Cindy pulled into the parking lot of the town's small coffee shop named The Coffee House. Original, right?

Once she stepped out of the car, I did too and followed her inside. The Coffee House was decorated with a retro theme with black and white tiles on the walls, a juke box sitting in the front, and several records lining the walls. It was quite original compared to their name.

Cindy picked a small round table by one of the large windows in the front of the shop. I sat down across from her and we waited to order from one of the waitresses on roller skates.

We both ordered cappuchino and sat back as we waited for them to bring them to us.

The question I so patiently waited to ask was itching to come out. I finally spoke up after we received our hot cups of cappuchino.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked slightly rudely. I honestly didn't care because I knew what this woman had done once upon a time. Why should she have my sympathy?

"I wanted to tell you the story of my life." She told my calmly. I sat back in my seat and narrowed my eyes at the older-looking woman. She looked older than she was one could assume because of the drugs.

"I know that you don't exactly trust me. I'm sure Hunter has told you what I've done in the past and that it wasn't right by no means. I just wanted to prove myself to you. I'm not all that horrible. I just want my family back." She stated in almost monotone. I wanted to believe her, I really did. But when you grew up with a lying, cheating mother like I did, you start to lose your trust for some people.

Cindy was one of them.

"Go on," I said quietly as I leaned forward on the table.

Cindy took a deep breath and then sipped her cappuchino.

"I grew up in a home with both my parents and my younger sister. My sister's name was Julie. She was the sweetest little girl ever. We were both young when our parents left us. I was sixteen and she was around six or seven. My mother told me they were going on a trip and they'd be back soon." She told me quietly.

"We've - well, I've never seen them since. Julie and I moved in with our grandparents. They had no clue either; all of us were left in the dark. But besides my parents leaving Julie and me behind with no family, I also lost myself in that." I couldn't help but notice how calm and casual Cindy was while she talked about her past. It was interesting seeing that I am always emotional when it comes to my mother. The emotion I usually show when I talk about her is anger, but at least it's something.

"When I met Hunter's father I thought the universe was finally on my side. Hunter's father, Keith, was a good man. He, to put it romantically, swept me off my feet. I was so happy when I was with him and yet still, I found that nothing stays how you like it for long.

"Soon enough, I turned eighteen and Keith asked me to marry him. I got pregnant when I was nineteen, with Hunter. We made ourselves a home in Virginia, where I was born and raised. We were all very happy. And then came along my sweet little Jamie." The first sign of emotion was when Cindy choked on Jamie's name. She'd lost a child and I could see it was painful for her to talk about. You have a widower when a person loses their spouse, but what do you call a person that loses a child? I'd always asked myself that question.

"Has Hunter told you much about Jamie?" Cindy asked me. I blinked a few times before answering, not expecting to talk so soon.

"Um, no. He told me what happened to her, but that's about it." I tried to think back and remember if he told me little things about his sister, but I couldn't think of anything.

"Jamie was a smart little girl. She loved to dance, sing, draw, and she loved doing math. It was her favorite subject for a reason I'll never understand. Well, when Jamie was old enough to understand certain things, my husband took advantage of that. I wasn't sure where that behavior came from, but I knew I didn't like it one bit.

"I tried to get him to stay the same person he was when I met him, but it never worked. He'd hit me and tell me to leave every time I told him stop whatever he was doing to her. I eventually turned to drugs. It took the pain away momentarily and I liked that. My mind never went to how my son would feel. I never felt more pain when he was taken away and my daughter was taken from me." She sighed and took a swig of her drink to keep her throat hydrated.

"She's in God's hands, I like to think. It's a much better place than down here. Up there she can dance and sing and draw and do as much math as she wants. She's my little angel." I nodded in agreement with Cindy as she closed her eyes for a moment. I knew at that point that I couldn't force Hunter to stay here. Although I still have my doubts about this woman in front of me, no one is perfect and I understood that.
I couldn't even ask Hunter to stay. His mother clearly needed him more than I did.

I reached across the table laid my hand on too of Cindy's in a small attempt to comfort her. She gave me a small smile.

"Jasey, I know you must really like my son if you were willing to come with me. I'm merely a stranger yams you still came with me to give me a chance. You're a very good person." She sucked in a breath.

"I need him. I've almost gone insane without Hunter the past years. I need him to keep me sane." She spoke finally and looked into my eyes.

"He's eighteen and a senior in high school. I've missed his high school years and that's... pretty pathetic of me." She added.

"I'm so sorry for the things you've gone through." I spoke quietly and kept my eyes trained on my styrofoam cup.

"You need Hunter more than I could've imagined." I stood up and pulled a ten dollar bill from my pocket and laid it on the table for the drinks. "I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. I hope you guys find a home in New York and can start fresh." I sent her a reassuring smile and turned to leave the shop when I realized she was my ride.

"I'll be out in a second." Cindy called happily to me when she saw I realized I couldn't leave yet. I nodded my head and went ahead out to the car.

Cindy dropped me off at the garage again and told me goodbye. She acted as if we never talked about any of that stuff which made me worry, but I told myself it was just my misjudgment.

Cindy pulled into the road and drive towards the motel she told me on the way here that she was staying at.

I walked over to my car and was about to get in when I heard a meow sound. I looked around, doing a 360 spin in search for a cat. My eyes landed on a familiar looking kitty walking gracefully across a puddle of ice towards me. I smiled sadly and bent down to pick up Shiloh. I had nearly forgotten about him with all that's been going on lately.

I could have gotten in my car and drove back home with him, but I remembered that Hunter would be worried if he couldn't find him later.

With a breath of confidence, I walked up I to the garage and up the stairs that led to his bedroom. I knocked once and held Shiloh closer to me. When no one answered, I knocked again.

I heard faint footsteps moving around inside the room and decided I'd just talk to him out here. If he didn't want to talk to me, I'd get it. I basically attacked his mother earlier.

"Hunter, I'm taking Shiloh. Okay? If you don't answer back then I'm taking that as a yes." I listened. The footsteps froze and the silence became deafening after a moment.

"Okay, I'm taking him." I said a little more quietly.

"I'm sorry, Hunter. You do need to go with her. Just know that I-" I stopped myself from saying those three words. They could ruin a lot of things.

"Know that I'm sorry." I said quickly and disappeared down the steps and it toy car, driving away towards my house.

*****

I walked into the house and heard shouts and screams coming from the living room. I recognized the voices immediately; Keaton was here and he must've been torching Lilly somehow. Even at the sound of my best friend screaming yet also giggling, I couldn't bring myself to walk in there and smile at them. Instead, I trudged back the hallway to my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I put Shiloh on the floor for him to roam around and I watched as he disappeared into my messy closet.

After I took all my extra clothes off, I sat down on the edge of my bed and fell back onto the pillows. Nothing would be better right then than a nap. I could just disappear into my dreams for a little while. But of course, that would be too much to ask because as soon as I closed my eyes, there was a knock at the door. Groaning loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear, I marched over to the door and flung it open.

Lilly stood in front of me with messy hair and makeup along with disheveled clothes. Her bottom lip jutted out and her eyes grew round.

"Fix me, please?" I could tell she was only trying to make me laugh. I sighed and turned around.

"Only if you can fix me," I said more to myself. After sitting on the edge of the bed, Lilly came and sat down right next to me while pulling her hair up into a neat ponytail.

"What's up buttercup? Is something wrong?" Lilly asked me lightly as she turned my face towards hers.

"Hunter." Was all I had to say before I let the whole story fall out of my mouth. I told her everything from eavesdropping to Cindy's past to Shiloh. At the sound of his name, Shiloh came from inside my closet and jumped up on Lilly's lap, rubbing his body against her stomach and purring. Lilly jumped slightly, surprised that a random cat just jumped up on her lap.

"Isn't Amanda allergic to this thing?" Lilly asked as she picked him up and looked at him as if she were inspecting him.I scoffed playfully and grabbed him from her hands.

"Shiloh is not an it. And I don't know if she is or not. I plan on finding out tonight." I told her and held Shiloh close to my chest.

"I'm sorry this is happening but as you always used to say, everything happens for a reason." She threw her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. I allowed her to hug for a moment longer until Shiloh jumped out of my hold and went exploring again. I smiled at him and followed Lily when she stood up.

"Wanna watch a movie with us?" She asked me hopefully. I rolled my eyes and nodded my head, not wanting to be alone so I could dwell on things. I wanted nothing more than to not think about him anymore if this is how it's going to be. I made sure to lock Shiloh in my room so he couldn't escape with me knowing before joining everyone in the living room for a movie.

*****

I didn't know what to expect the next morning. I woke up at 6:30 due to the smell of fried bacon filling my nose. Confused and probably looking like a wild child, I sat up off the couch that I must;ve fallen asleep on that night. I followed the sound of people chattering quietly and ended up in the kitchen.

I peeked in and saw Reese, Keaton, Lilly, and Dad all sat around the table with empty plates in front of them while they talked. Amanda was standing at the stove flipping eggs over while they fried. When I made a full appearnace into the kitchen, all conversation stopped and I froze in my spot. Everyone except Amanda was looking at me. Dad even turned around in his seat to give me a look of pitty.

"Um, can I help you all?" I asked in my groggy morning voice.

"No, no. Come sit down and eat." Dad told me in an overly-happy voice. I raised an eyebrow at him and sat down in my normal seat.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked Dad as I took a sip of the Orange Juice Amanda sat in front of me.

"Just decided to stay and see you kids this morning. Keaton ended up staying the night and so did Lilly. We just wanted to make breakfast." Dad told me. I wasn't sure if I was the only one who noticed how weird the air was this morning.

Either way, I knew I was starving and wanting to get the day over with so I could come back home and sulk.

Amanda sat a plate in front of me and everyone else before sitting down herself. Everyone ate in silence for the most part. I didn't really question it until I noticed Reese and Lilly randomly stealing glances at me. They would hurriedly look back down at their food when I would catch them staring.

Finally, I grew tired of the deafening silence. Silence seemed to be the loudest noise ever.

I dropped my fork on the table causing a ding noise that caught everyone's attention.

"Okay, would you guys like to tell me what's going on?" I huffed. Everyone's shoulders seemed to relax as they exhaled the stiff air.

"What do you mean?" Reese asked and shrugged his shoulders. I narrowed my eyes at my brother and folded my arms across my chest.

"I know something's going in and you guys aren't telling me." I said, clearly not in the mood for this.

When no one answered, I turned to Lilly. I knew I would get her to crack.

"Lilly?" I asked almost pleadingly, cocking an eyebrow. She stared ate while biting her lip which I've learned over the years meant that she was breaking down.

She finally sighed defeatedly, "Hunter came by this morning to say goodbye and we thought you didn't want to talk to him so we didn't wake you up. We know it's a touchy subject." She blurted everything out in what seemed like one sentence.

My jaw dropped. They really didn't wake me up?

"Why didn't you wake me up?!" I practically yelled. Then, I turned to Lilly and felt my face redden.

"Did you tell them everything?" I whispered just enough for her to hear. She shook her head furiously.

"No, I didn't. They already know that Hunter was a touchy a subject with you." She explained. I sighed and stepped away from my chair.

"Jasey, It'll be okay. He'll be back before you know it." Dad grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him to try and hug me. I pushed away from him and walked back to my room to get ready for school.

I was in no mood to dress myself, so I slipped on an old hoodie and a pair of jeans to wear with my vans. I managed to escape to the car before Reese drive off. I assumed Lilly would be taken by Keaton to school.

Walking down the hallways at school with my hood over my head and my hands shoved in my pockets, I realized something.

While I was getting stares from here and there and questions thrown at me asking where Hunter was, I could see that I was nothing without him anymore. With him by my side walking down these halls, we were something. Together we seemed to be everything; everyone asked about us, everyone wanted to know if we were together yet. Now I knew what was going to happen. I'd become the nothing I was before Hunter showed up.

He would soon become nothing but a memory floating around in my head, looking for a way to get lost until finally, he did.

______________

Hi!

Song is The Memory by Mayday Parade. I made the edit but the picture was not mine. Credit to whosever it was (found on We Heart It)

Question: So, is everyone excited for Christmas? If you don't celebrate Christmas, what holiday do you celebrate during the holidays?

I'm going to tell you right now that I'm honestly not sure if I had mentioned Hunter's dad's name in here before. I apologize for this because I should've wrote it down. My story-making process is usually well-thought out most of the time and I guess I just forgot to write his name down somewhere.

If some of you were wondering: Cappuchino is a hot drink that is sweeter than coffee and comes in a few different flavors. I get it all the time at Sheetz because I'm not a big fan of normal coffee!

If anyone wanted to make a banner/ cover or whatever else, email it to me at [email protected]

Fun fact: my birthday is in this lovely and snowy month of December and I can't wait for it because I'll be 16!