Through two days of denial, Brittney and Jade make arrangements for Amy to be cremated, and for Jade to get the ashes.

"What about a funeral?" The director asks as Brittney and Jade sit at his desk, picking out Urns for Jade.

"No funeral," Jade says quietly.

"She needs a funeral,"

"Don't tell me what to do. It's just a body, and we are all she had. So, I repeat again," Jade leans over the desk to stair into the directors eyes, "I'm not paying for you to line your pockets while you take advantage of grieving loved ones in their lowest time by advertising that 'this is what they would want' bullshite. They are dead, they don't want anything," Jade slams her hands down onto the oak desk, turns quickly and proceeds to slam the door shut after exiting.

"I'm sorry about that. You have to understand it's hard for her,"

"Does she have a father?"

"No, I'm all she has left, and I'm not even related by blood, just a family friend," Brittney gets up from the chair and looks for Jade.

"Damn girl, is too smart for her own good," The director sighs shuffling through some paper work in front of him.

Brittney, after looking in every corner inside the funeral home, she suddenly puts a hand to her head, Duh, of course she's on the roof.

Opening the door to the emergency exit, setting the alarm off, she slams it shut again. Her eyes temporarily blinded by the sunlight until she see's Jade sitting in the middle of the roof.

"Jade, that wasn't nice," She walks up to the small blond, curled into a ball with her knees tucked to her chest in her torn up jeans and baggy sweater.

Jade doesn't look up as Brittney sits next to her, "How can the world keep moving around me, when mine is shattered?"

"Because, no matter what happens, we have to keep going," She puts her hand on the girl's head who starts crying.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Brittney brings Jade into a tight hug.

"Why do the good people have to die?"

"Huny, it's not just the good people. Every one dies some time," Brittney lets a few tears slide down her face as she watches the world continue with one less spark of light. After about ten minutes of silence, both of them in their own thoughts, "You know we have to go back down there, right?" Brittney finally says pulling away.

"Yah, I know. God only knows, he'll probably tax us on every second to," Jade smiles slightly as Brittney giggles softly pulling Jade up to her feet.

"Are we ready to continue?" The director asks, his stomach hidden by the fancy looking oak desk. The collar of his black and white suit looks like it has to be cutting off circulation.

"Yes, sorry about earlier. But I'll make it up to you," Jade sits back into the chair, folding her hands together on the desk, "I'll make it short and sweet so we can move on," Jade picks up the urn she picked out three hours before, "Burn the body, and put half the ashes in here, the other half in a small box so I can put her to rest where she wants...You know," She stands up and gets closer to his face, "The way she would want it, and all that," She smiles as she digs into her back pocket and pulls out a large wad of hundreds and slamming it on the desk.

"Jade, where did you get that money?" Brittney asks as Jade slams it onto the desk.

"That's not important, now is it...Sir?" She grimaces at the show of respect.

"Why no, it's not,"

"Now, I'm sure this should cover the cremation, and here is an extra one hundred for the urn. Now, don't contact us until this is done, and for the love of God," She gets closer, and grabs his tie, careful not to touch his double chin, "Don't you DARE ask for more money, or I'll make YOU fit into this," She holds the urn up to the other side of his face as he begins to sweat. After letting go, she walks out the door and waits for Brittney to drive her home.

Two days pass by and they get the call to come pick up Amy's remains. They make the visit short and sweet. Hoping she would never have to see the disgrace of a human again for a long time.

Getting back to Brittney's house, "Where are you going to put the rest of your mother's remains?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I know I'll find the perfect place some day," With that being said, she walks into her now half empty room and begins going through her mother's belongings.

After about an hour, she stumbles over her birth certificate.

Jade Clines November 11, 1987 Born to Amy Clines and Jack Napriel.

Jack Napriel? That's my fathers name? She sets the other documents down and goes to her laptop and look up the name. That doesn't surprise me he lives in Gothem. That's where Mom grew up. Her curiosity grows when she can't find him on any social media sites. She begins to hack utility companies and the mail system in Gothem until she finally gets an address.

132 South Main st. Gothem, New Jersey? Wow that's...She opens a fifth tab to look up maps of the USA. That's over a thousand miles away. Why the hell did Mom ever come to Wisconsin?

She goes back to looking through her mom's documents until she stumbles upon something, even she deems as strange. A letter from her mother to her, dated one month before her death. Her heart pounds as she opens the letter.

Dear Jade,

When you are reading this, I have passed on. I know you must be scared, alone, feeling like your world has ceaced to exist, but I promise, you will move on.

Now, the reason I am writing this letter to you, is because I want to tell you about how I met your father. I know, shocking, but if I don't tell you now, you will never know.

Now, I was born in Gothem, New Jersey, which you already knew. I was a wild child, exactly opposite of you actually. I didn't care much about my grades. Instead I cared about partying all night and what people thought of me. I know, silly and stupid. But as they say, hind sight is 20/20. With that out of the way, I met your father at a rather dark party in a run down building. I drank about ten more shots then I should have and found a guy who, I'm not going to lie, was rather good looking with my beer goggles on. Both of us were about seven sheets to the wind and ended up going back to his house. We had a one night stand. When I woke up, I realized what I had done was not only bad, it was a hazard to my life. Your father was crazy. I mean absolutely insane. The kind that needs to be locked up and put in a straight jacket. Before he could wake up, I got out of there as fast as I could.

I realized I was pregnant the next month and I ran away from home when Jack began looking for me. That's how I wound up in Wisconsin. To answer the question I'm pretty sure you have, no I haven't had contact with that man since that night.

That's all I know about your father. My last wish for you, is to not go looking for him. Only pain and fear can come from that man.

On a slightly brighter note, I want you to know, I love you. Nothing in this world or the next is going to change that. I only want the best for you, my daughter. Yes, life has it's up's and down's but I know you will keep your eyes on your prize in life, what ever that may be in the future for you. I'm not sure what your take on the after life is, but I promise you, I will try my hardest to be with you and watch over you the best I can. I know you will miss me, I will miss you to, but this is just another path that our lives has laid out for us and we have no other choice but to follow it.

Keep going. Stay strong. Don't care what other people think of you. Do your best even if your best doesn't seem like enough, keep trying. I know I will see you again some day, hopefully much later than sooner.

Keep going.

With love, Your mother, Amy Clines.

As she reads, tears plop onto the paper, then grow, just like her heart brake.

I'm sorry Mom, I can't keep my promise. I can't stay here with Brittney. I'm only keeping her down and becoming a burden to her. She'll never admit it, but I know this won't work out.

She put's the letter into her desk and continues go through her mother's belongings as Brittney is on the phone with bill collectors, trying in vain to tell them there is no one else to pay her bills that are over eight teen.

About an hour passes until Jade has gone through every scrap of paper work, piece of clothing, and belongings that cancer didn't steal from them.

Opening up her laptop once again, she begins taking photo's of her mother's antique dresser and her desk with the small camera built in to the laptop. After cropping and making them look a little bit better, she posts adds onto the internet, telling them to make an offer over $500.

Once that is done, she decides to try to sleep. Laying down on her bed, she turns to her mother's mattress next to her, now empty. Never to be filled with her sleeping form again. She begins to cry into her pillow, as the reality begins to sink in. Her mother was dead. She would never be able to hold her again. Never hear her voice telling her not to worry. Feel her nurturing touch that could fix almost every problem. Suddenly, anger grips her form.

This is all the fucking system's fault! If they had caught it earlier, none of this would have happened! Mom would still be here! Tears of anguish turn to tears of rage as she screams into her pillow. If they would have actually listened to what my mother was telling them and not be so fucking stuck up thinking they are smarter than everyone else in the world, Mom would still be alive. FUCKING SYSTEM! I'll have my revenge! The tears begin to fade as she feels like she needs to take action now. She gets back out of bed, turns on the light and grabs her laptop roughly off the desk. Logging back on, she opens up the internet and stops.

Where do I even begin? And who's to say it's not Mom's fault. Maybe there were no symptoms any way? Then it's no one's fault. No one's fault... Then who's to blame? Everything we do has a consequence. Then who's at fault for this consequence? Who? Her brain comes to a dead end trying to rationally figure out the death of her mother. If it's no one's fault, then why did she die? Why can't she just come back? What can I give up to bring her back? Tears come anew as she forces her mind to think harder at what she can do to bring her mother back, even though she logically knew that wasn't possible. The dead were dead and there was nothing any one could to to fix that. Tell me what I can do to bring her back! She internally screams to a God she doesn't even believe exists. I'll never hack again! I'll be a better, nicer person! I'll give up anything to have my mom back! PLEASE!

The next morning rolls around as Brittney wakes her up to eat breakfast.

"How did you sleep?" Brittney asks sitting at the table, waiting for Jade to take a seat.

She says nothing as she sits across from the woman who she viewed as an aunt, "I'll take that as you slept like shit. I understand. I didn't sleep good either," She reaches over and touches Jade's frail hand, "Jade, I just want you to know, I'm here for you. You can talk to me, cry with me, even if you feel like you need to, you can yell at me. Please, I want to help you through this," She lifts Jade's face with her other hand, "Can you let me do that?" Jade just looks away, grabs her bowl and puts it back into the cupboard, then walks back into her bed room to start cleaning her mother's belongings up and seeing what else she can sell.

After rounding up all her mother's cloths and most of her own, she grabs trash bags from the kitchen and begins stuffing them full.

"Jade, what are you doing?" Brittney asks after she see's Jade go through the kitchen for the fourth time.

"I'm just rounding everything up," She stops in the doorway connecting the kitchen to the living room, "I'll be gone most of the afternoon," She begins to walk back to her room.

"Jade, where will you be going?" Brittney gets off the couch to talk to her face to face.

"Just going to see how much money I can get with selling some of her cloths,"

"Oh, alright. Well, if you need a ride, just let me know," Jade simply nods her head and goes back to her room.

"If I take these to a second hand shop, I might be able to get something out of these. What I don't sell I can give to a shelter," She thinks walking out side, carrying two bags out of four, "The thrift shop is down town, I can just borrow her wheel barrow," She says to herself plopping the bags next to the garage, then starts rummaging to dig the four wheeled, red wagon out.

"Jade, why are you in the garage?" Brittney asks walking outside, hearing loud as large pieces of plywood she shoves the the side carelessly.

"Why do you keep pestering me?" Jade spits back rudely, not turning around to face her guardian as she shoves the last six foot plywood to the side with another loud, ear splitting bang.

"Jade! Tell me what you are doing!"

"What the hell does it look like?" She yells back grabbing the wheel barrow and throwing it at Brittney's feet.

"Stop throwing my things around!"

"You never use this any way, why does it matter? It's just a material object!"

"What is wrong with you?"

"That's a good question," Jade exists the garage and walks past Brittney, back into the house to grab the other two bags.

I can't believe that girl! She's throwing my things around like she has no respect! Brittney takes a step back mentally, I guess I should cut her some slack. At least she is going outside. Some fresh air will do her good. She's just angry. Who wouldn't be? Teenage hormone's raging next to the only relative she has dying. I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

Jade comes back out and walks past Brittney with out so much as a side glance and plops the four bags into the wagon and starts off, pulling the haul behind her.

Her mind is blank as she walks down the side walk toward down town to sell the items she has.

After receiving only fifteen dollars from the articals of clothing that the shop would take, she drops the rest off outside a church that holds small sales for people in need and starts back home.

I'm sure she just needs sometime alone to sort out her thoughts. This is Jade we are talking about. She doesn't like to be around others as a rule. Heck, most of the time, she just kept to herself in her bedroom growing up as a child any way. Brittney thinks as she sits on her couch in the living room, completely ignoring the nature documentary playing on the T.V. I'm sure when she's ready to talk, she'll come and talk to me...Her thoughts are abruptly stopped when the back door is opened and then slammed shut again.

"Jade?"

"Yah,"

"Are you hungry, huny?"

"Don't call me huny. Only Mom is allowed to call me that...Was allowed,"

"I'm sorry. I won't call you that again. Can you please answer my question?"

"No, I'm not hungry. Thank you though," With that being said, she goes back into her room to go to bed. She needed to work tonight, and tomorrow she had to go back to school.

Logging onto her computer, she looks up the adds she posted. She had two bids. Both for under five hundred dollars. Does any one know how to read? She replies stating that if they wanted to get any where in their pathetic excuses for a lives that they would have to learn how to read and follow simple instructions. She asked them how they had gotten so far in life with less than a brain steam in their head. With in less than a minute, one of them named Bob replied with one word. Luck.

Jade chuckles softly to herself, never believing in luck in her life. Everything had a reason for being, everything had a reason for happening, so how can he be alive when he can't even reply correctly to an add? Yet here he is, and her mother is dead. Luck, huh?

Closing the laptop, she crawls into her bed, and for the first time in a while, she fell asleep quickly.

Growing up, she never really remembered her dreams, but this one, she had a feeling she would remember for a while.

In the dream she stood in the middle of a decimated building, bodies strewn, some contorted in horrific ways, other's stabbed through with debree. The people who were left alive, screamed and cried for their loved ones. Looking down, she had blood dripping from her hands. It begins to pool around her feet, until it starts raising in a perfect circle around her. She begins drowning in it. The last thing she see's is a figure in black, the closest thing she would imagine Death looking like.

She wakes up with a start, breathing heavily. She quickly looks around the room. Once satisfied the figure wasn't there, she looks at her hands. She sighs heavily, It was just a dream.

She looks over at her alarm clock. It's eleven? Why didn't my alarm go off? She looks out the window to see it's still dark. Oh, it's eleven at night. I have to get ready for work. She get's up and sneaks into the bathroom, leaving the light off, she washes her face and brushes her teeth and hair. She gets ready for work. By eleven twenty five, she has her lunch packed and is ready to head out.

"Good evening, Lesily," A guard greets at the door to the paper mill.

Lesily was the name she took when she made her fake id's. Lesily Schultz. She was nine teen and didn't have a high school diploma, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," She states walking past into the mill. On the way to the locker room, she is greeted with sympathetic looks from four other people. All of which she just nods to and walks on.

Through out work, she talks to no one, keeps to herself and does her job. Eight hours later, it's time to punch out. Walking out of the mill, it's time to go to school. Not bothering to go home, she walks her way straight to school.

Walking the two miles to the building, she finally enters to recieve the usual glares from her peers. She didn't have friends, which never bothered her, none of these people she deemed worthy to be her friends. They all seemed to attract drama, or make it themselves. Something that she hated more than anything. Normally, people just left her alone. But today seemed like she had a giant target on her forehead that screamed talk to me.

"Hay, looser. You've been skipping school?" A boy named Brad teases her.

"No,"

"Then why have you been gone?"

"My mom died." The look on his face almost brought a smile to her face. The look of shock and shame.

"Oh..." He quickly regains his ground, "I bet your lying. You just want attention,"

"Don't believe me? Ask the principal, you know since you two are so chummy," Having enough socialization for one day, she moves on.

The first class of the day is her psychology class. She actually enjoyed this class. It gave her the opportunity to learn why people behaved the way they do, and it helped her learn how to make her words act like a replant.

The class goes by quickly as she sits in the back of the room in the corner absorbing the theories of how the human memory works.

The next three classes include science, learning about quarts and neuons. After that is her advanced math class. Next is her gym class. She hated gym class. It required her to work with other people.

Like any other day, she is picked dead last. Today's sport is hocky. Hm. Best day of my life for gym. I love hocky. I get to beat people with a stick, and only get penalized slightly. A smile adorns her face as she takes her position at the front. The whistle blows and she smakes the puck the side, runs past the other nine players and shoots into the goal.

"You know, this is a team sport, right?" Malisa, one of the stuck up, snotty girls asks from behind her.

"Not my fault the pretty princess is afraid to brake a nail," Jade turns and smiles at her, which looks more like a murderous grin, "I'm just saving you from the wrinkles and sagging boobs you'll have when you turn fifty,"

Malisa gaps in horror, "How dare you!" She screams and grabs Jade by the hair that she has up in a poney tail.

"Hay! What's going on here?" The teacher comes rushing up.

"She's threatening me!"

"Is that true, Jade?"

"I don't know how teaching how the chromosome oxidizing makes us age is threatening,"

"What?" looks from Jade to Malisa, Malisa still having a death grip on her hair, "Well, if she didn't threaten you, there is no need to be pulling hair. You're in high school, Malisa. Bullying is not allowed at this school, go to the principal's office,"

"What?" Malisa screams yanking hard on Jade's hair forcing her to meet the floor unceremonious, "That's not fair!"

"It most deffenitly is now!" He yells over her and points to the door.

Jade lays on the floor, not wanting to get up. It's nice and cold down here, even though it smells like feet...and I have a bloody nose. It's so gross. And it will run onto my cloths, I have to ware these tomorrow. I don't have time to do the laundry tonight, I have work.

"Jade, are you alright?" Mr. Burns asks bending down to lend a helping hand.

"Yah, just peachy. Can you get me something to stop a bloody nose before I get off the ground, I don't want it running onto my shirt."

"You have a bloody nose?"

"Yes, if that's national news you can cover it later!" She says through her teeth. Why did people feel the need to repeat her?

"Alright, don't get snappy with me," He walks away and like normal, students begin forming a circle around her.

"Is she contentious?" She hears a girl ask.

"She's probably just faking,"

"Wait, is that blood?" Another girl screams and runs away.

"Here you go, now please get up, your causing a scean,"

"Not my fault Miss perfect decided to have a bad hair day," Jade takes the paper towel and puts it to her nose, then gets up and proceeds to the nurses office.

Why do I even bother coming back to school? I have to leave Brittney, and I'm not waiting another two years to do that...I should just drop out and work full time until I have enough money to leave and head to Gothem. I want to meet my father. Her heart pounds at the thought of seeing her father. She can't even begin to imagine what he would look like. No pictures were found, no matter how deep she dug into the web.

Reaching the nurses office she steps in, "Oh no, what happened?"

"Nothing, I'm just here to use the sink until my blood decides to clot," She walks into the bathroom and locks the door with out another word.

After about five minutes, the nose bleed finally stops. She softly blows her nose, carful not to start it up again, washes her hands and splashes cold water on her face for good measure, then exists.

"Jade, I need to know what happened," The nurse says, cornering her in the door way, knowing from experience, this is the only way to make the small recluse talk.

"Marissa yanked my hair and I fell," She slides past the skinny brown haired nurse, "Like I said, nothing. I'm going back to class now,"

Making her way down the hall, she checks the clocks, "It's time for choir," She says to herself, picking up the pace slightly. She loved her choir class. Singing was her excape from the world. When she sang, the only thing she had to focus on was the words. That's it. She didn't have to think about the world around her or her problems. She would sing just about anything. Put music in front of her and she would get lost in it. They would be having a concert coming up in a month. She wouldn't be there long enough. She had made up her mind laying on the floor. She was done with this school. She was done with this town. She was leaving. She just had to save up money.

She walked into the choir room, One more month of this, then I can leave. By that time, I'll have $1664 plus my two week notice. And if I'm quitting school, I can work Saturdays to, which means by the end date, I'll have saved up $2,496. so my ending date will be...Today is October twenty second.

"Welcome back, Jade. It's so good to have you back with us," smiles as she walks in.

"Yah, hi,"

"Where have you been?"

"Seeing to my mother's last wishes,"

The teacher's face grows pail, "What?"

"My mom died five days ago," suddenly the teacher runs to her and wraps her arms around her frail frame.

"I'm so sorry about your loss. If there is anything I can help you with, please, let me know,"

"Yah, okay." She pulls the teacher off, never one for pyicical interaction.

"Alright class, settle down," She goes back behind the piano while Jade finds her place among the other fifteen other students, "Take it from the top,"

She looks around her honor's choir class, they had some new arrivals while she was gone. Mostly freshman.

After going over the same some about three times, the begin try outs for solo's at the concert. Ten girls go out of the fifteen.

"Jade, aren't you going to try?" asks looking up from the her music.

"No, I'll pass this time around," Every one in the class turns to look at her, "Take a picture, it lasts longer," She crosses her arms and looks down at her feet.

The rest of the day goes by as normal. Finally three fifteen rolls around. Finally, freedom from annoying people. She begins the treck home, yawning widely.

"Welcome home, Jade,"

"Yah, hi,"

"How was school?"

"Okay," Jade walks to her room and closes the door. I need to go onto first shift so I can drop out, and Brittney won't find out for a while. I can just hack into the school system's attendance and change them every day. It will take at least a month for them to realize that there is something wrong. I can talk to my boss when I get to work tonight.

She throws her book bag into the corner and flops onto her bed.

She wakes up with a start seven hours later, sweating and panting in fear. That dream again. She puts her right hand to her head, trying to calm down. She gets ready for work, pushing it out of her mind.

"Sir, I need to talk to you," She walks up to her boss. Having left slightly early for work.

"Yah, what is it?"

"I need to go onto first shift,"

"Why?"

"Family problems."

"Oh? I thought your mother died,"

"Yes, that's why I don't want to be on third shift any more. It was simply to work around her schedule, and since she is now gone, I would like a change of pace,"

"Sure. You start in two days," The well built blond haired man swivels in his desk chair to face her, "Now get to work," He points to the door, his dark blue eyes narrowing at her.

With out another word, she walks out into the mill to start her eight hour shift.

"Lesily," her supervisor stops her before she leaves, "I just wanted to make sure you knew, you have tomorrow off to get your body onto first shift. Your start time will be eight in the morning," Kady walks closer, "It's going to be hard not having a hard worker like you around,"

"You'll manage," Is all Jade says as she walks out of the building, fatuige setting deep into her bones.

A day off sounds divine. She thinks to herself walking home as the sun lazily rises.

Getting home, she goes straight to bed.

"Jade, you need to wake up and go to school," Brittney knocks on her door, waking Jade up from a half hour nap.

"I don't feel good," Jade tilts her head off the bed, making her sound congested.

"Oh, did you catch a cold?"

"Yah, I think so. I don't think I should go to school today. I don't want this passed around," She coughs loudly and facks some rather loud sniffles.

"Alright, you just get some rest, I need to go to work. Try to feel better,"

"Yah, okay," She hears Brittney turn and walk away, her heals making louder than necessary noise on the tile floor as she leaves.

Getting up, she grabs her lap top off her desk and plops back onto her bed. Hm, I have four hits for the iteams I posted. She opens them all up in different tabs. One is for my desk, $600. At least they got the over five right, the other is $750!? Sweet, well sir, you are the winner. She types into the small box to pick it up tomorrow at three in the afternoon, or he could pick it up today any time before four. She turns her attention to the other two, for her mother's dresser. Another dumb ass, four hundred? She resists the temptation to bitch him out, until she see's the other bid, $800?! Sweet! She types the same information into the box and sends them out. Posting that the bidding for the iteams had ended. Getting a reply back quickly about her desk, the person stating they would pick it up in a half hour. She agrees telling him that he needs to pay in cash, and take it out of the house himself. The dresser replies ten minutes later saying they would pick it up the next day.

The next few weeks go by quickly as Jade starts working days. Brittney never suspecting a thing.

Tomorrow, I will be gone. She sits on her bed and looks around the room nostalgically. Sighing, she gets up and begins packing. She thinks back to her coworkers good byes and hopes for success. I wonder if any one will miss me? She asks herself as she packs her two bags of the items she still has to her name. That's a stupid question. No one exept Brittney will miss me, but I know she will move on in time. Once done with the small amount of packing, she lays back onto her bed, wanting to leave earily in the morning so she won't have to talk to Brittney after she wakes up.

Falling asleep quickly, having the same nightmare, only this time, getting a better glimpse at death. For the second she has before her horror filled delusion ends, death is consumed by a giant bat.

Jolting up in bed after her dream death, sweat dripping off her as she breaths heavily. She looks over at the clock now kept on the floor. The retna pirsing, red digits saying it was four in the morning.

I guess it's time to go. She pulls herself out of bed and grabs her two bags. One filled with anything from clothing to pepper spray and everything in between she could think she needed. The other bag is filled with her personal documents, money, her mother's ashes and a book of maps of the USA. Alright Mom, here we go. Closing the door, she begins the 1030 mile trip. Before leaving through the kitchen door, she places her key on the table, takes one last look around, then closes the door, forcing herself not to get sentimental.