↑That's Uncle Will just in case y'all needed a reminder. He's got the cutest puppy.

I listened to 90's music when writing this.↑That's the song that Aunt Clara listens to a little later. If you want some other good 90's stuff, listen to 'Jump' by Kris Kross. Just Do It *Shia LaBeouf voice* It's wiggida wiggida wiggida wack lol.

Enjoy loves.

XX

"Hey Dess, how'd you sleep dear?"

I turn around at the sound of Aunt Clara's voice, seeing her sitting at the table along with Etty and Uncle Will.

Her question brings my mind back to the horrific nightmare from yesterday.

"It was fine."

She could see it wasn't.

I knew it.

But I give a look that meant I wasn't planning on saying anything else.

"Would ya like some breakfast, Dess? Your Aunt Clara makes a mean french toast" Uncle Will offers to me.

"No thanks. I'm not all that hungry."

"OH C'MON DESS! Mom's french toast is the best you'll ever taste in your life, ever." Etty tells me earnestly.

Sighing, I give in.

"Well I guess I can't say no to that, now can I?" I wink at Etty as she laughs.

"Here let me get you a plate." Uncle Will gets up and leads me to the kitchen.

He stacks some french toast and fresh strawberries on my plate and my stomach grumbles. Ok, so maybe I was a tad bit hungry.

"You want some coffee, sweetie?" Uncle Will offers, but before I can answer, Aunt Clara shouts from the dining room.

"Don't take anything he offers you, Dess. He can't even boil water correctly."

I hear Etty's boisterous laughter, causing me to let out a chuckle as well.

At this Uncle Will rolls his eyes. "You almost burn down the house one time, and everyone gangs up on you."

I laugh again, taking my plate and heading back to the table, seeing that Tommy had woken up and was sitting next to Etty.

We all enjoy our breakfast, laughing and joking around, but in the back of my mind, my nightmare remained implanted in my thoughts.

Aunt Clara can see that, and when I finish eating, she asks me to come with her, leaving Etty and Tommy to talk about their trains.

She leads me down the hall and into her art room, where her canvases and various paints are scattered all around. The walls are splattered with different colored paints. It looked imperfectly perfect.

She sits on the stool, looking at an unfinished painting of a familiar blonde-haired woman, and then she turns to me.

Releasing a shaky breath, she speaks. "December, I heard you screaming last night. Are you having nightmares, sweetie?" she hits the nail right on the head.

I pause for a moment, formulating a response.

"How do you cope with it? Knowing she...y'know, before you two made up." I whisper, not answering her question.

She doesn't answer for a long time and I am about to repeat myself before she lets out a sigh.

"I don't know December. I feel absolutely terrible that I allowed it to go on for as long as it did. Instead of being stubborn, I could've been helping her and maybe-" tears fall on her cheeks, "-maybe this wouldn't have happened. But what's done is done. Everything happens for a reason and it was time for God to take her home. I believe it."

"I feel like I'm a failure. I feel like I let my mom die and she was counting on me to prevent it. I don't show my feelings, I haven't cried because of it, but it's all for Tommy. I'm all he's got and I don't want him to see me all weak and depressed." I twiddle my fingers, afraid to look up at her after my confession.

"Oh my, December." She gasps, a hand over her mouth as more tears silently slip passed her eyes.

She rushed over to me and grabs me into a comforting hug, almost squeezing the life out of me. But it feels good.

"You should never, ever feel that way, do you hear me? It was no one's responsibility but your mother's to stay alive and as much as we want to blame ourselves for what we did or didn't do, she ultimately did this to herself. We both know it wasn't intentional because your mama was the best woman I've ever known, but she let this happen because she refused to get proper help."

I didn't say anything and she continues.

"Honey, you've taken such great care of Tommy these past few days, and what I can imagine was the last few years with Sydney's addiction. You've kept yourself together for so long, but hun, you have to remember that you're just a teenager. Don't take all of this responsibility. That's what your uncle and I are here for."

I nod as she squeezes me tighter and whispers in my ear.

"It's okay to cry, darling. Trust me, I've done it more times than I can count. I miss my sister so", sniff, "so much. But I also talk. I talk to Will and I let my feelings be known so that he can help me when I'm feeling low. You don't have to let Tommy see you down, but he's smart enough to know your hurting. Even if you won't cry in front of him, let me and Uncle Will know how you're feeling. So that we can help. Okay?"

"Okay, Aunt Clara."

"Promise?"

It seems like everyone'd been asking me to make promises to them these days. "Promise."

"Good, now whenever you need to talk you just come and get me. Whatever I'm doing, I'll stop and come because your feelings are important to me, alright darling?"

"Sure, I will Auntie."

She smiles at that and goes to retrieve some tissue to clean up.

"Now let's go and see what sort of mess they're making out there." she says and I trail behind her, laughing lightly.

~.~.~

Later that day as I am laying on my bed, bored out of my mind. This was never a good thing, because within the next couple of minutes, I'd start overthinking everything. Not really my idea of fun.

Henry was at football practice, seeing as school is starting soon and that meant the start of the football season. Uncle Will had gone off to work not long after breakfast, and Aunt Clara went back to her art studio room to finish a couple of pieces for the town's upcoming Art Festival.

I look out the window of my room and see Tommy and Etty rolling down the hill of my aunt and uncle's backyard, no doubt getting their clothes dirty.

Hm. Maybe that's what I need. Some fresh air.

I throw on my hoodie and fly down the stairs and to the art studio. Before I reach the door, I hear loud music playing. I open the door to my aunt singing along to 'No Scrubs' by TLC as she dances around while painting.

When I call out to her, she turns back to me with the widest grin on her face. It's then that I realize that this was Aunt Clara's happy place. She was absolutely euphoric in her cluttered, messy art room, dancing to her 90's music.

"Come. Join me honey." she gets up and grabs my arms, dancing with me to the music, acting like a teenager. I decide that my aunt is cool.

When she hears me singing along, she looks at me in surprise.

"What do you know about this? This is for us 'old-schoolers' I grew up on this." she laughs at this.

I laugh too and when Left eye's part comes on, my aunt shocks me by rapping along to it, in perfect synchronization. I'm pretty sure my mouth drops open as she continues dancing in all her bare-foot, paint covered beauty.

(A/N Lol Aunt Clara. Do you guys know this movie?)

When the song ends, we're out of breath from dancing and laughing. I'd completely forgotten that I came to ask her if I could go out.

"Hey, Aunt Clara? Do you think I could go out?"

"Sure baby, where you wanna go?"

"I dunno, I was thinking the mall. I'm gonna need some new clothes for school." Since I didn't have to pay for food and other necessities, I guess I could spend some of my savings on new clothes, because there wasn't a wide selection.

"Of course Dess. Here, let me go get my wallet."

"No, no, Auntie. I've got some money."

She shakes her hands at me, not having any of it. "I insist. You stay right here." she says, leaving no room for discussion.

She returns a moment later with her wallet and pulls out a few hundred dollar bills.

"Here you go Honey." she can see that I'm hesitant to take the money so she starts doing this little wiggle with the money until I give in and take it. (A/N Sugar from Glee ;D)

"Now go on and have some fun. Get something cute. You know the boys will be all over you when school starts." she says with a wink.

This causes me to blush, although she can't see that. "I doubt that's gonna happen, Auntie. They weren't 'all over' me in my other school and they won't be 'all over' me in this school." I assure her with air quotes.

"Oh puh-leaze December. You're beautiful Darling. You've got your mom's beautiful smile and your dad's breath-taking eyes. You know your mama used to be a beauty queen."

"Really?" I'd never heard of this.

"Mm-hmm. I'll show you the pictures another time. Now go before the mall closes." my aunt shoos me away.

"Alright. I'm going, I'm going. I'll be back in two or three hours."

"Ok hun. Take my car. The keys are on the counter."

"Thanks Aunt Clara. Tell Tommy I'll be back."

"Sure, no problem." she shouts back as I walk out the door, keys in hand.

I had taken a few driving courses before money got really tight, so I had my license. I got behind the wheel and look up the closest mall before driving off.

I find something called Bridge Plaza Mall and type the address into my aunt's GPS.

As I drive, I hum along subconsciously to music on the radio, what I was going to buy taking up my thoughts. It'd been a while, if ever, since I've shopped with this amount of money. What was in style now? Will the sales ladies be willing to help me find 'in style' clothes?

Hopefully.

~.~.~

I pull into the parking lot of the the Bridge Plaza Mall and let me tell you, it is huge. Bigger than any shopping mall I'd ever been to. How am I gonna be able to choose from all these options?

Grabbing my wallet and keys, I exit the car and walk into the bustling crowd going in and out of the large mall. I take a deep breath before walking in. I'm dramatic, sue me.

With my first step into the mall, I bump into someone, spilling their drink all over both their shirt and my sweater. Great December. You're not a klutz at all. Note the heavy sarcasm.

I look up, profuse apologies on the tip of my tongue, ready to spill over like a running faucet. What I see is a girl, about my age, with a white shirt. That I'd just messed up.

"You're new here aren't you?"

"What?" She didn't even acknowledge her spilled drink on her beautiful top. This leaves me in a bewildered state. How did she know I was new with just one look at me?

"I make it my business to know every teenager in this town. I like to be in the know, y'know?"

I nod, confused still. "Um, who are you?"

"Oh, silly me. I'm Rose Mae Clementine."

She shakes my hand enthusiastically.

"December Jones."

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XX

Hello loves! This chap was kinda boring IMO because it was a filler. But it needed happen, Aunt Clara and December growing a bit closer. I liked it. I love my aunts and all, but I wish Aunt Clara was my aunt. She could give me $ and dance to 90's music anytime. I'm down.

Any who,

Let me know what you think.

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Love ya,

-Trin<3