AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just wanted to give you a heads up that updates will be slow in coming for a while. I'm still dealing with depression, which has made it difficult to write. Yesterday I was in a minor car accident, the cars are dented but driveable, and all people involved are uninjured. However, I was in a bad car accident about 18 months ago that cranked my PTSD up to 11, and I've spent all this time since then working on getting back to an even keel and getting comfortable driving again. And now this feels like a major setback, and my PTSD has ramped up a couple notches again. So I don't know when I'll be able to write...I want to, and the stories are in my head, but the motivation and ability to concentrate is not there. Which is upsetting because writing is one of the things that helps me feel better. So, I'm sorry if this disappoints anyone...I'm going to be trying to get over this as quickly as possible and hope that I bounce back faster this time.

I wanted to share what I had written so far, it's short, and ends abruptly, but there will be more to come eventually.

Thank you to those of you who take the time to leave reviews and comments, it means a lot. Always Keep Fighting XXXOOO

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Daddy finished drinking his coffee and stood up, taking his plate and mug over to the sink.

"Well, I'm off, to my first day at work," he said.

I got off of my chair and went over to him, throwing my arms around him. "When will you be home?" I asked.

"Not sure, I think around 4:30, 5 o'clock," he leaned down and hugged me back.

"Can you call me?" I looked up at him.

"Why would I need to call you?"

I shrugged. "Just 'cause...to check in, you know."

He let me go and straightened up. "I doubt I'm going to have time to make any phone calls, I'm probably going to be up to my elbows in carburetors and spark plugs all day," he chuckled.

"Oh," I felt disappointed.

"Don't worry, Charlie, it'll be fine," Daddy said, "You'll be here with Uncle Sam and Grandpa John."

"I know, but...I'll miss you." I felt tears come to my eyes.

He put his hand on my cheek for a moment. "Aww, I'll miss you too, sweetheart, but I'll be home before you know it, all right? Be brave." he patted my cheek, and leaned down to drop a kiss on the top of my head.

"I need to get one of those travel mugs to take come coffee with me," Daddy said to Uncle Sam as they walked into the living room.

I sat down in my chair, wiping my eyes, and finished eating my toast, then took my plate over to the sink.

Grandpa John came into the room, yawning and rubbing his face. I walked over to him and hugged him. "Good morning!" I said, "Daddy just left to go to work!"

"Well, how about that," he said. His voice sounded a little bit hoarse. He walked over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup. Uncle Sam came into the kitchen.

"If you're done, we can get started on your school work, Charlie."

"Okay," I agreed, going into the dining room. Uncle Sam showed me what he wanted me to do for Language Arts, handing me my Kindle. "I put some more books on there for you, a couple more Warrior Cats books, and then the book we're going to be studying. Did you ever read Little Women?"

"I don't think so," I said.

"I found a unit that goes with the book, and there's a history unit that goes with it too, we;ll study the time period that the book takes place in, during and after the American Civil War. It should be interesting to tie the two subjects together."

"Uhh...okay," I said without much enthusiasm. I wasn't very interested in history.

He chuckled. "Well, get started on the first chapter, there's a vocabulary quiz after you're done reading, and a worksheet about the subject of the chapter."

I tapped the Kindle and opened the book, and started to read. Uncle Sam and Grandpa John chatted for a few minutes in the kitchen while Uncle Sam was loading the dishwasher. Then they got Uncle Sam's laptop and went into the living room with it. They set it on the coffee table and started to look something up and talk about it.

The language of the book was old-fashioned and a little hard to get into, but I read it. I didn't have to read the whole chapter, just part of it, and I finished the worksheet and then the vocabulary work soon after that.

I turned around in my seat. "Uncle Sam, I'm finished, what do I do next?" I asked.

They were focused on the lap top.

"Uncle Sam," I called, after they didn't respond to me.

"Hold on," he replied, tapping on the keys. "Look, this shows that there was no action for the past several years, and then things started up again last year. I wonder why that is." He stood up and walked over to me, picking up the tablet and going over what I completed.

"Good job, Charlie, if you want to try and read the whole chapter from now on, you can. Let's do math next, and then handwriting after that."

He showed me the paragraphs that he wanted me to copy out, and the math worksheets that I had to do, then he went to sit back down with Grandpa John.

I concnetrated very hard while working on the math, so I wasn't paying attention, but then when I started to practice my writing, I listened to what they were saying.

"It's only a day away, if we go there in the early morning, we could have it done by the evening," Grandpa John said.

"Yeah, but Dad, we can't go, Dean's working now, and someone's got to stay here with Charlie," Uncle Sam said, "We can't bring her with us, either."

"Oh...right...damn," Grandpa John said off-handedly, "I'll ask Singer if he wants to go."

"He's got that case he's got to be home for, with Rufus, he's got to answer the phones, remember?" Uncle Sam asked.

Grandpa John sighed with annoyance. "Well, what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Well, I thought...I thought we were going to take it easy for a little while, you know, not do any hunting, since we just got rid of- him...you were going to kinda kick back and just enjoy things." Uncle Sam said slowly, like he was nervous about Grandpa John getting angry.

"Sam, I don't want to just 'kick back', there's still-things- out there that need to be dealt with."

"But look around you, we're in this great house, and we've got Charlie here, we need to just spend some time getting used to this-"

I turned around to face them. "I—I can go with you, I'll be good, I won't get in the way, an' I'll stay in the car. Maybe I can help you-"

Uncle Sam shook his head, "Uh-uh, no way. You are not going on a hunt, and you are not helping. Are you finished with your work?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Uh, I'm doing my writing practice," I told him.

"Stop listening to our conversation and get it done. And make sure it's neatly written, or you're going to do it again."

I turned around and lowered my head. "I am writing neat." I huffed under my breath.

"Excuse me? What was that?" Uncle Sam's voice got stern.

"Nothing," I grumbled, picking up my pencil.

Grandpa John said he wanted to go call Uncle Bobby, and he left the room.

"I'm done," I called to Uncle Sam, and he got up and came over to check my work. I had to re-do some of the math problems while he looked at my writing.

"This looks very good, Charlie," he set the notebook down, "See what you can do when you go slowly and neatly? How does your hand feel?"

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt," I said.

"Good. No more getting annoyed and writing sloppy on purpose, you hear me?"

I blushed a little. "Yes, Uncle Sam."

He checked over the math, and then told me I could take a break. I took the Kindle up to my room and laid down on my bed to start reading the next Warrior Cats book since I hadn't read one in a long time. I finished the first two chapters, and felt like I was getting hungry. I tapped the screen to close the page, and a window popped up that said, 'Do you wish to make any more purchases?'

I clicked on it, and realized that the Kindle was still signed into the website where you bought books and stuff for it. I started to poke around on the site and found some other books I had wanted. One of them was on sale "for free, until the end of the week!", so I clicked on it. Another window popped up that said, "S W Winchester shopping basket". I started clicking around and found a couple of other books that were free. If they were free, I wouldn't get into any trouble for spending money. I added the free books to the basket, and was about to hit the 'purchase' button, when I noticed a sidebar that said, 'If you liked those books, you might like these games!'

I hesitated for a moment. I wasn't allowed to put games on the tablet...but this was a Kindle, not a tablet, and it was mine, right? It had been my Mom's, and now it was mine, so I could do what I wanted with it. The tablet was Uncle Sam's, so I had to do what he said with that.

I clicked on the sidebar and started looking at the games. One of them was like a math game that my teacher had had at school, that I had liked a lot. I added that one to the basket, because it was an educational game. Then I found the word search game that my mom had played, and I added that too. She said that even though it was a game it was teaching me about vocabulary, so it was educational too. I found a puzzle game like the one that I liked, and it was only one cent, so I added that the the basket as well.

"Charlie, it's lunch time!" Uncle Sam called up the stairs. I sat up and quickly clicked the 'purchase all' button, and then closed the browser window. I turned off the Kindle and ran downstairs.

After we ate lunch, Uncle Sam wanted me to do some more work. The science unit was on types of forests and the life cycle of a tree, and he talked about the Christmas tree and how it grew and what type of forest it was from. Then I had to read about the Civil War and do a worksheet about that, which I didn't like. After that, I was finished for the day, and Uncle Sam said I could do what I wanted.

I sat down on the sofa and turned on the tv, and watched some cartoons. Grandpa John came out to the living room and picked up Uncle Sam's laptop, taking it into the kitchen, and I heard them talking again. Uncle Sam called me into the kitchen to set the table, which was one of my chores. I was laying the silverware out next to each plate when I heard the front door open, and I ran out to the living room. Daddy stood in the doorway, and I ran to him, exclaiming, "Daddy!"

Tears came to my eyes as He picked me up and hugged me, and then set me on the floor. He smelled like a car engine.

"So, how was it?" Uncle Sam asked from the doorway.

"It was fine," Daddy said, "I want to take a quick shower and wash all the grease off."

"Go ahead, there's time."

"I missed you!" I looked up at Daddy.

He smiled at me. "What did you do, besides sit around missing me?"

"I did school work an' all," I said.

"You can tell me about it during dinner, okay?" he left the room and went upstairs.

After dinner, we decorated the Christmas tree together. Daddy had told me that they hadn't ever really celebrated Christmas or holidays, because Grandpa John was usually off hunting. He had explained that Grandpa John had been so upset about his wife dying for a long time that he didn't ever want to celebrate, so he would go off and hunt. If Daddy and Uncle Sam happened to be staying with people during the holidays, then they would celebrate, but the older they got, the less they did. It was kinda sad to hear that, but Daddy said it was what he knew, so he wasn't really missing anything. And that he was excited to do stuff to celebrate with me now.

Decorating the tree made me excited, and it was hard for me to fall asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and it was hard to go back to sleep, so I went downstairs and turned on the lights of the tree, and sat there eating an apple in the dark.

I heard a noise at the end of the hall, and looked up- Grandpa John was standing there with something shiny in his hands. He tucked it behind him, and said, "Charlie, what are you doing up?" his voice was rough and he sounded irritated.

"I couldn't sleep," I told him, "I'm excited about Christmas!"

"Well, you need to stay in bed," he said sternly, "You can't be traipsing all over the house in the middle of the night. Once you're put to bed, you stay there."

I sighed. "Okaaay," I said. I finished eating the apple and threw the core away, and then I went upstairs to my room. I still couldn't sleep, so I pulled out my Kindle and played one of the games for a while. Finally I felt tired, and I shut the Kindle down and went to sleep.