A year from that carefree day in the leaves and Jake is sick. He's always getting sick. We would take him to the local doctor if we could but the money is drying up, running low. I didn't know it until today.
      I am awake before Jake, I normally am, he slept a lot even before he was sick. I roll out of our bed and stand up, stretching my hands towards the ceiling I yawn tiredly. It had been another bad night and I hadn't gotten much sleep. I tiptoe across the attic room and peak over the stairs. The house is silent except for occasional creaks and groans. Quietly I creep down the wooden staircase and emerge into the sitting room. Carpet floors and an old fireplace whisper at me from their places and as I sidle past I hush them. I steal softly down the old wooden stairs, wincing as they let out muted moans. Just a few more steps. I think to myself, rounding the wall, intending to sneak outside to watch the sunset. But I stop, staring, caught frozen by the sight in front of me. Aunt Addie stands with her back to me, hunched over the tall counter in the middle of our tiny kitchen. Her shoulder's are shaking and at first I think she's laughing, then I catch a glimpse of her face. She is not laughing. She is crying. She is crying and I am not sure why. I want to go to her, want to say something. But I am not sure what I would say. I go to her anyway, tug on her sleeve. She looks at me, lined face seeming older in the half light of the morning. 

     "Why are you sad Addie?" 

     She smiles at me, the creases around her mouth crinkling, "nothing to worry about little one, go back to bed, go back to sleep." I might not have understood at the time what was the matter, but I knew that in that moment she was lying to me, and Addie never lied to me, not unless it was important. But I leave regardless, heading to my original destination, the roof. I went there almost every night, it was peaceful in a way that the rest of our little town was not, up here where the world touched the sky I could forget the things that haunted me when I tried to sleep. The bad memories, the nightmares, the horrible things that I have seen. It just melts away, that's why I come up here. I think that in a way we are all looking for our rooftop, I just hope that someday we all find it. I hope that someday I find a permanent one.

     I find out why Addie was crying three months later. It came out of nowhere, then again I guess the worst things do.