I must have dozed off waiting for my parents to call, because someone shook me awake.

"Tom, dear." It was my mother's voice. I shook off the drowsiness.

"Hey, Mom, how's Elsie."

"Fine, dear. She's still in the hospital. Your father is there." I realized that I was in my room; lying on my covers. I didn't even remember going back there after the paramedics left.

"Did they, ah, find out what was wrong?" I asked. Might as well have gotten that over with.

"Yes, dear, but you already knew what it was, didn't you?" Mom posed. I made the 911 call, and I had told them I believed it was an overdose. It was an educated guess, of course, since I didn't see her take anything, but given the evidence it was one of two logical conclusions, and I refused to believe the alternative.

"I was just guessing." I replied truthfully. Mom did not affirm or deny the guess's correctness.

"She'll be home tomorrow." Mom did inform me.

"That's nice. What happens now?" I asked. What would happen as a result of Elsie's blunder? Would we be restricted to the house, unable to go around? Would my parents grow paranoid and think I was acting as stupid as Elsie. After that stupid night with Quinn at Lindy's party, I certainly knew how to make stupid decisions regarding drugs. But at least I was with Quinn, who was responsible enough to lay me on a couch, while Elsie was all alone and probably no idea I was even home. And I certainly never did anything like Elsie.

But I'd keep last night to myself. There was no need to tell my mother and make her freak out even more, or get the wrong impression.

"Your father and I will discuss that later." Mom replied. "You'll be home, won't you."

"I guess." I replied. "I'm not tutoring until Monday. Although I was planning on stopping by Jane's."

"Do it later, dear." Mom ordered. Mom very rarely invoked the power of law, and I rarely listened to her when she did. She was just not around to enforce it.

"I suppose." I begrudged. No reason to give her an excuse to think I was doing the same stupid crap as Elsie.

The day passed by slowly. Mom spent much of her time in her study and on the phone with Dad. I frittered away my time accomplishing nothing of note, played a few video games, trolled a few web sites, completely bored out of my skull, all the while resenting Elsie for acting like such a dumb ass. I would have thought Mom would try to probe me or look around my room for drugs. Maybe she already did it while I asleep, or maybe Mom had genuine insight and didn't believe I made the same mistakes. But I kept out of her way. She had her own things to think about, and she would come to me if she wanted me.

I briefly considered calling Jane, but decided against it. What, exactly, would I tell her? Elsie overdosed and now I was trapped at home? She wouldn't have been able to rescue me from this. I couldn't just join her at the Zon, and I couldn't imagine how Mom would react if I invited her over.

I surprised myself with how little I thought of Elsie. Did she deserve better then this? Had my years of silently criticizing her pathetic behavior jade me so much? When we were younger, we got along so well as kids. Or maybe I felt guilty. After all, it was through me that Elsie was exposed to the alternative crowd. That was probably where she got exposed to the drugs and all the other stuff. But I never did any of that. For Elsie, going to such a place was for the rebellion, the idea of going against the rules. But for me, it was merely about the different lifestyle. The lack of pretense, the struggle for true art. It was easy to admire a band like Trent's, who didn't try to please anyone. It was easy to admire Jane. And Daria.

Elsie was home the next day, just as Mom had said. My father had decided to take two weeks off of work.

"Heh." I snickered. "To think, all it took was an overdose. Maybe I should have tried it." I tried to dismiss the thought. Even I wasn't that desperate. Elsie remained in her room while Mom and Dad were discussing something in his office. I wasn't privy to the details, but they instructed me that they were not to be disturbed unless the house was on fire. I returned to my room, but it wasn't long until my door opened.

"Looks like you're doing well." I stated without looking at the door. It would only be Elsie; Mom or Dad would have knocked. Elsie didn't answer me.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked. I was not sure why I felt the need to treat her the same as I always did.

"You were the one that called the hospital?" Elsie asked.

"That's right." I still didn't even look at her. Elsie said nothing else. A moment passed.

"Is that all you wanted?" I postured. "Because then I'll say something." I turned to face her.

I took a deep breath.

"God, you're stupid." I told her. Elsie didn't deny it, as she usually would.

"You knew better." I continued my assault. Again, Elsie didn't say anything.

"You've got nothing to say in your defense?"

"It's...it's all your fault." Elsie stated. She wasn't angry, she actually sounded desperate.

"My fault?" I was the one who was angry, although I kept my voice low. "I didn't give you drugs, I didn't tell you they were great. How on Earth was this my fault?"

"Because that was all I had." Elsie replied.

"What?"

"You got everything, Tom, and I got nothing." She accused. "You with your great grades. You and your luge races. Everything you did was so great. Poor little Elsie was never good enough. Everyone loves you and cheers for you and all I get is I'm not as good as your brother." My instinct was to shoot her down. Dad rarely spoke at all, and Mom could only ever complain that I never went to this affair or that one. We teased each other and our relationship was fairly good, but we did not praise each other. Not out loud.

"You're talking nonsense. Still using?" I dared, my tone became darker.

"Try actually showing up to the gallery fund-raisers, and you'll see what I mean. All Mom does is brag about Tom this, Tom that. Tom was in the top 1 percent this year, Tom got a perfect score on the math SAT's, Tom was accepted into Bromwell. It was like our parents had one child." Elsie was seething.

"And you blame me for this? Last I checked, I don't control Mom's mouth." I returned.

"No matter what I did it was never enough. It wasn't enough to make me look bad, was it?" Elsie condemned. I tried to brush it off. It was much easier to shake off then Daria's accusations, but I found myself more confused. Other then denying her accusations, I really didn't know what to say.

"My performance in school had nothing to do with you. I don't even try at school." I mentioned, unsure if it was the proper thing to say.

"And that's another thing. You don't try. You can go out with all your friends and that misery chick and still be all perfect little Tom. I had to work and work and I still can't do as good as you." I had heard that said to me before, and it meant nothing to me.

"Yeah, cocaine tends to screw you up." I snidely commented. "No matter what you say, Elsie, this was your fault. I never put smack in front of you and told you to do it. I never did any drug like that."

"I learned when you took me to a show." She returned. I couldn't deflect that one: I had suspected that all along. I had taken her to a few shows once at the Zon, but that wasn't her thing, so I stopped doing it.

"That's still not my fault. You could have said no." Elsie didn't reply. Maybe she thought she still was one-upping me.

"And I suppose you've told Mom and Dad this?" I asked. Elsie didn't say anything.

"Get out!" I ordered. Elsie, seemingly satisfied with her victory, silently left.

I huffed after Elsie left. What now? Who would the parents side with? Logic would tell them to side with me. I did better in school, I never showed habits. They could check my arms for track marks and find none. But I was the one who ducked out of everything; Elsie did in fact show up for formal affairs, even if she did bitch the entire time. I also had been going to the Zon and other alternative gigs for a long time, certainly longer then Elsie. I had no idea how they would think. If my parents sided with me, then there would be no problems. They'd concentrate on Elsie and life would return to normal. But if they sided with her? Mom was certainly concerned with my attitude as of late. She had told me it was because of my breakup with Daria, but I had told her that wasn't the case. And so clueless was she about Bromwell that she could certainly think it was drug-induced.

I didn't know where to go from here. Luckily for me, the phone rang, and I didn't have to think about it yet. I grabbed it on the first ring.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Tom?" It was Daria's voice. How odd for her to call me. Even when we dated, she rarely took initiative.

"Daria? Hello." I was unsure of how to proceed. Even without Elsie's blunder, it was hard to figure out what it was Daria wanted.

"I didn't leave anything at your house, did I?" I figured it was as good a way as any to open up the conversation.

"What? No." Daria deflected. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. Make sure you got home okay."

"Well, I answered the phone." I teased. "Yeah, I went to Jane's then home." I avoided any mention of Elsie.

"Hey, listen, I..." Daria started to ask me something, but she held back, as if unsure of what to say.

"Daria?" I questioned. There was no response, although I still heard her breathing.

"Anyway, I won't be able to do anything at the moment." She wanted me to know something, so I decided to cut her off. I was in no mood for fighting, and that was all we did.

"Forced to go to a family event?" Daria's monotone returned, although I thought I caught something else in her voice. Relief? Or was it despair that I was blowing her off?

"You could say that." I replied.

"What does that mean?"

"You already said it." I became brief with her. I had no desire to tell her about Elsie. It wasn't that I didn't trust Daria with such sensitive information, but I didn't want her opinion on the matter. As much anger as I had for Elsie right now, Daria's brutally honest opinion would set me the wrong way. I couldn't deal with this situation calmly. Not yet.

"Listen I have to go." I told her.

"Tom..." Daria started, but I hung up, my thoughts drifted back to my current situation. I didn't want to stay here, not with Elsie and her accusations, and there was no one to talk to about the situation. Perhaps it was time for a vacation.

"Camping?" My mother said with disbelief when I spoke to her. I had eventually decided this would be the best thing to do.

"Yeah." I replied. "I saw this great area out near the county line that would be great for camping. I figure I should do it before I go to Bromwell. Might not get a chance."

"I don't think it's a bad idea, dear, but right now?" Mom played her cards early, which meant I was sure I'd be able to get my way.

"That's exactly the reason." I prepared my speech exactly as I planned. "You guys need to spend some time with Elsie. No other distractions. Not the firm, not the club, nothing."

"Tom, you're not a distraction." My mom pleaded. It was nice to hear that, but it wasn't the truth.

"Right now, I am. This is about you and Elsie."

"But Tom, your father is taking off work. We should all spend time together."

"But I'm not the one who was doing drugs." I returned.

"Tom, we're not punishing you." Mom replied. "I really have to insist."

"And I do too." I replied. I took a deep breath. "I didn't want to admit this, but Elsie seems to think this is all my fault. She says she got started on all of this because I took her to a place where it happened." I didn't know how this was going to go. I didn't even know if Elsie had told them anything.

"Tom, you know I don't believe that, and neither does your father." My mother spoke. Maybe my opinion of her was a little too low.

"But she does, Mom. That's why I shouldn't be here. She'll just fight me if I'm here." Mom paused, not sure of what to say next.

"Me being here is just going to give Elsie a scapegoat." Elsie would probably blame me whether I was here or not, but this would suffice, I thought. Mom was silent for a long time while I was loading up the Rustmobile. One I finished packing, I looked at her. I saw a desperate pleading in her eyes, and I realized I had seen it all summer long. For a second, I thought I should stay. But this vacation was for them as well as for me.

"I want what's best for Elsie too." I admitted. "But this is going to take some serious talking, among other things. This needs to just be about you and her. I'll be back in a week."

"Don't forget to call, dear." Mom eventually relented. I was a little surprised, maybe she knew what I was going through, or maybe, like Bromwell, she merely had the wrong idea, but thought that this vacation was a good idea regardless. I didn't know the first thing about phones up there, so I got into the car and drove away without another word.

I had loaded my car with camping supplies and enough food for an entire week. Although I didn't plan on telling anyone that I would be gone, I realized I had to stop at a pay phone, call Quinn and tell her that I wouldn't be around this week for tutoring.

"Why? What happened?" Quinn had asked.

"It's a long story, and I'm on a pay phone, so I don't really have time to explain." I replied. I had time, but I didn't want to tell her the sordid details. It would make her worry unnecessarily.

"Where will you be?"

"Well I'm camping, I'll be around next week."

"Camping? Where?" Quinn asked.

"There's a place near the county line." I commented. "I went there with your father when we took that squirrel back to the wild. You remember that, don't you."

"Yeah...Hey, Tom?"

"Quinn, I really gotta get going. What is it?" I asked. There was silence on the phone for a moment.

"Nothing." She replied. I hung up. I started to move towards the car, but I paused for a moment and called Jane.

"Yo." Jane answered.

"It's Tom. I was just calling letting you know I won't be around for a week. I'm going camping." I don't know what I was thinking calling Jane, but something compelled me to.

"Camping? With your family?" Jane spoke light-heartedly, and I almost wondered if I dreamt my conversation with her yesterday.

"No, just by myself. You expect my family to go camping?"

"Your father might. What happened?"

"Long story." I tried to shrug it off like I did with Quinn.

"I've got time. I think I need to stop anyway from this sculpture. Need to decide whether tomato or marinara sauce is the best red." Jane wasn't buying my story.

"Are you painting or cooking." I chuckled. "Anyway, I don't want to bother you."

"It's no bother." Jane replied. I paused. She was right, she was already bothered already. I saw her sketch of my portrait. So I told her. About Elsie and what she said. Jane listened without a word.

"Well, I don't believe it's your fault." Jane replied. "I go to more shows then you do and it's easy to avoid those kinds of crowds."

"I wasn't blaming myself." I replied. "But you know, it is nice to hear that. Anyway, I'll be back in a week. I'll make sure I stop by to check on some of your work."

"Okay, Tom." Jane replied, after a period of silence.

Once I reached the county line, it was easy enough to find a place to camp. If I remembered the area correctly, this wasn't a park or anything. No one owned this land. I pulled the car on a dirt road, rode up a while, then pulled off-road. I pitched camp a little further away, confident I'd be where no one could find me.

For three days, my life was nothing but the great outdoors. I dug out a latrine, started a fire and burned garbage, really roughed it. I had never gone for the full camping effect before, and found it very relaxing. Elsie and Bromwell disappeared from my mind by the second day, and Daria by noon on the third. There was nothing left in the world except for me and this campsite. My one stray thought was a quiet serenity, wondering if this was what eternity was like.

"Wow, I should go camping more often. No parents, no sister, no being presentable. My only problems are the wind and rain. And it looks to be fair weather all week." I smiled as I awoke on the fourth day. Throwing on my boots, not even bothering to dress, I stepped out of my tent and started to stretch. The day was early and there was still a mist, but today looked to be another gorgeous late July day.

But I heard someone coming, soft footsteps in the grass.

"And who could that be?" I thought. No one would know to find me here. Worry crept back into my head, but I found myself dismissing all possibilities. Jane had no idea where I was, my family was busy with their own world and had probably forgotten about me.

"Maybe it's just someone I don't know. Not here for me." I thought. Would someone tell me I was on their land, try to expel me from Eden?

My thoughts were confirmed a moment later. Out of place in the wilds, striding up to me, was Daria.