out of the room.
  "Just ignore her. She hates people she doesn't know. She was that way with Grace and Aaron too." Natasha continued to pick a game.
  "She does have a point though," I mumbled. Natasha looked up at me. "I mean, you just met me yesterday, and yet you treat me as if I'm an old friend. Why?"
  Natasha smiled. "When Grace told me you just moved here, I figured you'd be lonely. I mean, I would be. I might not have ever moved away from anywhere at any point in my life, but it's common knowledge that someone would be sad or home sick. It's only natural."
  "I guess you're right," I replied. "You need help picking one of those?"
  "Well if we're going to play it together, I think I will need your input."
  "I get it, I get it," I laughed.
  Before I could even look in the box, there was a knock on the door.
  "I'm coming in!" Grace's voice chimed.
  "Hey Grace," I said, smiling.
  Grace froze, then smiled, then jump hugged me. "Krissy! I didn't know you were coming!"
  "I ran into her when I was out shopping," Natasha said, looking through a game box. "Do you remember what happened to the green piece?"
  Grace cringed. "Didn't I get mad at Aaron and flip that board over?"
  "Oh yeah. No wonder I haven't played this game in forever."
  Soon enough, Aaron walked in. "Hey ladies!" He paused and glared at Grace. "And Grace."
  Grace stuck her to tongue out.
  "Do they do that all the time?" I asked.
  Natasha nodded. "Sad to say yes, but it's true. You're never going to meet people like those two anywhere else."
  I shook my head. "No, I know two people who act just like that."
  "Really? Who?" Grace was eager to learn.
  "My two best friends, Vince and Wendy."
  Grace waited for more. "Well, go on! Tell us about them!"
  "Let's not push her, Grace," Natasha chimed in with a glare.
  "Well why the hell not?!" Grace yelled.
  Aaron put a hand on Grace's shoulder. "She must miss them a lot. Talking about them might upset her."
  Natasha nodded. "Right."
  "I'm still right here you know." I butted in.
  "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a sad topic," Grace said glumly.
  "It's okay," I replied. "I'll just tell you about them some other time. Hey, while we're on the topic of friends, how did you all get so close?"
  Aaron cleared his throat. "It all started in the first grade."
  "No it was after that," Grace amended. "Well we knew about each other in the first grade, but didn't get close until a year later."
  "Can't I ever tell a story?"
  Grace shook her head. "Not if I'm in it. Any who, we all got really close on a field trip. Our teacher paired us in a group together so we could get to know one another."
  "We were in the woods," Natasha added.
  "Yeah," Grace said, smiling. "But then I wandered off away from the teacher and they both came to stop me. Then we got lost."
  "I still hold that against her," Aaron pointed out.
  "Oh get over it you big baby!" Grace smacked his shoulder. "Okay, where did I leave off... right we got lost! So any way, we were all a little scared, we were young after all, and we decided to just sit until someone found us. We began to talk and found out that we enjoyed hanging out with each other!"
  "We sat out there for two hours, then someone found us," Natasha said, taking another sip of her pop.
  "And that's the story! Now want to hear some funny ones? Or one that's more personal? Like the one when Natie--"
  Grace was cut off by Natasha's hand. "That's enough." Her eyes were cold. Natasha removed her hand from Grace's mouth.
  Grace nodded. "Okay. But really Natie, it's not like--"
  "I said enough, Grace. Would you like me to tell everyone in this room the secret you told me?"
  "You better not," Grace muttered darkly.
  "Then don't tell stories that aren't your own."
  The room was quiet for a long time. Then Aaron broke the stressful mood.
  "So, Natie! What have you got to eat? I'm starved!"
  Natasha snapped back into reality. "Uh, let me see." She got up and went into the kitchen.
  Grace just stared at the floor and said nothing. Added no comment. She didn't even give Aaron a dirty look. She just kept her head down, as if to protect herself.
  "Grace you okay?" I asked, shaking her shoulder.
  She quickly snapped her head up and looked at me. "Yeah, I'm okay! Just a little tired is all! Every thing's fine! Don't worry!"
  I nodded. "If you say so."
  "Hey, how do you guys feel about some burgers?" Natasha said from the kitchen.
  We all nodded in agreement.
  "Well okay then! Burgers it is!" Natasha began to hum as she prepared to make the food.

  The day slipped away quickly. We were so caught up talking about nonsense. About places we've been, places we'd like to go, and even what subjects we disliked. Soon it was dark and time to go home.
  "Hey, Krissy! You can get a ride home with me!" Grace yelled.
  "Okay!" I yelled back.
  Natasha stopped me before I left. "Did you have fun?"
  "Yeah, I did. Thanks so much for inviting me."
  "Oh it was no problem at all. Come back anytime you'd like."
  "I think I will," I replied with a smile. "I'll see you around!"
  "Get home safe!" Natasha yelled as I got into Grace's mom's car.
  "You girls have a good time?" Her mom asked.
  "Yeah," we both replied.
  The ride was shorter than I thought it would be and soon we were home.
  Grace's mom went inside. Grace stayed outside with me.
  "Hey, Grace? Can I ask you something?"
  "Sure, what is it?"
  "Where was Natie's mom? She said she was there, but I never saw her."
  Grace frowned. "She told you her mum was home?"
  "Is something wrong?"
  Grace shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just that... Natie's mum isn't really there, you know?"
  "You mean she's dead?"
  "No, no! That's not what I mean at all! I mean, she's not all there mentally, and she stays in bed a lot. Her mum got into a bad car crash some odd years ago and it really messed her up. She's not a nut or anything, it's just that she doesn't remember much. The doctors say she might not ever get better."
  I felt a pain in my chest. One much worse then any pain I had felt before. I felt horrid.
  "Oh my god," I uttered. "What does she have a hard time remembering?"
  "Not much, just names. And her own daughters."
  Now I really felt bad. "How does she act towards them?"
  "She's nice to them. In all honesty, she treats them better now than she ever has. And by that I mean she's more relaxed about them. She feels bad for them. She just thinks that the two of them are her dead sister's kids."
  "Does she really have a dead sister."
  "No. The doctors think it's best not to mess with her memory too much, so they made up that story. Personally, I think the story they made up is worse for her mental state than her finding out that they are her own kids, but, hey, I'm not a doctor. I still can't believe that Natie can still be so kind to people. She's a strong person."
  "That's horrible. It's amazing how well those two can handle it."
  "Yeah, Natie is taking it well. But for a long time, Sally didn't trust anyone in their house. She thought everyone was going to take her mum away, or make her mum forget her."
  I remembered how Sally acted towards me. "She still doesn't trust strangers."
  "Seems so." Grace looked at her wrist watch. "It's late. I should be heading on in, and so should you. And don't worry about Natie."
  "All right." I replied with a weak smile. "Good night."
  "'Night." I watched as Grace went inside, then walked to my own house when Grace shut her door.
  The moment I walked in, my mom was ready to ask me questions. "So where were you? Did you have fun? Were you polite?"
  "Mom, one question at a time!"
  "Right sorry."
  I told her where I went, what it was like, and told her that I said 'thank you'.
  "Well that's good. But don't stay out so late next time!"
  "Okay mom." I said as I walked off to my room.
  I checked my cell for any new messages. There were none to my amazement. It seems that Wendy couldn't think of anything else to ask and that Vince didn't know what else to ask. I cracked a smile thinking about my dorky friends.
  I picked up my scrapbook and decided to read some pages, but then I realized how tired I was and decided to sleep.
  I figured I'd read it some other time. Maybe on a day when I wasn't so stressed.

(Please read artist's comments. Thank you.)