Here is your next chapter everyone! I hope you enjoy.

- ROC6

Kenzie is conflicted. She's terrified at the thought of her mother leaving her, and wants nothing more that to start bawling her eyes out. But, there's one thing that stops her. Jess. She has to be strong for her younger sister, and if there's one thing her mother has taught her it's that duty is important. So she sits next to Jess. And she hugs Jess. And she comforts her as she's crying, wanting nothing more than to do so herself. But she doesn't. She turns her head away from her mother. Her thoughts towards the stupid fashion and stuff she often occupies her time with. She's always used popularity as an excuse to ignore the coldness of the world, turning her mind towards trivial things to block the pain, and still managed to have maintained good grades.

Oh, how silly it seems now. The world is cruel, but it's warm, too. Like her mother. Blast it! She's trying not to think about it. Kenzie doesn't realize that she starts to sing to herself. A little melody her mother used to sing. Jess doesn't remember, because she was four at the time, but their mother used to be the prime example of a little girl's dream mom, until she got promoted at her law firm. Then, she had significantly more work, and as much as she tried, she didn't have time for them anymore. Kenzie understands. Her mother is very driven by commitment, but she doesn't think Jess ever understood. She fears someday her little sister will do something horrible to someone because she doesn't remember the happy part of her childhood.

Kenzie hears Jess sniffling, and pulls her closer, singing softly in her ear, "There's a land, far away, where we'll be together forever. It's warm, and it's bright, and nothing will make you shiver. What you can dream, you can do, as long as you remember, that I love you."

Jess nuzzles closer to her sister and blows her nose, and Kenzie wants nothing more than to go to that land her mother described in that nursery rhyme so long ago. Suddenly, Kenzie has the urge to reach out and touch her mother. To style her wild hair. To smooth the creases in her ever perfect work clothes. To light up her face and fill it with life again, how it used to be not too long ago.

But she can't. Her mother is almost gone, and probably never coming back. And Kenzie knows her father never wanted children. She knows he only tries to be a good father for their mother's sake. And she's afraid. Afraid of what the future will be without her mother's light. Without the restraint containing their father. She's afraid of her new duty as a maternal figure towards her little sister. Jess. Whom seems so innocent. She hasn't seen what the world does to people, or what good parents are like.

Kenzie notices her sister has fallen asleep. Honestly, it's quite obvious by the fact her tears stopped, and although her sister is moaning and twitching in her dreams, Kenzie hopes it's better than reality.

Suddenly, something in the room seems off, and it's deathly silent. Oh, god, it's silent. Kenzie's father lets out an especially loud sob before his body goes back to it's rhythmic heaving. For a second, Kenzie feels warmth on her cheek, like a warm breeze, or one last kiss goodbye. A doctor rushes into the room, and starts doing something to her mother's body, but her father stands up and pulls him away.

The doctor looks stunned, "Sir, I'm trying to bring her back."

Kenzie shifts nervously at the shade of red covering her father's face, "Don't"

"But-"

"If you were to bring her back she would only suffer in pain a couple more hours! Let her rest in peace! Don't prolong her suffering! Don't… Don't hurt her more."

The doctor leaves silently as her father resumes his sobs. He reaches silently towards his loved one's face, and whispers almost inaudibly, "Forever and always. I'll see you again someday, and I'll never leave your side."

A pause, "Forever and always, we said. Forever and always…"