Song: A Song for Erika written by Adam Dynes and performed by Josh Henderson.

I just drove around aimlessly for an hour or so, sitting in silence and trying not to think about today's events. Everything had happened so fast. Mom gone? Dad a violent drunk? What? How did this happen? My life was so normal. I was the girl with the average looks who wore hoodies and sat in the back of the class. I had the steady parents that were just together because of me and the most exciting thing that ever happened in my life was probably the time one of my Tumblr posts got about 10,000 notes.

I sighed and reached over to turn on the radio. I flipped through a couple of stations but gave up pretty soon. Nothing good was on. So when I passed by a huge empty playground where I used to go all the time as a kid, I pulled over.

After I parked, I got out and headed to the jungle gym, not bothering to lock the car. There was nobody around anyway. I climbed the stairs up and up and up until I reached the tallest slide. Then I sat down at the top and looked around.

It was pretty. Past the playground was an open field which was surrounded by a forest. You could hear the birds singing and leaves rustling in the October breeze. The air smelled of Fall, my favorite season.

I sat there for a while just breathing and listening. Finally, I slid down the slide and made my way back to the car, trying to figure out where to go. I couldn't go home tonight. There was no way I was going back there anytime soon. In the end, I decided to go to the one other place I could call home. The house of my best friend, Elise Rosenquist.

Did I say house? It's probably more of a castle. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but it's definitely a mansion. Her dad is the CEO of some successful company. I don't pay attention to the details. I just know that I'm lucky that my bestie has her own popcorn machine, giant television, surround sound, and every movie I have ever wanted to watch.

After pulling up in the driveway of the Rosenquist family mansion (which is really long, framed by trees and guarded by a gate and two alternating guards whose names are Rodger and Gregory), I grabbed my emergency overnight supplies which I keep in my glove compartment and made my way across their ginormous lawn. The doorbell made a deep clanging sound that echoed throughout the house when I pushed the button. I soon heard the click clack of heels on tile and the door was opened by the Rosenquist's German housekeeper, Frau Cambeis. She was the nicest person I knew and always took the time to make special snacks for Elise and me. Frau Cambeis also insisted upon teaching us some German.

"Guten Abend, Frau Cambeis {Good evening, Missus Cambeis}," I greeted.

"Guten Abend, Fräulein Lovegood {Good evening, Miss Lovegood}," she smiled. "Elise is in her room," she informed me with her light German accent.

"Danke {thank you}," I walked through the grand foyer which was pretty damn grand. It had tapestries and a chandelier and everything. Then came the huge staircase in the middle of the stylishly furnished entrance hall. This led up to the second floor which held the bedrooms. (The ground floor was all dining rooms, kitchens, game room, television rooms, etc.).

Elise's room was at the end of the hallway that branched off to the right of the staircase. So I walked down there and knocked on her door.

"Who is it?!" came her voice from within.

"The better question is, 'who isn't it'. Don't you think?" I replied.

"That doesn't even make any sense, Lovegood," Elise said, opening the door.

"When do I ever make sense, Rosenquist?" I laughed, walking past her.

Her room was a relief from the rest of the house's grandeur. This was just a teenager's bedroom. Granted, there was a four-poster bed, a terrace and a spa-type bathroom. However, there were posters of her favorite bands and movies, it smelled like her perfume and random articles of clothing littered the floor.

"What're you doing here, Lilah?" She asked, plopping down in her black, three-person bean-bag chair.

Then my whole situation hit me all over again. I actually doubled over. Elise immediately leaped up and shouted, "Emergency?"

"Definitely," I croaked.

She ran to her window and opened it wide. I scrambled out onto the roof with Elise right behind. Together, we picked our way to a giant oak tree a little ways down the building. In the middle of the tree's huge branches sat a tree house that was extremely out of place among the manicured lawns and gothic-looking building. The tree house had been Elise and my secret hiding place since we'd first become best friends. It's a pretty standard treehouse with a rope ladder that we never drop because we built a sort of bridge that leads from the roof section under Elise's room to its entrance. Its once bright pink paint was dull and peeling. We planned on repainting it as soon as we could.

One at a time, we crept across the tiny bridge, clinging to the railings. Even though I knew it was secure, my fear of heights made it an issue to cross that bridge every time.

When I'd finally gotten across, I ducked into the tree house and plopped into one of the two matching bean bag chairs we'd lugged in here two years ago. There wasn't much else in the tree house. A couple of books were strewn around on the floor and stacked on the single board we'd hammered to the wall. There were a couple of posters hanging on the walls, as well. Legolas Greenleaf was pointing his bow and arrow at us from the wall as we made ourselves comfortable with two of the quilts we left in a stack by the entrance.

"Spill," Elise said as soon as we'd stopped shifting around.

I sighed and snuggled deeper into my quilt. There was no way I could tell her about my dad. It was probably only a one-time thing anyway. "My mom left today."

"To where?"

"I don't know. I mean she LEFT left. Not like I'll-be-back-after-I-cool-off kind of left. The I'm-leaving-you kind of left."

"What?! Since when is Mama Lovegood that kind of person? There must be some kind of mistake," Elise shook her head in disbelief.

"She might sneak back and pack up some stuff but I don't know. It was really bad, Elise. They threw glass at each other. I wasn't listening but I came downstairs and saw it and then I panicked and ran away." She didn't need to know the extent of my panicking.

"Holy shit, Lilah," Elise breathed and opened her arms.

I sniffled and curled up in her embrace. "I-I-I knew it w-wa-was coming b-but it's st-still a sho-ock," I hiccupped.

"I know. Shhhh," she stroked my back comfortingly and I cried. For a long time.

After calming down, we just sat there thinking. "I never really clicked with my mom. I mean, I love her but we were never really that close. I've always been closer with my dad. Still, I didn't think she'd just pick up and leave me, you know."

"Maybe her leaving is better for you. Their constant fighting isn't good for you, either."

"Maybe."

"Let's just snuggle up in my room and watch something. It's getting cold out here."

"Okay," I nodded numbly.

"Don't worry, Lilah. You're almost out of high school, anyway. It's senior year after all. Soon you'll be in college and it'll be like it didn't ever happen."

"I'm sure you're right," I told her, climbing out of the tree house.

It was going to be an extremely long senior year.