"Dad, I really don't know."

Dad was asking about mom again. She had gone out. She went out a lot these days. She was going to come back. She always came back. She had gone out that morning, she had left a note in the kitchen, and she would be coming back eventually. That was when she always came back.

Eventually.

She was coming back. Even though it was starting to get dark out. Even though mom had already missed both breakfast and lunch. It was coming up on dinner time and she was still gone. She and Sho had been kicked out of dad's office. He was worried even though he never said that he was. Mob could tell by his aura. He was worried about mom. Mob was worried about mom, too, but she didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. Sho was very worried and if she told Sho that she was worried, too, then he would freak out.

"Think, Daughter, try and think. Think of where your mother would go if she…think of where your mother would be. She takes you and your brother out with her when she goes out. She must go somewhere." Said Dad. He had kicked them out of his office but then he went to bother them when they had been in their room minding their own business. She had put Zootopia on for Sho, in Japanese because this was no time to be making him practice English, and she had put the covers on him so he would be warm and toasty and calm.

He had been so worried all day.

They were all worried.

"I am thinking, dad, and I don't know. I'm sorry but I don't know." Said Mob. She was trying her best to keep it together. She wanted mom back too. She might have just been out watching the trains come in and out of the station or something. Mob didn't know. All she knew was that she woke up and mom hadn't been home and she had been the one to make breakfast and lunch and mom still wasn't home and she didn't want to have to make dinner to and she wanted her mom to just come home already.

"You honestly don't know?" asked Dad. Mob nodded. She didn't lie. She had no idea where mom would be for so long. She wished that she did know. Then they would be able to find her and bring her back. She had never been gone for this long before….

"I don't know, dad, I really don't." said Mob. She wished that dad would just get out of their room. She had just gotten Sho to calm down. The longer dad was in their room for the harder it would be for Sho to stay calm and stay quiet.

"What about your brother?" asked Dad. Mob wished that dad wouldn't talk about Sho like he wasn't even in the room with them. Sho was a person…but dad just didn't talk to him like one…and that Mob was not going to start with dad about that. She didn't want to start with dad at all.

But she wasn't going to.

She had left her phone. That wasn't like mom at all. She had left her phone on the charger and it had been hours already. Maybe she thought that she lost it wherever she was out in the world and she was looking for it. Maybe that was it. Maybe she was at the phone store buying a new phone and the line was really long or something. That was another very good reason for her mom not to be home even though she had missed two meals already and Sho had been crying….and Mob wanted to cry….

But she didn't cry. Dad hated crying.

"Maybe she ran away from home." Muttered Sho from his blanket cocoon. Mob pulled the blankets tighter around him like a burrito. He had to be quiet. He had been living with dad for his whole life and he still didn't know that dad liked it best when he was quiet.

Dad didn't say anything. Sho just hit the wall.

"Sho didn't mean it, dad, mom didn't run away. She might just be lost or…something." Said Mob before dad could hit Sho again. There was a loud sort of thumping sound when Sho hit the wall. She didn't ever want to hear that sound again. She didn't ever want Sho to get hurt again. She needed to keep Sho safe. She was his big sister and she had to keep him safe.

"I never want to hear either of you say that again." said Dad. He was watching her with his eyes and his aura. Mob nodded. She tried to keep her aura still and her face still. She couldn't let dad see how worried she was. How scared she was. Dad wouldn't have liked it at all if he could see how she felt.

"Yes dad." Said Mob. She didn't know if dad had meant that they weren't allowed to say that mom might be lost or that they weren't allowed to talk to him about mom at all. She wanted to talk about mom. She wanted him to tell them that he knew where mom was and that he was going to find her and that she was alright and not lost or hurt or dead or…or she didn't even know….

"Good. Feed yourself and your brother at some point." Said Dad. He left their room, then, and closed the door behind him. The room was silent aside from the movie that she had forgotten to pause. She could always rewind or start it again…or maybe it was time to start dinner. Mom started dinner at different times based on what they were going to have. Mob wondered what mom had been planning to make for dinner. Maybe nato even though it wasn't a dinner food. They had a lot of nato. They wouldn't run out of nato anytime soon…

But what about all the other food?

Mom was the one who bought the food. Dad never bought food. If mom never came home then they would never have food again. Then they would starve. Wait, no, dad let her order takeaway….so they got to live on takeaway. That was ok…she liked takeaway…but she liked mom's cooking more. Because mom was there and she was the one who cooked it, not a stranger, and it had love in it. Mob could taste the love that mom put into it…and mom needed to come home and make more food….

Mom needed to come home.

"She's never coming back." Said Sho. Then something hit her over the head. It was soft…a stuffed animal. Then another hit her over the head. And another. And another. And then something hard hit her over the head. A pencil. Then a drawing book. She just stood there and let him throw things at her. She knew that if she told him to stop then he would just get mad at her and then they would fight and then dad would end up getting mad at them…and he was already pretty mad. Well worried. Mob could tell. Everyone was worried.

"She is too coming back, she's just late. That's all." Said Mob. She was their mom. Of course she was coming back. She was their mom. Moms did not just run away from home and never come back. That was the kind of stuff that only happened on TV and in books. Besides, if she had been running away from home she would have had a suitcase. All of her stuff was still in her closet and all of her makeup was still on her makeup table. Dad even asked her if any of mom's stuff was missing. She had just done the laundry so the only thing that was missing was mom's pretty yellow dress. The one that was good for twirling. Mob liked to twirl sometimes, when dad wasn't around, and mom said that she could have that dress when she grew up…

So of course mom was coming back. She had to give Mob the dress for when she grew up.

"She isn't. I know that she isn't. She's gone and she's never coming back." Said Sho. He was out of things to throw at her, it seemed, unless he wanted to get off of his bed. She hoped that he didn't. When mom wanted a moment of peace she put a movie on for them and then she made dinner. Was Mob mom…now? Since mom was away was she supposed to be their mom? Was that how it worked because she was the only girl in the house besides mom? Or maybe not since Sho never replaced dad even though he was the only boy in the house besides dad.

"Sho, don't say things like that. You know that she's coming back. She can't just leave, she's our mom." Said Mob

"I'll say whatever I want to say. Mom is gone and she's never coming back. I know because I dreamt about it." Said Sho

"Sho, dreams aren't real. You're just too little to understand that there's a difference between dreams and reality." Said Mob. She needed to stay calm and understand that Sho was little and he didn't know what he was saying. She needed to remember that she had to take care of him now that mom was gone…no, not gone. She was just…out.

"I know that there's a difference between dreams and reality but I know what I dreamt this morning…at least I think that I dreamed it. Mom was in our room and she was kissing us and talking to us like she was going away forever." Said Sho

"That was a very sad dream, it sounds like." Said Mob. She hadn't had any dreams like that. She dreamt about being very cold and then very hungry and then she was all alone and she didn't know anybody even though they were her own family. That had not been a good dream at all.

"But I don't think that it was a dream….because in my dream she was wearing her yellow dress…and then I heard you telling dad that her yellow dress was the only one that was missing. So that's why I don't think that it's a dream and I think that mom is really gone…" said Sho

"But…but she wouldn't go." Said Mob. Sho's dream didn't sound like a dream at all. Sho's dream sounded like something that could have happened…because he was right about the dress…and that meant that he might have been right…but she also knew that she could not let herself believe that. She had to believe that mom was coming back. Mom had to come back. They would be all alone….alone with dad….but still all alone.

"I would go. If I could go then I would." Said Sho. He said it quietly, so quietly, that Mob wasn't even sure if she had heard him. Why would he want to go? This was their home. Sometimes it could be big and cold and scary but it was still their house. This was their castle. They had always lived in the castle. This was their home.

"Sho, you can't go. Why would you want to go?" asked Mob

"Because…because mom is gone. Mom is gone and now…now I don't have anyone. You have dad and dad has you and I have...I have no one." said Sho

"But you do have someone, Sho, you have me. You have me and I have you and no matter what we'll always have each other. It's been that way since the day you were born, Sho. You're my little brother and I will always be there for you." Said Mob

"But…I want my mom back…" said Sho

"I don't think that she's gone. She might just be lost…like maybe she got lost because she forgot her phone. She didn't have her phone and her phone tells her where to go…so she got lost. Or maybe she fell down and hurt her leg and now she can't walk…or maybe she's stuck in line somewhere. There are a lot of reasons for mom to be late, Sho, and that doesn't mean that she's gone forever." Said Mob. She didn't think that she convinced Sho of anything….

Because she couldn't even convince herself.

Mom was gone…and she didn't want it to be forever….but she didn't know. She wanted mom to come back. She wanted her mom more, then, than she had ever wanted her mom before. Sho had just…he had just put ideas in her head. She had no idea ow to get that idea out of her head now that it had been put in there. Or maybe it had always been there. Maybe it had always been there from the very moment she got up and mom was nowhere.

She wanted her mom back.

But she had no idea where she even was. If mom had been an esper then Mob could have just looked for her aura. She was good at seeing auras. She could see a lot of auras hanging out around the house. She could see the auras, the copy and paste auras, and a few new ones, too. She wanted to meet these other espers, to see them and see…see someone like her…and to tell them that they needed to stop hanging out around her house and to go out there and look for her mom.

Dad beat her to it.

She left the bedroom. Sho was upset and she had to find food for them. She was kind of hungry, maybe, or maybe that stomach ache was just from worry. She was worried about mom…and she couldn't even show that she was worried! And it wasn't fair! Dad could show that he was worried! He could bother her non stop about where mom had gone to and when she would be back even though he had ears and he could hear her and she was speaking plain and clear Japanese! She didn't know and she…she…she wished that Dad would just…just do the mom thing. The thing where no matter what went wrong mom pick them up and hold them and tell her that they were going to be ok…

She wanted that from dad.

And she maybe wanted that. She wanted…she wanted dad to…to…to pick her up and tell her that she was going to be ok. That this was all going to be ok. She wanted that…or maybe she just wanted his phone again. Maybe she just wanted him to give her his phone because she had already cooked two meals for her and Sho, cereal and milk and sandwiches counted as cooking, and she was tired…like mom was always so tired. It was tiring being mom….and she did not want to be mom. She didn't want to be mom until she was a grown up and married and someone else's mom.

She wanted to be Mob.

And she wanted Dad.

But dad was busy. Dad was busy and she was not mom, no, and she was not Mob either. She was Daughter. She was Daughter because that was what dad was always calling her. Daughter. She was Daughter, not Mob, and not even Shigeko…she was Daughter and even if she wanted nothing more than to act like the opposite of who Daughter was. She wanted to run up and throw herself into dad's arms and tell him to tell her that she was going to be ok and that everything was going to be ok.

She did not do that.

"Get out. Get out you idiot! I'll find her. I'll find her if I have to tear down this entire city." Said Dad. He was at the door. Mob had an excuse prepared. He knew she was there. She knew that he knew that she was there. When he asked she would just say that she needed his phone to order more takeaway. If that was ok. She'd, of course, ask if that was ok. Then he wouldn't get mad at her…even though he was already mad…sort of…but not at her…

"Daughter. What do you want?" asked Dad. He had slammed the door really hard. His aura was flaring out and it hurt a little bit…just a little. She wanted to be near him even if he hurt her. She wanted her dad…she wanted her dad and she wanted her mom and she wanted to…to be….she wanted to feel like she was ok….she wanted to feel like everything was going to be ok…

She wanted her dad.

And her mom.

She wanted to feel safe.

She wanted to feel ok.

"Your phone. I want to order takeaway for dinner…if that's ok." Said Mob. She was there and dad was there but it did not feel like they were there together. There were more of those weird aura guys…and they felt weird…and she felt weird, too. Like she was going to be sick. Like she was all alone. She wanted dad to just pick her up or give her a hug or even a head pat…but dad did not do things like that. He didn't even do that thing where he rested his aura on top of hers like some kind of blanket.

His aura hurt.

"That's fine. Order something for your mother as well." Said Dad. Mob couldn't help it. She smiled. She smiled and her aura was showing the pictures on the wall beside her began to shake and-

And she fell down.

"Power is nothing without control." Said Dad. Mob nodded. She wasn't hurting. That hadn't hurt. She had just gotten knocked down onto her back, that was all, she wasn't hurt or anything. She was fine. Dad had never punished her like that before but she…she was fine. She took all of her feelings down inside of herself and kept them there. She wanted…she wanted dad to pick her up and hold her….and she wanted to go far away from him and never see him again…

She wanted her mom back.

And she wanted her dad back, too.

She was…she didn't know how she felt.

"Conceal, don't feel." Said Mob. She said it more to herself than to dad. She wished that she had gloves that kept her powers from going out of control. But she had tried loves already and the gloves did nothing. She did not have ice powers, she had psychic powers, and life was not at all like in the movies. The only one who could control her powers was her…and she had been doing a very poor job of it, hadn't she? So dad was right to push her. Really she had given him no choice.

"That's right." Said Dad. He passed Mob his phone with his powers. There was a shift in the energy around their house. Another one of those weird auras was back, the copy paste ones, and Dad opened the door. He said some harsh words, a lot of them, but Mob wasn't really listening.

She was reading.

She hadn't meant to snoop. Dad had just left his messages opened. It was a bunch of people saying that they hadn't seen mom anywhere. Well they called her Mrs. Suzuki but they meant mom. The last time she had been seen was at the big Starbucks at the shopping mall. The underground one that they had walked to once…and it was so far away….and mom had walked that far…and maybe she had gotten lost…

She clicked out of dad's messages and ordered her and Sho pizza. They would leave some for mom, too. She had been excited when dad said to get food for mom, maybe they had found her, but she had been wrong. Mom was still out there and she was still missing….but maybe she'd come back. Of course she would come back. She was their mom and moms couldn't just…just…leave. She had been wrong and she had lost control and dad had no choice but to punish her for being bad.

She had been a bad Daughter.

Maybe that was why mom had left.