its that one moment when the only one you trust gets cancer that you literally die inside.

Acillia 'Ace' Demern's parents were killed when she was a little girl. So little that she can't remember anything exept the blood curdling scream at 2 am. Her and her brother Jaymond 'Jay' Alote now have to live underground in a cramped, trashed makeshift home, but this home did them nothing for the future. All the things they were exposed to form being underground made them both ill. The only one to keep them alive is there neighboor, Jeff Fanowit. He provides food and clean water, but can do nothing more for them. When Ace was 8 her brother passed out and was rushed to the ER, and was told he had a horrifying case of Lung cancer. When Ace was 9 she was diagnosed with psoriasis. And then when she turned 11 she was given strep throat. Jay is now only able to hunt down good sources for drugs, which he sends out Ace to get and deliver them to people who will buy it. But Ace is extremely talented in handi-coordination, and preforms breakdances and knife tricks to people who give her dimes and quarters. Sometimes she even gets a dollar. Ace is 14 now, and Jay is 18. They still have the terrible conditions, and are raising money for Jay's surgery to get the tumor out of his lung, and Ace is certain she can live with strep and psoriasis. But now no one is sure.

Ace flicked a playing card across the table. Jay looked up from his laptop and said "What?"

"I dunno. Quick questions." She asked.

"What?"

"What are fireworks? Why is my last name different from yours? Whats a twinkie? How do people afford houses? Why is glass so easy to break? How did we get so sick?" She quizzed.

He looked at her and typed more. Then he stopped, and said "Well..In order: A firework..Well I've never actually seen one. Our last names are different because me and you have different dads. A twinkie..I think its a soft, chewy spongey-thing that has cream in the middle. And people afford houses with jobs. Glass is easy to break because there are harder things in the world, like rocks, that can break it. Kinda like how if your arm gets run over by a semi then it'll break. And we got sick because of the city and house we live in." He answered.

"Okay, why don't we have parents for our parents? Are the fireworks like firecrackers? Whats a tv? What are flip flops? What are cellphones?" She asked.

"Uh. I think we do. Just I think they dont know us. And they might be, I don't know. A tv? I have no idea. And I think flip flops are summer shoes. And cellphones are something you take with you that you can talk to people on." He answered.

"Wow. How do you know so much." She asked.

"I was told about these things in second grade."

Ace stared and said "You went to school?"

Jay nodded weakly.

Ace picked up her playing card and said "Well, I'm gonna go to Relitz."

Jay looked at her and said "That high school full of smokers?"

Ace nodded and climbed out the hole to aboveground. She shut the little door, and began to run down the street. As she ran, she gazed at the old cadillacs and crown victorias that drove past her. All the happy houses, tall builidings..She would never know.

When she stopped on the corner of one of the main roads, and took her knife out of her pocket and said "Come one! Come all! Prepare to be amazed with the stupifying tricks of A.C.E!", and as the people gathered around to see the amazing tricks preformed by Ace and her 3 butterfly knives, a man in a trench coat hobbled over.

When Ace landed the trick, she tossed a knife in the air with its dazzling turns as the other's dull sides landed on her wrist. The man stopped the last blade in the air, and said in his shallow voice "A.C.E? Whats that stand for?"

"A Creative Energy." Ace commented. The man stared at her through the depths of his jacket in the frosty, sharp morning air.

"Question, who are you?" He asked.

"My name is Ace. You are?"

"Chester Franklin,"

A man came out of the car, brawny and big as he was, Ace was not afraid of him. "And this is my colleague, Alex Arnolds."

Ace nodded and grabbed her knife from Chester's clutches.

Alex looked down at Ace and said "Ace. I like that name. How do you do those tricks?" Alex asked.

" In my spare time I play with things and learn to do different things with them." Ace said. Before Alex could speak again, Ace remembered she had to meet Nick at the high school. She bolted off as fast as her legs could carry her, and as she was running, she remembered that Nick had his friends with him..

Ace jogged up to the school, where 3 boys on the outside of the school were laughing like idiots and smoking weed. Ace walked up to them and said "Eh, hey you guys."

Nick looked down and nodded, continuing with "H-Hey- Ace. These are my f-fhr-friends. H-(huff) Hunter, and Colby." Ace nodded, but magically she figured Colby was high, by the way he was standing. He cut in saying "Aaaaaaaayyssssshhhheeee, thhiiiiiisss iiisss mmyyyy gggiiiirr-..Giraaaaafffeee...Hiiis naaammme iiiisss L-...", he said, Obviously overdosed on pot. Ace stared at him, not seeing a giraffe. Then Hunter giggled hysterically, and said "Hee also hasa german armadillo, her name is K(huff)it-Kat."

Ace nodded. She looked at Nick and said "Okay, so where my money?". Nick pulled 50 dollars out of his pocket and handed her 40 of it. Ace pulled a bag of weed from her pocket and handed it to him. He nodded and said "Same time next Monday." And walked away with his overdosed friends.

Ace came across the boulavard again, and decided to put on another show to get some last minute cash. She pulled out her knives, got people's attention, and preformed her amazing tricks. One knife flicked around her leg, the other her neck, while one was consantantly thrown around through the air. She threw one knife backward and captured it like a boomarang, and another trick was flicking all the knives in a pattern through her skilled hands. And at the end, she would take 2 knives out and flip the other in one hand repeatedly like a knife. Her butterfly knives were were an extraordinary show. When she stopped, she collected the change and dollars from around her, totalling for the day $61.38 . Pretty impressive for one day.

When she came home, Jay was sitting on the floor, breathing very hard. Ace dumped her money off in a jar and ran to him, and asked "Jay. Jay, are you okay? Speak to me."

He wheezed and said "Geett...Jeff."

Ace said "No, he'll only call the hospital and make us use our money to pay it off. Are you okay? I'll get you water.". She ran to the buckets of fresh water that Jeff left and filled a small cup. She raced back to Jay and made him drink it. He stopped breathing so hard and said "The end is near for me."