I wake up but don't feel that well. I look out my window and nearly all the gorgeous jacaranda blossoms fell blanketing the street.

I have an ominous feeling of dread. I remember dad saying he was finally going to fight Reaper yesterday, but I also remember how scary the cards Ashley pulled were.

There's a knock at the door and it's McCree and Mercy. They look at the ground and Mercy tells mom, "I regret to inform you your husband died."

Ashley's mouth drops and her shoulders slump and eyes widen, "Shut up! You can't be serious!"

Mom backs away, "Is...this true?"

McCree slowly shakes his head and sighs putting his cowboy hat on his chest. "Yes, it's true. We tried fighting Reaper but he was just too much! We tried everything but just couldn't do anything to hurt him."

I slide in the kitchen on my knees screaming to the ceiling, "Noooooooooo! Father why did you have to die! I'll destroy that nasty betch!" I dramatically shake my fists looking at the ceiling.

Me and Ashley hug each other. I go into the yard sitting in our garden, staring at the pool. Stupid Angel, why didn't you sneak onto the Overwatch plane, like a black widow through a crack in the wall. The way the golden light drapes over the trees and pool, I don't deserve their beauty. Bitterness fills my very soul, bitter like bitter melon and nightshade.

Mom comes out and squats down, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I tell her through my sobbing, "It was all my fault! I just know it!"

"No it wasn't. It wasn't even Soldier's. Mistakes happen. I know you've been upset because he wasn't here for you and Ashley's birthday this year and she's been sad he couldn't show up at her cheer meets."

You think I don't know that? Umm hello I find out before even Shauna does. What am I thinking.

Ashley comes out, not blinking, just walking quietly, almost like she's floating. She sits really fast like she's falling. Talon destroys families like fungus and weevils destroy trees.

Ashley sighs then says in a flat tone carrying waves of sadness with it, "I was on Band and Houseparty and one of my friends said Isabella told them her mom taught her how to make a charm. Mia also said it was a void moon in Scorpio, which was seriously good luck for Talon. Mia, Isabella's mom blames Soldier for not heeding her advice. And Chloe thinks she's getting dandruff but I know she isn't using her dry shampoo right."

Her blank stare starts flooding with tears, like a waterfall of despair.

"We need goth makeovers!" Ashley cries out to the sky.

Mom shakes her head and cries with us, resting her hand on both our shoulders. The loose seashell pink sleeve of her cardigan draping behind us.

McCree and Mercy walk out holding hands. "If you need anything we're here for you." Mercy says.

McCree puts his cowboy hat over his chest and says, "Abe was such a great guy." He throws his empty revolver across our yard and throws his hat, falling on his knees, his face in his hands. "Why! Why did you have to take my friend from me!"

Usually people think such acting out is cute and funny, but none of us are laughing today.

Ashley asks me, "Wanna bake a cake?"

I shake my head up and down fast yes so we ask them.

I see my reflection in the French doors, somehow making my pain and sadness even worse.

Mercy helps us bake a cake while McCree calls our cousins. He knew uncle Gabe so it only makes sense.

I can hear from McCree's phone our aunt yelling, "No! Not Reaper again!"

We baked a cake for mom and our guests but me and Ashley don't have any because we're too sad.

After taking a bite out of the cake mom tells us, "Dad told me to tell you if he died then goth makeovers show the world your pain and suffering to the world!"

We go to Hot Topic and Zumiez to look for deep and meaningful black clothes that show the world our sadness. Ashley's eyes widen and brighten smiling wide. "Oh my gosh these are in my size! And they're so cool too! Thank you shopping gods! Now to see if they actually fit."

She's holding a Hello Kitty skateboarding shirt where Hello Kitty wears a sparkly red hair bow and riding a sparkly cerise skateboard, and Momo from the Momo challenge meme but is in no mood to celebrate because we're shopping for sad goth outfits. Ashley gets silver onyx and amethyst jewelry and a short sleeved crewneck with a girl with straight black hair covering her face sitting in the rain crying and another saying darkness consumes my very soul. Maybe it's meant to be ironic, but we aren't wearing it ironically, because we really are this sad.

I do my hair like Lelouch from Code Geass and wear my black Thrasher shirt and Vans Sk8 His while Ashley wears alabaster foundation, venetian red and love letter red shadow, Stallion from MAC's Liptensity line it's deep black with no undertones, her sad girl shirt, purple plaid skirt with a Gucci belt, purple denim vest, a silver onyx ring, pentacle fingerless vegan leather gloves, Vampire Hello Kitty Converses, and black bouncy wavy curls.

Aunt Shanice does a how cute smile and tells us, "You guys look like you're gonna play at a 00's rock concert."

Maurice puts his hand on my shoulder, "You know your hair is very zeroes right?"

I coyly say back, "And your afro is pretty 70's."

One of his eyebrows go up and says in a happy voice, "You're right."

He gently moves my head so I look at the calendar, which says July 2070. Everyone laughs.

I roll my eyes saying, "You know what I meant."

Grief and despair consume my very soul. Why did dad have to die?

I look up at Maurice, "Who would've thought being a teen was gonna be so hard?"

Maurice tells me, "You know you're not really a teen yet, right? Thirteen is just an older tween with teen in the name."

Judith flutters slowly into the kitchen, slowly blinking and pushes her sparkly lilac hair out of her face. "I'm sorry he died. I knew we should have come with him!" She drops onto the table's edge scowling crossing her arms.

Mercy gently pets her, "But if you guys came with us you'd get hurt so badly! We completed lots of missions, but it was too bad we couldn't quite get the notorious crazy badboy Reaper."

Judith flies over the couch and falls on it punching and kicking the cushion she landed on. "I want your dad back!"

Me and Ashley sit next to her and I say, "You're right we should have come with him. But they didn't want us to."

Mercy tells us, "But you would've died too you know."

We sit down wallowing in our pain and anguish. I'm feeling so mad and sad and bad. I feel like a blooming flower, but my soul is withering, withering from grief. Why did our dad have to leave our mortal realm! He belongs to the wind, ocean, and trees now, but mom just doesn't understand us. It's hard to explain but she just doesn't get it. No one does. Mom doesn't want us fighting evil anymore but what does she know? And what's the point anyway why not just let everything fall? Who are we even fighting for?

"Aaah!"I look back after feeling a hand on my shoulder. I'm relieved it was Maurice. He looks sad too. I say, "Oh, sorry Maurice."

He says in a low soft voice, "Sorry for being mean to you after all this time. When my dad died I was really devastated. Here, let's watch these mourning videos."

It's dad on the screen with Uncle Reyes who died before I was even born.

Dad smiles, "So how is little Maurice?"

Gabe's voice warms and heightens, "He's doing really good! Shanice has another kid on the way."

"No way!"

"Yeah! Thank god that promotion came in time! Of course my besty owning Overwatch helped so much."

Dad smiles, his thumbs in his pockets, "I swear Mr. Morrison is such a wonderful guy."

Gabe's mustache turns upward, "He sure is bro."

Dad ask him, "So do we have the passports to Mississippi ready?"

Gabe looks like he's trying not to laugh, "But Abe we're Americans! I know right the south feels so foreign you just had to ask that."

Then they laugh together.

Dad then ask Gabe, "So did you hear Jack's dating Vince?"

Gabe fakes surprise, "No way! But seriously he's my besty so if you know then I know too, no offense. I'd actually be mad if you knew first ha ha. I'm just sad they can't marry, probably because Jack's still sad about his wife and kids."

Then there's a video of dad Winston and Genji in the rain forests of Venezuela.

Dad looks nervous, "I'm not sure if I can do it there are like so many omnics everywhere!"

Winston puts his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry we're all in this together! Jack knows we're right for this job."

Genji then tells him, "And when you get back you can go on a nice date with your wife Alyssa."

There are drones with a milk white metal frame except the red caps on their heads and dad's squad drops out of a tree and punch a bunch. It tries electrocuting them but dad dodges and uppercuts it from behind and throws its redcap at another drone cutting it in half.

He looks to Winston and Genji and says, "Those things disgust me."

Genji slices a few of the omnic drones then Winston leaps onto a big elephant robot then shocks it with his testla cannon.

"Eat lighting you vile piece of..."

Dad yells scolding him, "Uh uh uh language Winston!"

Winston finishes his sentence, "crap."

Dad says, "That's better. Not that I'd snitch if you did but still you can't be too careful."

The video clip ends and McCree and Mercy talk next to us.

A tear slides down McCree's face then he says, "His brother Gabe saved me from prison. Then he died and his killer had the nerve trying to get me to join Talon! Can you believe that guy?"

Mercy then says, "Ugh tell me about it! Talon feels so entitled to rule the world I swear they should all just die already."

McCree says jokingly but you can tell he's serious, "Well that's what we're here for."

Winston Facetimes us through the screen, "Hey guys! Sorry I couldn't make it but we've found data that'll help us beat Reaper. He gained his powers from another dimension so we need to go there and learn the spell to beat him. But you need to wait for a certain planetary alignment that happens every few months and we just don't have that kind of time so I made a plane but I made a wee little miscalculation so Tracer's stuck in another dimension! And I just know where to score some stuff we need. It's another dimension but I studied legends from there and they have magic artifacts you can't get from Earth that Athena calculates could help. We need to go anyway so I can get some to study. Are we ready for a mission?"

I stand up and tell him, "Reaper killed my father, so yeah I'm with you."

Ashley stands too, "I too will avenge our dad!"

Winston then says, "Good because I already got the gate ready! Just a warning I'm in London and it might rain so be super careful when driving okay?"

Mom puts her hand on my shoulder and Ashley's, "How about we all go to the beach tomorrow like when dad used to take you?"

We wake up early and I grab our towels, but I won't feel like swimming today, and the water's always super cold anyway. Jacob and Shauna text us asking if we're doing okay and I text back we're going to the beach. It feels so long getting to the beach. It's so pretty going down these canyon roads.

At the beach I can see mansions lining the hills and different kinds of palms and a few pines and so many bushes on the hills and I hear the calm crashing of the waves against the shore. We can pleasantly smell and taste the rich salty kelpy sea breeze mixing with people's pineapple surf wax.

The breeze gently flows through our hair, caressing my face along with the sun. There are lots of tents umbrellas chairs buckets and towels as usual. Even with so many parents yelling at their kids to behave and so many laughing children me and Ashley still feel like we're alone in this world. If only they understood our pain and sadness.

Ashley puts her hand on mine, "Do you really think he's dead? I know he'll come back home someday."

"Me too sis."

Ashley points at the sky, "Look it's dad!"

It's a cloud that looks like him.

Ashley sighs. "I miss him already. My cheer coach and Shauna already know. I'm the only person she never yelled at on our team too."

Mom adjusts her sunglasses sipping on her ice blended, "Listen, kids, I miss dad too but he's just not coming back."

I feel such despair after hearing her say that.

I stomp my foot and tell her, "Don't say that mom! I know he'll be back!"

I run down the beach, my Vans protecting my feet from the blistering hot sand. I rest against a lifeguard post with ropes attached looking like it's for pets and the caring for your coast sign is cracked and missing pieces. Swim near a lifeguard is up. Even though dad sort of did he still drowned in the deep dark well of tragedy.

Mom and Ashley eventually catch up to me and ask, "Why don't we walk the trails and go to a hidden beach? We might find seals!"

We walk along the ridge trail and go to a secret beach where the waves drench the rocks. We walk down the wooden stairs, well pieces of wood over metal stairs anyway. The scent of the ocean mixes with the dry grass and summer air. Ashley tugs on my sleeve and says, "It's a seal pup look!"

Aww! The seal pup happily waddles along the sand near the rocky part. It flops towards a big log near burnt bonfire sticks.

Ashley squats down to let it sniff her hand and tells it, "Aww it's so cute! Can I name it?"

Mom tells her, "Of course you can."

"So brother, how do you feel about naming him Buttercup!"

Aww! "Thanks I love it!"

We take a pic with the seal pup and text it to all our friends.

An omnic gently pushes us away, "Sorry guys but I have to bring him back to his family. We need to keep our beach safe for all living creatures."

Me and Ashley wave to it, "Stay safe and have fun Buttercup!"

I like taking care of the cute little creatures. I hope he stays warm, that waters pretty cold. The sea breeze is picking up so me and Ashley better get our hoodies. Like dad always said if we're going to the beach it's gonna have to be an all day thing and to pack warm.

Abby text us back complimenting Buttercup on his cuteness.

Back on the way home mom tells us, "I know it wasn't the same without your father but at least we got to see a cute seal pup!" Wow it's that obvious we're sad huh? And yes we're happy we met Buttercup.

Pretty soon Winston will take us on a mission and I can't wait!

Ashley tells me, "I think dad would have loved it today. If he wasn't too busy fighting crime."

I tell her, "Yeah and he always does. I still feel bad we didn't go even if they didn't want us to come with them."