That night, well im going to be honest with you. I cried myself to sleep. It obviously wasnt night time here but it had been over 24 hours since I had last seen my mother. She hadnt come back yet, or even call. It was just me and Domino and I could start to see the fear in his eyes as well. "Well be fine." he cooed as I wept, after an hour of that though he knew he could do nothing and tried to get his own sleep, because of this I shut-up and tried to get my own sleep which didnt come easily.

I woke up to the smell of bacon, "Mom..." I muttered getting up quickly. I ran into the kitchen to see Domino making the bacon. I bit my lip and sat down at the table. "I thought you were mom ya' know." I told him as he set the bacon on the table.

"Im sorry, about everything I mean." he replied as he sat down.

I shook me head, "No worries, she'll be back. Its just a matter or when." He looked like he was about to say something but decided against it and ate his breakfast. I didnt say anything either because I knew if I did i'd just plain out cry.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked. I knew what he meant though. It really meant, 'Where should we search today and when?'. I didnt respond though this time so he shook his head slowly and continued eating. "We need something to pass the time." he added smiling weakly.

I couldnt help but smile, after all this he could still put up a front that he was okay, "Maybe we should try the sports store again. Im sorry...I just...need some time and something to get my mind off the current situation." I replied.

He nodded, "Its okay. I agree though, maybe I can get you to go up the rockclimbing wall. Youll be too scred to think about anything else." I laughed at this, he was right. Im a scaredy cat when it comes to heights, he on the other hand might as well be a spider monkey for as good as he is at climbing.

"You wont go dog crazy...or girl crazy for that matter on me, will you?" I asked. He shook his head, the blonde from a couple days ago still had him freaked, I couldnt agree more. No more chicks from Alaska, well at least not the blonde ones. The sun had obviously gotten to them, not to diss blondes though but that one blonde, Annikki was it? She had ruined it for all Alaskan blondes. I guess it could change if we found another NICE and not freaky blonde but...im rambling arent I? Well back to the current situation which was much more important than Alaskan blondes. I looked at the time, "Breakfast at 7:00 p.m. huh? What has the world come to?" I asked. So that meant it was 7:00 p.m. in spring on a Tuesday. We had two more days to go, or two more days for mom to come back.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?" I answered him.

"Why were we supposed to go back home at Thursday. Why not Friday or Saturday?" he asked me with a confused look.

"Oh, thats just because its supposed to get dark out on Thursday and you know, stay dark." He nodded thinking about it being dark all the time for a couple of months. Then it hit me, he said supposed? It wasnt that he didnt have faith in my mother but what if she really didnt come back, then what? It would be dark soon which wouldnt help our case one bit. At that time I put my plate in the dishwasher and got a couple cookies for the way there. Domino followed suit. We left the cabin around 15 minutes later with our mathing winter gear heading towards the store. Once we got inside Domino and I headed for the dreaded rock-climbing tower. Before we got there I sighed resulting in Domino turning to look at me.

"What's up?" he asked.

I sighed again, "First of all im already scared stiff of that stupid tower and second of all how can we just play around when my mother is missing?"

He shoved his hands in his jean pockets, "Well thats because we need something to do, a little break you might say. We cant think straight if were freaking out all the time so all we need is a break...just a little break." he said slowly as if he was talking to someone who was about to die. I nodded, it was a fair deal. Freak out rock climbing and freak out some more afterward. "Your not really climbing are you?" he asked. I shook my head, it sounded good back at the cabin but no, definently not now and I knew I wouldnt feel any better looking from up there than I did looking from down on the ground. As we approached the tower the employee from last time came up to us. "Hey Hope!!" said Domino as he flashed a smile. I waved weakly to her.

"You guys gonna rock climb?" she asked.

"Domino is, I prefer the ground though." I told her. She smiled and nodded towards Domino to follow her. I took a seat on the bench in front of the tower. After a few minutes I saw Hope and Domino ready in the rock climbing gear. I'd tell you what there called..harneses maybe, but im not sure because its obviously not my sport. Hope gave Domino the ready sign, a thumbs up to go up. Domino nodded back and practically ran up the tower like a spider monkey making it up the 50 foot tower in record time. Hope barely had time to move back and situate his weight before he was up at the top.

"Wow Domino!! That was amazing!!" she called to him.

"Do I get to try again?" he asked. She nodded as he slowly came back down. Not sliding down like most but 'reverse rock climbing' because according to Domino only weak pansy rock climbers let themselves be helped down. I never could reason why he liked climbing so much. When I did ask him he gave me an odd remark, "I dont know, its the rush when you rock climb that I like I guess. I feel in power when im off the ground. Corny or not...I just feel, its hard to explain. Something draws me to it." was what he told me. I hadnt thought about it maybe because I didnt want to? Or because I didnt understand myself? Enought of the philosophic thoughts though, I told myself. I watched Domino go up the tower 5 more times free of charge for entertaining Hope. He came back down his 6th time covered with sweat and breathing heavily yet with a smile on his face. "That...was fun..." he panted.

Hope laughed, "Done yet?" she asked.

Domino nodded, I smiled, "Im sure we'll be back." I told her. On the inside I hope we werent back because that meant mom wasnt back or it would be turning dark, coming back meant all hope was lost. Domino and I left after he caught his breath back to the cabin stopping at the store on the way. You may ask how we got so much money? Well obviously Domino brought money with him (about 500 dollars worth) but for the most part we were using my mother's money because she obviously didnt need it...wherever she was...