I continued teaching the basics after the light turned on again, quite a rude awaking, frankly. After another hour of fishing for breakfast, we all settled in for some food. I walked over to Mr. Thompson after I made sure the whole woods wouldn't catch fire. "Hey." I waved.

"Hello s-Alex." He said catching himself.

"I'm sorry about last night, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I do need your help. I was stupid to think I could do it by myself. Please, please help me Mr. Thompson."

He broke into a small grin. "I'd be glad to help!"

"Great! What should I do?"

"Well, if you teach me quickly, I could help teach, three teaching four, more one on one experience works for people, the kids should stay together though."

"Good point."

After bring Mr. Thompson up-to-date, he began teaching Mrs. Jones, he's rather a softy, which is surprising giving his military background. Sara had the baker's wife, while I had the kids. Having someone close to my age to teach was weird, yet I did enjoy teaching them. The kids learned just as fast, if not faster than Sara, although they were much more scared and afraid compared to everyone else, I could manage fear. Fear drives people to do all kinds of things, from love to death to everything in between. The benefit of teaching the kids was that they had someone to talk to all the time, and I could have a little alone time to think.

I have made many mistakes in my brief time on this earth, but I've also learned a lot. I have finally come to reason, Sara was right (don't tell her I told you that), I have done a lot. There will always be that one thing I can't accomplish, but that doesn't mean I can't accomplish more then most adults can. I've learned that adults think and talk too much, they never just act, if they did one action for every time they talked to someone about problems, we'd have only a handful of problems left. I have also learned something few remember as they get older, the meaning of having and being a true friend. Though as we age, the job requirements of being a friend change. Before it was going out to your favorite part of the park and playing and chat for hours together. As an adult though, sometimes it's having a cup of coffee and talking about less stressful things in life or driving them home after they've had one too many glasses of catnip wine. I've learned that cats are meant to come into our lives for multiple reasons. Some cats change us, some cats help us, and still even more cats show us who not to be. Some of them will only stay for a day, others a few months, but those that stay for years are the ones to treasure most dearly. I know most people in town, but only one sticks out to me as a true friend, Sara.

Not because she has this gift of look at me in the eye and making me calm, but because she has stuck by my side through thick and thin (like paper thin). That is what makes Sara the best friend I could ever hope for.

During my time of being able to think, I realized that this was the closest thing I ever had to a family, a true family. Blood does not make a family, trust and friendship makes a family. The kids caught me zoned out, stuck in my own thoughts. "Whatcha ya doing?" John, the youngest, asked.

"Well, I was thinking." I told them.

"What about?" Asked the older, Samantha.

"How much y'all mean to me." I replied while giving John a hug.

"How much do we mean to ya?" The older asked suspiciously.

"More then my words can show." I retorted.

"Mmmhh" She said with some sass, like any other girl her age would have.

"What? My vocabulary's small! I don't know as much as some," I paused. "But even if I had the best vocabulary, I would be hard pressed to find words that describe how much y'all mean to me."

Smile crept onto Samantha's lips. "Fine."

I looked at the slightly diming fluorescent lights and guessed it was about time to head back to our little camp. "Let's head back y'all."

On our way back, John asked. "When do we get to go back?"

"We're going back now." I said.

"No, I mean back home." He persisted, emphasizing the word "home."

"John, guess what," I told him. "We're going home today, once we met up with the others. You two have learned a ton! I'm proud of you both." I really was proud.

"WHAT!?!?!?!?" John and Samantha yelled in sync. Then proceed to jump up and down, John even attempted to jump on a tree branch but fell trying. This made me smile and laugh a little. I always loved little kids for a reason.

The entire way back to camp, Samantha was doing some very impressive cartwheels given the fact that the ground was not even. John was also singing/screaming at the top of his lungs from excitement. I most certainly enjoyed our trip back.