It felt good being out of there. The weather was cool, and it smelt wonderful, unlike the school where it was hot and smelled of disappointment and broken dreams.

I never go straight home after school, and I'm not going to now. The longer I stayed outside the longer I felt free from my life.

Last year while I was taking a walk through the forest, I came across a small clearing. It had flowers blooming all around it, but that wasn't what caught my attention. In the middle of the clearing was a grave.

A little morbid, I know, but it was peaceful there and I'm sure the guy who was buried there didn't mind the company. I go there about three or four times a week depending on if I needed to vent to somebody, even if they are dead. I can't exactly talk to my dad about getting bullied and I had no friends either.

It took longer to get there since I was at the school, but I didn't mind. All my torturers were still in school, so I didn't have to worry about them popping up out of nowhere. Before I knew it, I was stepping into the small clearing.

"Hey Calvin," I said as I dropped my bag down on the grass and I plopped myself down to lean against a tree.

That was his name. The dead guy, I mean. Calvin Gilbert. He was born March 2nd,1812, and died September 14th, 1829. He was only seventeen when he died. That's sad. I tried to look him up in the local library, but I couldn't find anything before 1850. I always wondered what had happened to him. Was he sick? Did he have an accident or something? Who was his family? I never got the answers.

"So, it happened again today," I started to say as I pulled out my math homework. "Mia, the raging jerk I told you about. She basically tortured me all day and I just left. That's why I'm here at noon and not at three. Can you believe the nerve of her? I have never once done anything to her, yet she thinks she can just get away with this."

Sometimes I always expected an answer, but I knew it wouldn't come. Calvin couldn't hear me. He was long gone and could care less about me.

"Today's my birthday," I sighed. "Some sweet sixteen. I bet you had a fun sixteenth birthday party. Did you and your friend's hangout? Go to a brothel or something? Tip a cow?"

No answer.

"My aunts coming tonight. My mother's sister. I haven't seen her in a year but she's bringing her son, my cousin, with her. He's five and he thinks I'm the coolest person ever. It will be a nasty shock for him if he ever finds out the truth."

I go back to my homework and try to get it done as quickly as possible without making a mistake. A half hour later I gave up on it. Precalculus was not my thing and I accepted that. I slide my folder back into my bag and exchange it for a book instead.

"Have you read this?" I asked the tombstone as I held up a copy of Great Expectations. "Probably not. I think it was published after your time. You would love it though. There are so many great books now, and a lot of them were turned in to movies, but you don't know what a movie is so you're missing out."

I was answered by silence and then a gust of wind.

"How about I read it out loud?" I asked as I flipped to the front page. "My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip..."

I don't know how long I read for, but when I got to chapter seven I checked the time. It was four o'clock and school had ended an hour and a half ago. I knew my aunt was getting here around four thirty, so I knew I should be heading back soon.

"I guess we'll have to finish this another day," I say as I close the book and shove it back in my bag. "I guess I have to go now. My aunt will be here soon, and I have to vacuum the living room."

I stand up off the ground and brush some dirt off my dark jeans before yanking my bag off the ground. Before I left, I took one last look at the grave and smiled.

"You know Calvin, I wish you were alive, so we could be friends. You'd like living in this time with all the new things. Like the polio vaccine. And cheese burgers."

Just as I left, a loud clap of thunder echoed around me. That was strange though, there was no rain predicted for today. I looked up and saw dark clouds rolling in quickly.

I swore under my breath and started to head back to my house quickly. Getting caught in the rain without an umbrella was my least favorite thing, especially since my back pack wasn't made out of strong material. The rain will seep right through and ruin all my books.

My feet patted on the dirt ground as I quickly ran to my home for safety. The ten minute walk was made in five since I ran. The moment I was under the porch, rain started to pound down all around me. I turned around and I could barely see the road ahead of me.

"I hope Aunt Terry and James are okay," I whisper to myself as I unlock the front door.

The house was quiet when I walked in. Dad wasn't supposed to be back until at least five, but Terry will be here any minute. Quickly, I run the vacuum as fast as I could and made the room look decent. As I was taking the sweeper to the closet, I walked past a few photographs hanging up on the wall.

The one that always caught my eye was a portrait of my mother. She was just sitting on the couch with her hand on her belly, on me. She was six months pregnant when the picture was taken. People always said I looked like her. We both had pale green eyes and brown hair that fell to our shoulders. I really wanted to meet her, to get to know her, to grow up with her.

But we can't always have everything we want.

The sad part is she died giving birth to me. From what my dad told me, the moment I came out and she saw me, she whispered beautiful. Then she was gone.

I know it took a lot to raise me. My dad had trouble making ends meet since it was just him and babies needed a lot of things, but he never gave up.

The knock on the door brought me back to reality. A smile spreads across my face and I rush to answer it. I answer the door and I'm greeted by a five-year-old instantly grabbing my leg.

"Rose, I missed you," James says with his face pressed into my thigh. I laughed as I bent down and scooped him up.

"I missed you too, bud," I say as I tickle his stomach, causing him to let out a high-pitched giggle. I looked up and saw my aunt with a big smile on her face."Hi Aunt Terry."

"Hi, Sweetie," she gushes as she touched my face. "You've grown so much, I need to visit you more often."

"You know you could always move closer," I tell her.

"I'll keep that in mind," she says as she steps into the house. "Your dad still at work?"

"Yeah, he'll be back at five," I say as I walk into the living room and drop James on the couch, which he thinks was hilarious. "How's Uncle Howie doing?"

"He's good. He wanted to come down, but he had a work thing that he couldn't get out of," she explains. "But he sends his love."

"Good because I'm fantastic," I say as I give her a hug.

"Happy birthday," she says to me as she squeezes me tighter.

"Can't breathe," I gasped as I tapped her shoulder and she laughs and lets me go.

"So, we going to have fun tonight?"

"I hope so," I reply. "If we don't it will seem like a sad birthday party."

______________________________________________________________________

The moment my dad walked through the front door he was instantly confused by what he saw. There were game pieces scatter across the room, blankets were thrown on the floor, and James had peanut butter all over his face.

"Did I miss something?" he asked as he cracked a smile.

James and I looked at each other and started to laugh. After they arrived, James wanted to play a game he brought with him, Chutes and Ladders. James is competitive, but so am I when it came to games like this. I was winning and that made James angry so he "playfully" swiped all the pieces off the board. As revenge, I took one of his peanut butter crackers and rubbed it against his face. That was when my dad come in.

"Long story," I wave him off. He nodded and took off his coat.

"Where's Terry?" he asked as he looked around.

"In the kitchen ordering pizza," I told him.

"Pizza?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. "Now I wonder whose idea was that?"

I pointed to James. "That's the only thing he'll eat for dinner these days."

"Really? James don't you ever get sick of pizza?" my father asked.

"Nope," James pouted.

"Fred," Terry called out when she came back into the room. She walked over to my dad and gave him a tight hug. "It's good to see you."

"You too," he said, and they started talking. I had no interest to listen to them talk about work and people I didn't know. Instead, I nudged James with my shoulder to get his attention before motioning him to follow me.

The house was only one floor, but my bedroom was in the attic. I lead the way into the kitchen and up a flight of stairs. At the top is a simple wooden door that separated the stairs from my room. It was worn and in need of new paint, but I lacked motivation to do it. Maybe in a few weeks.

I push the door open and entered my room. The attic itself was long and thin but that was because it covered the whole house. My unmade twin bed was pushed up between both walls next to the window. The puffy white comforter was crumpled in a heap from when I woke up this morning.

Along the walls was a bookcase filled with books I had acquired over the years. Many of them came from a book sale the library has every year and others I just found. The walls were painted a pale blue and they were covered in pictures I had drawn or painted. They were mostly pictures of landscapes, but there were a few of people. Mainly my favorite movie actors or singers.

The floor, much like downstairs, was worn and splintery, but I solved that problem. A while ago when I was in some department store, they were having a sale on rugs and I managed to get a white furry rug piece that ran from the door to my bed.

"Woah," James said as he rushed in and hopped on the bed. "You redecorated."

"A little bit," I smile as I sit down on the bed with him. "So, what's new with you? You're in kindergarten, right? Got a girlfriend yet?"

"No," he said quickly as if he wanted to change the subject.

"I don't believe you," I chuckle as I ruffle his hair. "What's her name?" James let out a sigh of defeat.

"Her names Winnie...but..." I frowned when he hesitated.

"But what? She got a man or something?"

"Girls have cooties," he said seriously, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Are you afraid of getting cooties?" I asked and he nodded slowly. "Well you have a problem there then."

"I know," he mumbled and it kind of hurt my heart to see him so down.

"You want some advice?" I ask and he eagerly nodded yes. "Go for it. Cooties aren't real and guys who say they're real are the ones that are scared of commitment."

He looked like his world just exploded when I told him cooties were a lie. I couldn't help but smile.

The doorbell rang.

"Pizza," James whispered as he hopped out of the bed and booked it down the hall. I burst out in laughter at his obsession to the cheesy goodness.

__________________________________________________________

By the time eleven o'clock rolled around, I was up in my room setting up the laptop Aunt Terry got me. I was a little shocked by the gift, and I told her it was too much. She brushed it off and she told me that I was a good kid who needed a laptop for school. I stopped fighting her after that.

Terry and James left around nine to go check into their hotel, and Dad left a half hour ago. It was just me alone in the house tonight, but I was used to it. I like the quiet.

It still hadn't stopped raining. Water crashed down, thunder rolled, and lightning lit the night sky. Not once had it let up or showed any sign that it was slowing. At this rate, the basement would be flooded, well, if we had a basement.

I continued to type away on the small keyboard, when suddenly a clap of thunder was strong enough to shake the whole house. What was even stranger, was that it happened again, and this time a bolt of lightning was so bight it lit up outside. In the corner of my eye I could have sworn I saw something standing in the front yard.

Cautiously, I scoot closer to the window and peer out into the darkness. At first it was too dark to see anything. Then without warning, the lightning flashed again.

There was a man in my front yard.

I let out a yelp and ducked down so whoever it was couldn't see me. Smart move, I know. I had no idea how long he was standing there, and he probably did see me.

"This is like how every horror movie starts," I whisper to myself. "I am the first five minutes of Supernatural."

Slowly, I peeked back up and waited for the lightning. When it came, no one was there. Did I imagine this?

The sudden knock at the did made me scream this time. Of course, some crazy axe murder was knocking on my door when I was home alone. Or maybe it wasn't a murderer and he needed help. Was there an accident nearby?

Without a second thought, I grabbed the baseball bat that I kept under my bed and made my way down stairs. The knocks were steady and whoever it was never missed a beat. The closer I got to the door the harder my heart pounded.

Slowly, I reached out and opened the door and I was glad it stopped at the deadbolt. I inched closer to the door and gasped at what I saw.