After her room was as spotless as it could get, she exited.

She went through and cleaned her entire apartment, not missing a single thing.

The entire time she was cleaning, she was trying to not think. She focused on narrating her movement and actions, occupying her mind with that rather than the infinite train of thought she could acquire, if she didn't.

By the time her apartment was pure, spotless, organized, and dusted to perfection, she was starting to feel the downward tug of exhaustion on her body. She simply ignored it and went into the kitchen.

As she began making herself fried rice that she would most likely not eat, she allowed her mind to wander to it's minuscule borders she set.

Those borders were set around herself, Rachel, her house, and her sisters. She rarely thought about anything else, both by choice and both by the force of her fear.

Anyway. Her mind went to Rachel. Quite literally her only friend, who also happened to be her assigned therapy. If they hadn't got so close, she would still be fighting to get rid of her. The medications and therapy sessions and constant enforcement of those things got old, but it was Rachel... She couldn't deny her for very long.

Malory's rice was burning.

She made herself a plate and went back into her bedroom. The balcony door was open still, and the breeze was just as strong. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain again. The carpet all around the open doors was soaked.

She set her plate on her bed, and closed the doors, as she moved out onto the balcony and into the rain.

She grinned as the raindrops stung her skin, and she took a deep breath.

She got on her hands and knees, and slowly lifted herself into a handstand by the railing. If she fell backwards, her legs would go enough over to bring the rest of her body.

Instead she slowly tilted backwards, lowered her legs, and pressed the back of her knees to the top of the railing. She pushed herself up, so she was sitting on the railing, facing a thirty-story drop onto hard pavement and the brightly lot city in the pouring rain.

Malory grinned, and held tightly to the railing, letting herself lean forward. She would fall and die if her hands slipped on the wet metal, which was very likely to happen.

The rush this was giving her was making her laugh with glee, her eyes closed and head tilted back so the rain painfully hit her face and neck.

She let herself fall backwards, and her back hit the concrete balcony floor with a painful-sounding thump, but she still just laughed.

She let her feet stay up against the railing, and had the rain hit the bottom of her bare feet, spreading her arms out as she lay there.

"Life's too short to even care at all..." Her ringtone suddenly began, from inside on her bed, interrupting her demented moment of bliss.

She scowled, jumped up and stormed in, wiping her wet hands on her black comforter before answering the sleek Android.

"Hello?" She began crankily, looking back out at the balcony longingly.

"Hello, this is Harley Penn, is Malory Penn available?" The familiar voice of her sister answered, not sounding upset in the least at Mal's rudeness.

"Oh, hey Harles, that's me." The elder sister grinned at the unexpected call and pushed her wet hair back, stepping to the side and closing the balcony doors.

"Mal? Good grief, you sound horrible!" The younger exclaimed rather loudly into the receiver.

"Love you too." Malory responded dryly, sitting on her bed and beginning to eat her now-cold fried rice.

"Anyway, hi! How are you? Good, that's good, I'm having trouble. The bank isn't letting me withdrawal any of my share of the cash mom and dad left. They're saying I need to have all remaining members of the family present to get into it." Harley rambled, speaking quickly but surprisingly clearly.

"...right. Haven't you gotten into it before, though?" Malory replied, her mouth full and water dripping into her ear from her hair, but she didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"No, I only turned eighteen two years ago, Mal. I'm going to be twenty next month. Liz and I had decided that we were going to live off our jobs until we couldn't any more, until it cost too much for the two of us, and we got there after the piping burst last winter." the younger rambled once again, sounding exasperated. "We've got enough money to stay in a hotel for a week, but after that we're broke without getting into my share."

"Uh. Okay, right. I can make it over in less than a week... You guys are still in Montana, right?" Malory sighed, scratching her brow in thought and staring at her feet.

"Yeah, in Great Falls. Call me once you're in town and we'll come pick you up." Harley said finitely, thinking things were all settled.

"I'll call you again tomorrow to sort things out. Love you, see you soon."

"Harley, slow down! Listen-" Mal began, but it was pointless because her sister had already hung up.

The tired young woman groaned dramatically and lay down on the bed stiffly for a few moments before picking up her phone again to make a call.