“What the hell is going on?” My father’s voice came out as a whisper and I could tell he was just as worried as I felt.

“Just stop the car, Ethan. Stop right f**king now.”

My father slammed on the brakes, causing my mother to fall forward, almost hitting her head on the windshield. “Calm down, Elaine. I’m sure there’s been some kind of misunderstanding . . .”

Before my father could finish, I was out the door, running down the sidewalk to my house. Something was wrong. Something terrible was wrong and I could feel it. The boys would never stand me up, especially on my favorite day of the year.

“Phoenix!” My mother screamed from behind me, but I ignored her and kept on running.

I ignored everyone, including the police officer that held me back from going inside. I didn’t want to look at him. I didn’t want to hear bad news. I just wanted to see my brother. They wouldn’t just let me go and see my brother.

“You can’t go in there,” a voice said, but I ignored it, shaking and fighting my way out of the man’s grasp until I broke free. “Get back here, child.”

I took off running through the hallway, pushing a few people out of the way before making my way to the steps, leading up to Adric’s room, the attic.

Someone grabbed my arm to try to stop me again, but I punched the hand repeatedly until it let go, allowing me to make my way up the second set of stairs that led to the attic. The problem was, I wasn’t ready for the sight in front of me. I wasn’t ready to see Adric that way.

The once, tan, handsome, funny brother I always knew was now, pale and lifeless with purple lips. He lay on the floor next to his favorite drawing chair, his dark hair covering most of his face and his arms tucked beside his body in a comfortable position. It looked as if someone had took care of him since he’d fallen there, and someone definitely touched his room. The whole room was trashed, everything broken and thrown everywhere. He was wearing his favorite Puma sweatshirt and his face was lying against the hood, comfortably inside. All I could think about was reaching for him and shaking him to wake him up, but I couldn’t.

My legs instantly gave out on me as I started screaming. I don’t even remember what I was saying. I just know that I was screaming so loud, as soon as my parents reached the attic, they already knew he was dead.

Shaking myself back to reality, I swallow hard and twist the bottom of my shirt between my fingers. “You know that I won’t be there tomorrow,” I say as Kade turns around to leave. He should know this by now. I haven’t gone to see the fireworks since that night, eight years ago. There’s no point. That night has a different meaning to me now. One that hurts way too much. “Have fun with your family, though and give my apologies to Dale and Nancy.”

Kade grunts while turning back around to face me. “Just come for once, please. You’re one of the only few that never show up. It breaks my mother’s heart not to see you there. Can’t you just show up? Just for a few minutes at least and say hi.” He sounds defeated as his eyes plead with me to give up and agree. “Please. Just do this to make my mother feel better. Now that Kellan's back, she’s been a little on edge with worry. It would make her happy.”

As much as it hurts to celebrate tomorrow, he’s right. It wouldn’t hurt for me to at least show up for a few minutes and say hi to everyone. It doesn’t mean I have to stay the whole night and watch the fireworks or anything. I’ll do it for Nancy because I know she’s had it tough.

“Fine, I’ll stop by for Nancy, but I’m not staying for the fireworks. I can’t, Kade.”

“That’s all I ask. I’m sorry for getting upset with you, Phoenix.” He clenches his jaw and scratches his nose. “I guess it’s been hard on all of us, having Kellan reappear. I’ll let my mother know to expect you tomorrow. She’ll be thrilled. Trust me, she loves you.”

He gets ready to turn away, the hurt look on his face makes me feel guilty and for some reason I feel the need to explain Kellan to him. “There’s nothing going on with me and Kellan if you must know. It’s just nice to see him again. He was a big part of my life. Of Adric’s life. We’ve only hung out a couple of times. It’s just nice to see him again. He was a big part of mine and Adric’s life. He was important to Adric, which makes him important to me.”

Kade forces a smile I know he doesn’t feel. “It’s cool, sexy girl. I’ll just see you tomorrow around two.”

I catch myself laughing as he turns away. I always hate when he calls me that and he knows it. “See ya, dick lick.”

He turns around and walks backwards while biting his bottom lip. “Stop thinking about my dick. You’ll never get it,” he teases. “As much as I know that you want it . . . in your mouth.”

“I’ll try my hardest. It’s going to be really tough though,” I say sarcastically as he walks away, leaving me alone.

So much for relieving stress here.

I get home to find the house quiet and dark. Looks like the girls are still sleeping. It seems like they had quite a rough night, so I don’t expect to hear from them for hours. Maybe I can get some cleaning done without waking them.

By the time two rolls around Zoe finally sits up from the couch, stretching as she watches me dust the TV. “Hey,” she mumbles.

“Hey,” I mumble back before throwing the duster at her. “Did you get enough sleep?”

She exhales before throwing her feet onto the coffee table. “Not really. It took me forever to fall asleep and when I did, I was somewhere between being awake and asleep. I hate when that happens.”

I walk over and plop down next to her on the brown suede couch, throwing my feet next to hers on the coffee table. “I can imagine. What happened with mom and dad? I mean, I know they separated, but how did it go down?”

We both sit there in silence before finally she speaks again. “I don’t really want to think about it. I just remember them yelling at like one in the morning, screaming back and forth about how their relationship hasn’t been good in years. I tried staying in my room until I heard dad say he was seeing someone else and he needed mom to leave, that he couldn’t sneak around anymore and sleep next to her every night.” She pauses for a second, squeezing her eyes closed, no doubt, trying to hide her tears. “I came running out of my room and just started throwing stuff at him, until finally he told me I was free to join my mom on the streets. He’s a jerk and I just couldn’t take it any longer. I would’ve went anyways. There’s no way that I would stick around with him and this new woman. Screw that!”