What I found in that envelope was shocking. How could someone go through life trying so hard to become loved by a parent that didn't love them back? I was amazed. I had to find her to apologize.

After several more thoughts flew through my head, I became aware of sniffling coming from over my shoulder. I turned around and saw Kip wiping at her eyes.

"Get to you a bit, Kip?" I joked, only to be supplied with a painful blow to the arm and her shrill voice blaming me for opening the envelope.

"Chris, you are such an idiot! Why did you have to open that envelope? You did it just to spite me, didn't you?"

"Kip, you're forgetting yourself. You did beg me to open it, you know. And don't hit me like that again. It hurts!" I replied, getting slightly annoyed. 'Girls,' I thought, 'they always blame guys for everything that they tell us to do.' I sighed and tuned into what Kip was saying.

"…And if you even think of thinking that girls blame guys for everything, then I'll hurt you so bad your toes will cry!" she said indignantly.

'They always know what we think too.' "Sure thing, Kip… but my toes? I thought that you could come up with something better than that."

She sniffed again. "Oh, leave me alone, would you?" Kip wailed.

"But it's fun- err- I mean alright, then." I said, smiling meekly, as she glared in my direction.

"Well, it's lunch up at school, and my mom is at work by now, so I'm heading home. Care to join me?"

"I would love to, but I believe I need to visit someone first. Talk to you later, Kip."

"Alright, see you then."

We both took separate ways, Kip heading home, and me, I was going to try to find that girl I met yesterday. A very, very sincere apology was necessary. I crunched my way through the woods wondering where I would come out at and thinking.

'I'm glad Kip isn't the boring person, like her older sister. I thought that I would scream if my mum had made me befriend her. Hmm, the daughters of my mother's friend, I certainly am glad that Kip introduced herself several days later. I wonder why Mum never mentioned the other two siblings. Life works in odd fashions.'(A/N: *see bottom if you do not understand what he is rambling about. Goes out of first person now…)

*

* His thoughts were jumbled, yet he was so into them that he did not realize when he had made it to the end of trees. They lessened to reveal a shady park, a convenience store, and a small side street. He trekked over to the store to discover if it had any Telephone Books available. When he opened the door, a little bell jangled, and the girl at the counter looked up. Her eyes gleamed with delight as she saw the delicious morsel that had walked into her store. He came up to the counter and she flirted with her eyes first.

"Would you happen to have a telephone book that I could borrow for a moment?" He asked hesitantly, seeing the glow in her eyes.

She giggled, one of those girly ones that bothered him so much. "Hmm, lemme check, why don'tcha." She winked and turned around. She bent over, looking in a low cupboard for the requested item. She grabbed it when she found it and held it high as she stood.

"Aha! I gotcha!" She giggled, again. "This is what you're looking for, right? And what, mayhap, would you do if I didn't give it to you?" She grinned devilishly and Chris got annoyed ever so more.

"I would turn around, leave this store, and find another."

Depressed, she set the book down on the counter. "Fine then! Here, and hurry up."

Chris opened the large book to the A section. He flipped pages until he came to 'AS'.

'Aseld, Asez, Ash, Ashcroft… Here it is Ashes. Adam Ashes, Barry Ashes, Frank Ashes, Jonathon Ashes, Kevin Ashes. 4354 Willow Crest Drive, I think I know where that is.' He thought. "Thank you for use of your Telephone Book. Here you are. I must be off, see you." Chris announced as he set the book on the counter and waved a good-bye to the cashier. She frowned back at him, still disappointed, and turned back again to replace the book.

Chris walked from the store onto the small road. He kept on this road until he came to a fork divided by a small chunk of woods from the nearby forest. While the one that led downhill went into the woods, the other that had a slight incline went towards a larger population. He started humming an Irish tune, while saying the words in his head.

'You take the high road and I'll take the low road… Well, in this case I'll take the high road and someone else can have the low road.'

He headed up the road that led uphill and found himself atop a hill with a quite large tree looking down on a maze of streets and houses and buildings and parking lots. He headed into the town to find 4354 Willow Crest Drive.

..*..

'Knock Knock Knock'

Chris was standing on the front porch of what he hoped would be Clover Ashes house. He had just knocked as opposed to ringing the doorbell, because he felt it was more… well he wasn't sure what more it was, but he felt like doing it. He moved back a couple steps to look up at the house, since he could hear nothing inside, and when his eyes fell on the window above the front door they connected with midnight ones peering out. The curtain that had been moved aside dropped quickly and he heard footsteps coming from inside. The door opened in front of him a crack and Clover's face appeared in it.

"Are you that Christopher Chant kid I met in the woods? If you are get away from here, I never want to see you!" She went to shut the door but he slipped his foot in before she could.

"Can I just speak with you for a few moments? I've come to make peace and to give you something. Please?"

"Are you going to rape me if I let you in here?" She asked with narrowed eyes. Chris looked at her with an appalled expression and shook his head roughly. Opening the door wider, Clover grabbed his sleeve and yanked him inside. "Good. Now we don't have much time, my stepmother is coming home shortly. Up the stairs. Go on, hurry." She shoved him up the first few steps and that got him moving fast enough so that she could run up after him. Chris stood in the hallway off of the stairs wondering where to go next.

"Where's your bedroom at?" He asked, thinking that's where they would discuss things.

"Unless you call a room stripped of personality and furniture and all of my things a bedroom, then I don't have one. I got back here this morning and almost everything was gone. Wait here a moment, I have to get the only stuff I have left in my room so I can take it up to the attic." She squeezed past Chris in the hall and darted into one of the rooms. Chris got a glimpse of what was inside, seeing bare walls, a desk, two boxes, and Clover shoving things into a backpack. Clover came out of the room and shut the door again, "See, you just can't call that place a bedroom anymore. Follow me." She walked down the hall, hitching the pack onto her back. She reached up to touch the low ceiling and pushed on a part of it. A part of the ceiling came down as she gently lowered the ladder, so it wouldn't hit her on the head. She stepped onto the first rung and started to climb up it. Chris followed.

When Clover reached the top she maneuvered in between the stacks of boxes until she came to a window. She set her bag down and turned to face Chris.

"I suppose you didn't lift the ladder back up did you?"

"No, sorry, would you like me too?"

"Yeah, do that and I'll get some pillows we can sit on."

"Sure." Chris went to do Clovers bidding and Clover went into the depths of the large attic to find something comfortable to sit on. When Chris got back to the small area near the window Clover was sitting on a bedroll covered in blankets with a pillow on one end and her stuff on the other, and he saw a beanbag close to it that had been draped with a sheet. From under the sheet he saw a bit of shockingly bright pink fabric. No wonder it was covered up.

"Sit." Clover ordered, indicating the beanbag. After Chris was settled in it, she looked at him closely. "Now talk."

"I came to apologize. I am terribly sorry about the other night and I felt horrible about doing what I did. Oh, and I-"

"Mrow." Cinders hopped up onto a box near Chris' head and he jumped about a foot in the air.

"Great Bloody He… ahem, excuse me." Chris exclaimed. Clover snapped her fingers together and called her cat to her.

"Sorry Chris, this is Cinders. Cinders, go say hi." Cinders got off of Clover's lap and rubbed her head and body against Chris' leg. Chris petted the cat and she leaped onto his lap, laid down, and started to purr, while Chris continued to stroke it. "She likes you." Clover stated as if Chris hadn't realized it yet. "Now what else did you have to tell me?"

"I just wanted to return this to you. Do you accept my apology, though?" Chris asked as he pulled the envelope from his pocket, being careful not to disturb Cinders in the process. Clovers eyes became wide and her expression resembled that of a deer caught in headlights when she saw what he wanted to give back to her.

"Did you read it?" She whispered not sure of how to feel or respond. Chris became uneasy. What was he supposed to say? But, how else would he have gotten her address?

"I opened it, yes. I needed to find out if there was a name that I could look up in the telephone book so that I could return it to you."

"But did you read it?" She repeated. "I suppose if you just tell me now, I won't be as upset as if I find out later."

"Well… I read a little… ok, more than a little. A lot. All right, I read the whole thing. And I am very sorry about what happened to you, and what still is. And I'm sorry for being a prat about the whole envelope thing. I should have just given it to you. I didn't mean to upset you. I am really sorry." He stuttered.

"I don't want pity. I brought most of what happened to me onto myself. I accept your apology, but I believe that it is best if you leave now. I have to collect my senses and then maybe I can also accept the fact that you read my very, extremely, personal letter. And with that said, I think that you should leave. I'll show you the way out." They both stood and Chris deposited the small black kitten on a box. Clover led the way to the ladder where Chris had closed it and she started to open it. Cinders then flew out of nowhere and landed on the ladder and to prevent the cat from falling she shut the trap door quickly. Cinders then hissed at both Chris and Clover trying to get them to move back, away from the ladder. "Come on, Cinders. Move." But as Clover said this they both heard the door in the living room open and slam shut.

Authors Note: Happy Thanksgiving! And please, let me follow Chris' lead and beg forgiveness for the tardiness of this chapter. I apologize profusely and I hope that you can all accept it. Anyway, I hope that you like this chapter and the part that began this whole story will be coming up soon. Not next chapter, mind you, but it should be soon afterwards. Reviews will be welcomed graciously!

P.S. Chris' rambling was about his Mothers friend's daughterS. Apparently the dull girl is Barbie and Kip (Skipper) is her sibling (as well as Kelly). Now for the reason that Chris' mum didn't tell him about the other two… well maybe that'll come up later…

To those who reviewed after the last chapter~

Chapter 7-

-:-LadySorrow ~ I'm glad how slow I put out chapters doesn't bother you… but I'm still sorry! I appreciate you reading it and reviewing it… it makes me happy! And for that, I'll try to write faster!

-:-Fairytales101 ~ I love your reviews! All hodge-podged and what not, they keep me laughing… I hope that your foot is better, though it probably is because this chapter is getting out so late and that review was such a long time ago. Thanks for the praise on my story! It makes me happy to know that so many people like it!

-:- Etherealangel ~ This chapter is undoubtedly longer! I hope you liked it and thank you soo much for reviewing!

-:-Harmony Namir ~ Yes, I know who. Took you long enough to read this! I've been on your back for ages! Well here (or rather up there) is chapter 8 and I hope you liked it! Yes, I am very happy that you read it and very happy for your support in writing it (what, with what little you give me anyway.. =P.. just kidding). Anyway, nothing bad happened so your threats have no sustenance so one (being me) doesn't have to be afraid… at least for now…

-:-Sinner's Angst ~ Sorry about the rock throwing… I won't write anything too painful, so everyone in the story will be out of harms way, unless something soft is headed for them. Or icky, or slimy, or gross… you get the point. I hope that the girl you mentioned is all right. I hope you liked this chapter! And I really could careless how much of your review is about my story… as long as some of it is… I enjoy hearing about other peoples lives… makes mine seem more exciting. *Yawn* I wish…