"Bea! Bea!" Caleb shouts as he runs up the stairs. He barges into my room and looks as if he's seen a ghost. In his hand is a small white paper with writing on it.

"What is it, Caleb?" I ask, thoroughly confused.

"Here," he hands the note to me. "Dad's gone."

Beatrice and Caleb,

Since your mother's passing, I have been overworking myself to try to dull the pain, but it's only stressing me out, and that stress is affecting our family. I left $100,000 for you for whatever you may need until you are able to support yourselves. I, of course, will have to pay all the bills and will continue to do so.

Goodbye,

Dad

"That horrible excuse of a father," I say deadly and quietly.

"What?" Caleb says shocked.

"He left us, Caleb! He abandoned us! He's gone, Caleb! We're alone!"

Caleb pulls me into a tight hug.

"I'm going to take care of you, Bea," he says. "We're going to get through this."

I can't believe that was only two years ago. It seems like a lifetime away.

I'm now a junior in high school, and Caleb graduated college last year. He's a substitute teacher at the school and will take Mr. Burkely's position as a Biology teacher when Mr. Burkely retires next year.

His girlfriend, Susan, moved in with us a few months ago. She's lovely and like the sister I never had. Caleb really loves her, and I think she's head over heels for him too.

Throughout these past few years, I've learned to cherish the things I have; they could be taken away from me in an instant or abandon me just as quickly. I've gotten used to clinging on to Caleb like my lifeline; a dark little corner in my mind whispers to me that he'll abandon me just like Andrew Prior did years ago. I do my best to ignore that part of my mind because I know Caleb is ten times the man my father was.

"Bea?" Caleb says. He, Susan, and I are eating dinner, and I guess I spaced out.

"Sorry. Yes, Caleb?"

"I was just asking about school. How was your first day back?"

"It was as great as it's going to get, I guess," I reply. He chuckles.

"How are your friends? Other than Christina, of course. She's here almost everyday."

It's now my turn to do the chuckling.

"They're great, actually. Zeke and Shauna got together this summer."

"Finally!" Caleb blurts out. "The kid has had a crush on her for years!"

Susan and I laugh at his childish outburst. He just smiles.

We clean up the table and I load and run the dishwasher.

Caleb comes into the kitchen and gives me a hug.

"You're a bit pale," he says with concern. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Sometimes I miss the life we used to have," I admit to him. "I wish she was still here with us to help us and guide us."

"Me too, Beatrice. I can feel her sometimes; her warm embraces, her soft touches, her gentle words. I wish she didn't have to leave us so soon. I'm glad, however, that I still have you," he says, smiling at me. "We've done well."

"We definitely have."

Caleb, other than Christina, is my best friend. Sure, he's my big brother, but he and I have always understood each other. He takes care of me, and in turn, I take care of him. We're alone, but at least we're alone together.

AN: Hello again, FanFiction! Good to see everyone is alive and well. I just thought I would mention that this story is also on Wattpad (my username is missymusicals) and I will most likely update more often on Wattpad than here. However, I do intend to update twice or three times a week, depending on how this story goes over. DON'T WORRY; the chapters will be longer than this prologue. I just thought I would give you a brief introduction of the story and a few characters. I hope that you'll like the story and review to let me know how my writing can improve. Much thanks and happy reading!