Kane is still asleep, but I open my eyes to see the rest of my roommates up and about.

Mathea stands in the small bathroom available for us and turns the sink tap open. Unfortunately, no water comes out of it. She then stretches her hand into the shower to turn that tap open, but her actions have the same result; there is no water.

Honestly, I'm not too bothered about not showering, but I am sure Thea will be the first one to complain to Isiah about this. My only concern is when I will be able to see the doctor that will be able to help me. I need that doctor to cure me, so I can go back to my regular life. These recent events have been nothing less than exhausting and scary. It's also time for that weird pain to leave me alone. It's time I go back to my life before I became a defect.

I jump off of Kane's bed, but not before hitting his face to wake him up. He looks down at me with irritation, but I don't take it personally, knowing I'd do the same if our roles were reversed.

"Are we going to the doc now?" Kane asks as a yawn escapes his lips. He sounds as drowsy as he always does during the mornings.

"No, Kane. Ankah informed me that we will be staying here today and leave first thing tomorrow morning. Isiah's store doesn't open during the weekend, so we don't have to worry about anyone walking in," my mother says.

Kane groans as he pulls the blanket over his head. He often likes to keep himself busy, but there's nothing to do in this place. This means he will most probably use this day to bother me. Thea, I'm sure, will join him in this task.

"There's food up here!" Ankah shouts from the top of the stairs, standing by the door that divides the main hardware store from this room.

I look over to the bed Aunt Ankah was supposed to sleep on and notice it is still tidy. Mother is the only one here that begins tidying her bed, but the rest of us turn to walk up the stairs and into whatever location there is food. However, before I get very far, my mum grabs my arm.

"You sleep alone tonight," she says, and I mouth an 'I'm sorry' before turning away to catch up to the others.

Kane purposely bumps into me and throws his hand around my shoulder as we reach the top of the staircase. "We have a whole day with nothing to do, Will. How will you possibly entertain me?"

"I think you should use this day to discover who you really are," I say this only to provide any answer that will prevent Kane from bothering me today.

I should also start thinking of what answer I will give to Mathea. She will surely create her own game and ask me to play it with her. She's done that before.

"You don't think I know that, Will?"

"Who are you Kane?"

"Okay, we can stop now."

"I want to know the real you. I want you to pour out your heart to me," I say this as I place one of my hands over Kane's chest; right over the place where his heart is.

"I'll be going now."

I laugh as Kane moves away from me and takes a seat on the opposite side of the table in the small kitchen that I never noticed was in this store before.

There are croissants and scrambled eggs placed on the right side of the kitchen table, all accompanied by a bowl of cheese and jars of jams and butter. I see baked beans in a pan on the stove and hear the sound of the kettle boiling. There are glasses and mugs placed on the table, positioned next to multiple drinks I can't name. When I turn my head to face a different table in the kitchen, I see multiple fruits in a basket. All this effort is really unexpected from expected Isiah.

"Isiah never wanted to make food, but I told him I had to do something for my baby boy," Ankah says, walking to her son to likely place a kiss on his cheek, but Topaz moves away from his mother before she has a chance to do so.

Kane starts laughing at Topaz, and when Topaz looks at Kane with anger in his eyes, Kane simply raises his middle finger. Kane's actions lead to further glances from Ankah and my mother, but I hear a chuckle escape Mathea and Isiah's mouth.

I walk over to my friend and use my body to block the view of all those who stare at him disapprovingly.

I then lift my mouth to his ears before whispering to him, "Why do you hate my cousin?"

Kane doesn't bother to lower his voice as he replies to me, "I could never hate Topaz. We're all playing around here."

Topaz shakes his head but no longer looks angry. Aunt Ankah is now talking to Isiah, unbothered about any previous tension, and my mother is now focused on Mathea, somehow managing to run her fingers through Mathea's thick hair.

"Uncle Isiah, you should know that the taps aren't working down there," Mathea's awaited complaint begins.

"Don't call me Uncle, but I know."

"Are you going to fix it?"

"Mathea, that is rude," Mother scolds.

"I'll think about it kiddo," Isiah says, pulling a packet of cigarettes out of the pocket of his pants.

Ankah grabs the packet then places it into her pocket. Isiah doesn't look too happy about this, but he allows Aunt Ankah to do so.

"You all know not to leave my store. People will pick you up tomorrow morning, so you'll just have to find some way to keep busy without bothering me. There might be board games under some of the beds, but I don't know."

Ankah is the only one to thank Isiah, but my mother smiles at him. I believe that's her way of showing she is grateful. Mathea is too irritated about the water problems to show any gratitude, and Kane is too busy stuffing his face with croissants to say anything to Isiah.

I am about to speak up, but Isiah walks out the kitchen before I can thank him. We hear the hardware store's door open, but no one questions him as he leaves. I start to wonder where he stayed last night. There are a few closed doors in the store, so there could be other rooms here I haven't seen. I wonder if Isiah lives here. It would be convenient.

"He needs to get more tools for his store," Aunt Ankah offers the explanation no one asked for.

"Oh, I saw some paperwork on the desk outside," Mathea says. "He's going to a market for those; the market where they accept old tools as payment. He's making the trade tomorrow. I wish they'd do that with clothes."

"He said he is only seeing if they have what he needs today, but I don't know much about markets. There are too many of them really," Ankah explains, pulling out the packet of cigarettes from her pocket and throwing it into the dustbin.

"Well, I'm going to look if there are board games under our beds. Willow, you coming?"

"Okay."

I stand up from my seat to follow Mathea out of the kitchen. Kane does the same, and surprisingly, calls out for Topaz to follow us. We all rush down the stairs and leave mother with Aunt Ankah.

Mathea and Kane start looking under the beds for board games while Topaz and I take a seat on the bed he slept on last night.

"Do you think Isiah will have anything we like, Cuz?"

"I wouldn't know, Topaz."

"Do you think he'll have anything you're good at?"

"I always beat you when we play board games!"

"This lying habit isn't good."

"We got nothing," Thea interrupts the conversation I am having with our cousin, "so just wake me up tomorrow."

Thea then walks over to her bed and collapses on it, curling her body on her bed and pretending to sleep.

"I think I'll do the same." Topaz falls onto his back and closes his eyes.

I run to Mathea's bed and jump on her. She groans, and wraps one arm around me while continuing her quest to sleep.

Kane laughs at my sister and me before climbing onto his bed, possibly thinking of sleeping throughout the day just like Mathea and Topaz plan to do. I know that won't happen, but I'm sure they'll sleep for as long as they can.

I start whispering random words into Mathea's ears to wake her up, thinking of how ironic it is that I am the one disturbing her. Mathea surprisingly ignores my disturbance, and I give up on irritating her after a few minutes. If I sleep now then I know I won't be able to sleep well tonight.

"Will, just come here."

I hear Kane sigh as he offers this invitation. I smirk as I move off Mathea's bed to climb onto Kane's.

"We can't sleep all day or we won't sleep properly tonight," I explain.

"No problem," Kane says. "How can I entertain you for now, Wills?"

"I don't know. We could just talk about random things? You could tell me about yourself."

"You're being really strange today, you know?" Kane laughs, "If anyone knows everything about me then it's probably you. You probably know too much about me."

"That's probably true," I say, laughing as I remember all the things I know about Kane.

"Okay, let's put you to the test."

"You'd like me to list all things I know about you?"

"Why not?"

"You'd like me to feed your ego."

"I'll take what I can get from you." I shake my head as Kane winks at me.

"Okay. It's not all good things."

"Let's hear it."

"Mmm okay...You've never known your parents. The volunteers at your orphanage said that someone just dropped you off at the door. One of your favourite volunteers named you Kane," I say, turning my face to look at Kane in order to see his reaction. His expression is blank.

When Kane first told me this story, he looked uncomfortable. Honestly, I never understood why he felt the need to tell me if he was so uncomfortable with it, but he just looked like he needed to let those words out.

"You were always a troublemaker at the orphanage, but you managed to get everyone to like you. Even the people cleaning up after your mess liked you. Of course, that's what you told me, so I can't verify these facts."

Kane laughs at my doubt for his popularity but nods his head as a way of telling me to carry on.

"You never really had an idea of what you wanted to be when you were young, but your main focus was becoming wealthy. When Old Otis adopted you, you were so happy. You thought he'd help you get rich, but everyone in the neighborhood knew Old Otis only adopted you because you showed Gifted abilities. You were too young to be purchased at an FG Auction, but Old Otis adopted you anyway; hoping you'd be Gifted and bring him a lot of money."

"Geez Willow, do you mind saying any good things about me? I expected compliments. That's the whole point of this."

"I was getting there," I say, smiling at Kane as I do so.

"Then you met the most amazing person when you started primary school. This was before we were officially Gifted. My parents saw you walking one day and decided to bring you back to our house before dropping you off at home. Everyone knows how Old Otis is. He never should have adopted any child."

"Still waiting for the good things."

"It didn't take long for us to become friends. You should thank my parents for that. They forced me to spend time with you, because they feared Old Otis didn't show you enough love. I'm glad they forced me to. I ended up caring about your arrogant self."

"You're forgetting gorgeous."

"Oh, shut up," I giggle.

"If you won't compliment me, I will."

I sigh but can't stop the smile taking over my face.

"You're extremely funny, but I could do without some jokes. You're determined, but only when you're chasing something you really want which is still incredibly surprising for a joker like you. You sing in the shower; horribly too. You have the largest birthmark on your leg, and...I think you punched some boy for teasing you about that when we were younger. You were an angry child, weren't you?"

"Yeah." Kane's seriousness causes me to laugh, and he joins me in laughter after a few seconds.

"You have problems with your taste buds, because you don't like pancakes. You're afraid of heights but would rather jump off a cliff than listen to classical music. You only grew your hair out when your crush said she prefers guys with longer hair. Let me just add that she was too old for you."

"Ten years doesn't matter."

"It does when you're a minor."

"It's a good thing I did grow it out, though. You can hardly keep your hands off me."

"Your imagination is wild."

"If only you could see it, Will."

I grab Kane's pillow and hit him. It's these moments that I wish we weren't Gifted, so we could truly experience all the regular, happy moments.

"I never thanked you for staying with us."

"Don't thank me, Will. You'd do the same for me."

"Have you stopped to think about how everything has changed so quickly? I know it will go back to normal once I'm cured, but it's amazing how everything can change in an instant."

"Yeah...I never thought I'd miss the Gifted Site."

"If it wasn't for my special treatment, I'm sure I'd feel the same way."

"Almost forgot about that."

"I can't."

We're left in silence for some time. This is one of the few times Kane doesn't know how to make the situation seem less serious.

"I couldn't sleep for some time last night. I started thinking about random things like how everyone's life is so different. We've been attacked and almost drowned to death. We joined a Purus protest, and well...that was a lot to deal with. Now, we're in a Purus safe house, and soon, we'll meet a doctor that might be able to help me."

"The doctor will help, Wills. Don't worry."

"I guess, but that's not the point. While we're going through all this; the whole world carries on."

I continue, "My classmates went to their classes while I was electrocuted beneath their feet. People were eating dinner as we had to escape my home through a tunnel. Thea almost died while some child was getting ready to go to bed. Others move on with their life while I occasionally have a piercing pain in my head that changes everything I think I am. Kane, have you ever thought about that? It goes both ways too; other people may go through hell when we live peacefully."

"Well...I don't know... I guess I don't know what to say to that."

"Yeah. I think a lot."

I then pull Kane's pillow closer to me and rest my head on half of it. "You all had the right thought; we should go to sleep. I'm staying here again."

"Will, are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Kane. I'm sure my mother will wake us up to eat later."

"I think the breakfast was a one-time luxury. Isiah didn't look too happy when Ankah served us his food," Kane says.

I start thinking of Isiah and begin to laugh. Kane is right; Isiah didn't look pleased as we ate the food, but I think the fact that Aunt Ankah prepared it made the situation better. They seem to be good friends.

I turn my body, so I am no longer facing Kane. This time, he makes no movement to wrap his arms around me.

"There is one thing I haven't told you about my life; some story when I was still in the orphanage."

"What is it?" I ask.

"It isn't really my story to tell, but it kind of affected me. One of the volunteers there, my favourite one who named me, never came back to the orphanage one day. I kept asking about him, but no one wanted to answer me."

"What happened to him?"

"Someone told me that he was leased. He was seventeen when his parent's signed a contract allowing it. I think it's the Alms Act that allows that. Anyway, the guy had to join the Trade Program for human experimentation. I think kids are allowed to leave when they turn eighteen. They have to sign a bunch of stuff though. I was told it helped his family; they needed the money."

"What happened to the volunteer?"

"I don't know. I'd like to think he left that program and is doing alright now," Kane replies. "I think everyone goes through their own hell, so they just focus on themselves. It doesn't matter if there are bigger problems around them."

Kane's right, but I'm not sure how to feel about people's approach to their problems and the problems of others; myself included. I wonder if people are ignorant to the events happening around them or if an individual's personal problems seem more demanding.

I think it's good to focus on yourself, but sometimes, a person's attention is needed elsewhere. It's definitely difficult for people to accept that there are bigger problems than the ones they face, and when people do realise this, it's difficult for people to act on this.

People rarely put their effort towards things that don't affect them. It isn't right, but sometimes I think it is understandable; it's understandable to only fight for what you care about. It's just unfortunate for others if people's care does not extend beyond themselves, and it's shocking how some people don't care about a lot of important matters.

"I think you're right," I reply to Kane. "Now let me sleep, because I know you and Thea will bother me later on."

My mum didn't say I can't nap here.

"No doubt about it, Will."