Painfully, they changed 'is' to 'was'

The door opened and a little girl leaned against it, scrunching up her nose at the visitor. A smile threatened to overtake her face, but she pushed it back and tried to act serious. "Uncle Izzy." She said in the most grownup voice she could muster.

Issac crouched down to her height, eyes crinkling at the corner as he grinned. "Mini Skittle." He mimicked her tone. "May I enter your home?"

"You have to pay me first." The little girl declared, crossing her arms. Her bright green eyes narrowed and Issac was momentarily transported back in time- back to the girl with the same bright green eyes and witty attitude.

"Oh!" Issac sighed and pretended to think. "Hmm... Will this do?" He pulled out a large bar of chocolate from the folds of his coat.

"Thank you Uncle Izzy!" Allison beamed and threw her arms around his neck. She pulled away and frowned. "Where's James?"

"He'll be here soon." Issac answered vaguely, knowing his son would never forgive him if he ruined the surprise water attack James had planned.

Allison didn't seem to buy it, but she shrugged anyways. Grabbing Issac's hand, she pulled him deeper into the home. "Everyone's in the garden! We're getting ready to light the candle again this year!"

'The candle...' Issac thought, trying to hide his sadness with a smile.

Every year on Arya's birthday- and, coincidentally, Allison's birthday- the group got together to light her favourite candle. It was kept burning for the entire day- as a reminder of the one they lost. They had all prepared a letter for her as well and they were to be locked inside a small wooden box and kept in the shed. No one was allowed to read the other person's letter.

"Zack! You made it!" Caleb cried out, trying to wrest a book from his son's grasp. "For goodness sake Zion! You do not need to read a book right now!"

The ten-year-old scowled and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Yes I do! It's the only way I can stay sane when hanging around with these idiots!" He gestured to his friends.

"Hey!" They all scowled.

"I stand by what I said!" Zion threw his hands in the air and gave an overdramatic huff. "Fine! You win!"

"That's the spirit little brother." Adrien- Zion's twin- laughed.

"You're not that much older than me!" Zion scowled, stomping over to his friends. He glanced at Issac. "Hey Uncle Zack!"

"Hey kiddo!" Issac ruffled Zion's hair, much to the younger boy's chagrin.

"Zack!" Ethan greeted, giving him a high-five.

"Ethan! Nice hair." He nodded, seeing the half hair pink style his best friend sported.

He gave a lopsided smile in response. "Thanks... so, how's things with-"

A loud scream diverted their attention. Instinctively, Issac's hand went to the gun he kept tucked in his waistband. Ethan was on high alert too, gripping the knife in his pocket.

The scream had come from Allison. But they relaxed when they realised it was simply because James and Kyle- Ethan and Renèe's kid- had doused her in freezing water.

The boys laughed, but that quickly turned into fear when Ally slowly turned toward them, a murderous expression clouding her features.

"We did not think this through." James whispered.

"Nope." Kyle replied and turned to us all. "Goodbye everyone, it was nice knowing you." He gave a two-fingered salute and tried to run, but ended up tripping over his laces and sprawled on the ground.

"He got that from you." Renée snorted, her Parisian accent strong as she leaned against Ethan.

Ethan wrapped an arm around her and sighed fondly as his son cowered in fear while Allison towered over him. "Yeah probably... have you seen Chris yet?"

"No... but you know how hard this time of the year is for him." She replied.

"Yeah... hey, where's Sophia?"

"After several renditions of nursery rhymes and twenty minutes of pleading, I managed to put her down for a nap in the guest room."

"Should we wake her up? I mean, for the cake?" Issac asked, watching amusedly as Allison hooked up the hosepipe to a tap.

Renée stared at him. "Do it and you die."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garden, Nick was leaning against the fence, head tipped back and he smiled while watching Allison attach a hosepipe to the tap. He sipped his lemonade and sighed, a familiar, longing ache bloomed in his chest.

"Hey." His future sister-in-law, Amara , dropped next to him.

"Hey." He nodded back.

"How are you feeling?" She asked softly, her lips tilting upwards as she watched Caleb give Allison tips on how to angle the hose in order to get the furthest jet of water.

"Fine." He answered curtly and shrugged. "Not the happiest time of the year for me y'know?"

"Yeah... I get it." Amara gave him a side glance. "Can I ask you a personal question? Of course, you don't have to answer if you aren't comfortable with-"

"Sure." Nick smiled lazily. "You're insane enough to want to marry my brother- reasons for which I cannot begin to fathom. You have the right to ask me anything you want."

She laughed. "Thanks Nick... I wanted to know why you guys write those letters to Arya?"

Nick exhaled and chuckled lightly. "Going straight for the hard questions I see, huh?"

"Sorry!"

"Nah, don't worry... I guess we write the letters as a form of closure. For months after- uh, after Arya died, we were in a really bad place. But then, we found a video. Made by Arya." Nick squeezed his eyes shut and tried to keep the pain out of his voice. "We pulled ourselves together, got clean and tried to just... carry on. The letters were Chris's idea. It's just a way to keep her close." To distract himself, Nick took a sip of his drink.

"How long will you keep writing the letters?" Amara asked softly. 

"Until we have nothing left to say." Nick smiled bitterly and they walked over to where the others were standing.

"NO! ALLY! I'M SORRY! PLEASE! SPARE MY HAIR!" Kyle pleaded as Allison aimed the nozzle at him. James was next to him, eyes wide with fear.

"Think about what you're doing, Ally!" Adrien warned, palms up in surrender. "There will be no going back after this."

Ally breathed heavily and twisted the head of the pipe, setting it to the largest spray. "I don't care. Say goodbye to your hair, Kyle." She pressed the button.

The boys wailed in despair as water poured over them. But this quickly turned into cheers when Adrien managed to wrestle the pipe from Ally's grasp and give her a taste of her own medicine. The air was filled with the children's shrieks of laughter as they threw water and ice on each other while the adults watched from the sidelines.

"You know who they remind me of?" Caleb laughed. "They remind me of-" He stopped suddenly, eyes glossing over in pain.

"Of us, right?" A deep voice said behind them. "They remind us of when we were young and had all the time in the world." They turned to greet Chris, who- despite his haggard appearance- managed to smile and laugh.

"DAD!" Allison shouted, running up to him. She extended her arms out for a hug, but stopped short upon realising she was soaking.

"Mini Skittle!" Chris beamed, enveloping his daughter in a warm embrace. He kissed the top of her head. "Happy birthday!"

"You already wished me this morning!" Ally said, but still smiled widely. "Are we gonna light the candle for Auntie Arya?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Jacob and Marigold?" Renée asked.

"Marigold and Leah just called to say their flight was cancelled due to bad weather and can't make it until day after tomorrow- same with Lucas. And Jacob and Jess can't make it because their kid fell violently sick. They might drop by later, but it's unlikely. " Chris explained.

"Oh." Ally was slightly disappointed, but she pushed it away. "That's okay! We can send them a video so they don't miss it!"

"Of course!" Chris laughed, allowing Ally to pull him into the living room where he cake and candle were kept. Fondly, he remembered the day he adopted her.

It was a few years after Arya's death and he was very much still grieving and felt very lonely. One day, as he was walking down the alleyway, past the well-known crack den that was still going strong, he heard a small cry. He paused and went to investigate the noise and found a little baby, swaddled in a white cloth, abandoned in a pile of rubbish.

Chris picked up the little girl, her lips were pale blue and she was painfully malnourished. Not entirely sure what to do, he cradled her to his chest. She stopped crying and opened her eyes, cooing softly. Chris took her to the hospital and decided to try locate her family but that road hit a dead end.

By this point, Chris had grown attached to the little bundle of joy. So he decided to adopt her- a spur of the moment decision that he never regretted. Sure, it was tough at first and he was constantly calling people for help, but he managed to settle into a routine.

And suddenly, he didn't feel so alone anymore.

He snapped out of his memories when he realised everyone was singing 'Happy birthday'. Caleb was filming the scene and he whooped and belted out the song like he was on a talent show. Ethan was droning in a monotone, despite Renée's best attempts to get him to put more life into his words.

After everyone was stuffed with cake and drunk on lemonade, they decided to light the candle.

Chris opened the lid and carefully struck a matchstick, lighting the wick and quickly blew out the fire on the match. The flame burned brightly, flickering back and forth like a dancer, casting a warmth around its surroundings.

"Happy birthday, Skittle." Chris whispered, a tear trailing a path down his cheek. Allison leaned over and wiped it away and Chris chuckled, picking her up.

"Let's go get this party started everybody!" Caleb cried out, trying to instil some life in the gloomy day. "LET'S GO ROB A STORE!"

"Let's not." Ethan said decisively.

"I propose a toast!" Nick said, cutting over the , slightly worried at the kids' enthusiastic replies. "To Allison Moon! May she always be happy and healthy!"

Everyone cheered and raised their glasses.

"And!" Nick continued. "To Arya McKenzie, the girl in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time!"

End of chapter 2.

I hope you guys liked it!

Stay safe and thanks for reading :)