**okay, it's finally the weekend again. Just one more week left of workstudy. I rambled a little bit in this chapter and it is a bit sad. I'm going to admit it: I love torturing Natalie in this story. It's fun. If anyone has any ideas for the next chapter, let me know please (: **
The weekend finally came. Natalie had been packed for days. She was so excited to see Henry, since it had been awhile. As soon as school let out that Friday, Natalie quickly bid 'adios' to Abby and ran to the house, ready to go.
After a few hours, they arrived in Natalie's hometown. "You go on and hang out with your friends," Harry said as soon as they got to their place for the weekend. "We'll stay here and get settled."
"Okay," Natalie said, more than ecstatic to get away from her aunt, uncle and cousins. She walked casually to Henry's house to hide her ecstaticism and knocked. Natalie was hoping that Henry would answer the door, but instead his brother did. "Hi."
"Natalie?" Peter whispered. "Why are you here? I thought you died in the fire with your parents? Am I hallucinating you cuz I didn't go to the funeral?"
Natalie giggled softly. "No. I came here for a surprise visit. Is Henry home?"
"Uh, yeah. Hold on. I'll go get him."
Moments later, Henry appeared at the door. "Nat…" he began.
"Hi, Henry!" Natalie practically shouted.
"Not so loud. I'm, uh, surprised to see you here."
"Of course you are. I'm here as a surprise."
"There's more surprises to that…"
"Surprises, surprises!"
"Natalie, I'm sorry, but I can't talk now."
"Why? Is something wrong?"
"No. It's just that…"
"HENRY!" a voice called out. "What is going on?" A girl who looked about 18 appeared behind Henry and noticed Natalie. "Oh, hi. You must be Natalie. Henry has told me so much about you. I'm real sorry about your parents. Must've been terrible. I'm Audrey Bates."
"Henry, who is she?" Natalie asked cautiously.
"Natalie, it's not what you think," Henry stated.
"You're trying to get another girlfriend, aren't you? Just cuz I moved, it didn't mean that we broke up. I seriously thought you still loved me and cared about me and still wanted to be with me someday. But do you want to something? You know what? You can be with Audrey for all I care. Our relationship is OVER! Good day, Henry David Glaceau."
"Natalie…"
"I SAID GOOD DAY!"
Natalie ran away from Henry's house and to where her house used to be. She walked around and found a couple of remnants from the house that weren't destroyed, such as that one baby picture of Gabe that her mother had tried to keep safe forever, a diary that Natalie kept when she was 7 ("Ugh!" she thought) and, most surprisingly, she found a letter that Diana had written to Natalie the night before she died. "Dear Natalie," the letter said. "I know you probably won't be home til morning, but I wanted you to know that me and your father love you so much, but my life is going, going, still here, but farther than it was. Please don't worry if a day comes where I'm gone. I want you to be happy and not worry about what others say or about me and your dad. We love you. Take care of yourself. Love you always, Mom."
Natalie began to cry after she finished reading the letter. Her mother wanted her to be happy, but what was so great about living with 2 little cousins, a friend who she still didn't know very well yet, a boyfriend who allegedly had another woman in his life and being unfamiliar with her new life. She shouted, "YOU PLANNED THIS OUT! YOU PLANNED TO SET FIRE TO THE HOUSE, DIDN'T YOU? YOU WANTED ME TO BE HAPPY, AND YOU THOUGHT LOSING YOU AND DAD WOULD MAKE MY LIFE BETTER? NO! I HATE YOU, MOM! I HATE YOU!"
"Natalie?" she heard Marsha say. "Why are you here? You know that being here could bring bad memories. Why aren't you with your friends?"
"What friends did I have here? All I had was Henry and he thought that my loss of parents could be his gain to a new girlfriend. I wanna go back. I never wanna come home again."
"Huh?"
"Your house is back, where I am now is home."
"I see. Come on then."
"Okay." Natalie followed Marsha, wishing that life wasn't so terrible.