A/N- I am on a roll! This is like, my fifth update in three days! I cannot stop! *cue lucky song*

They call me heartbreaker, I don't wanna deceive ya.

If ya fall for me, I'm not easy to please,

I might tear you apart, told ya the start, baby, from the start!

I'm only gonna break, break ya, break, break ya heart! x4

-Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris

I swear, every time that song plays, something good happens! This time, you guys will get an extra-long chapter!

Chapter Seven – History – Eryn

I missed them so much. I could still remember the day it happened. It may as well have been an hour ago, it was so clear in my head.

We had been out at Toys R Us, as we lived just two streets away, I had just gotten my allowance, and the kids would never, ever say no to new toys.

The kids. My little siblings. My responsibility, my life, really. I loved them to death.

It was hard to keep track of all three of them at first, but I was used to it now. I had Chloe in the cart, since she was still small enough for it, 5 years old. Neo was the second oldest after me, at age 8. He walked alongside, with 6-year-old Alicea holding his hand. Neo acted like he didn't want to hold her hand, but I knew that he loved her.

I was their older sister, but I may as well have been their mother. Our mom had died from cancer four years ago, and Dad loved us to bits, but he worked full-time, having to provide money for four children. He wasn't around much, and when he was actually home, he was asleep.

After Mom had died, when I was 8, I became a mom. I was a second-grader, but that didn't really matter. I loved my brother and sisters, and I took care of them. I found a good daycare for the kids and picked them up on the walk home. I taught myself to cook. I was the one who tucked them in at night, put a Band-Aid and a kiss on cuts, and took them shopping when they needed new clothes.

I had to grow up fast. I wasn't a kid for very long.

I didn't really mind much, though. They were my family. I'd do anything for these kids.

"Eryn?" said Chloe, "Can we look at the Barbies?"

I smiled at her. My little angel. "Sure, sweetie."

Neo didn't so much make a face. I knew that he was obsessed with Transformers, but he was patient. He knew I'd take him over to that section soon. In the meantime, Neo would wait uncomplainingly as Chloe and Alicea squealed over the Barbies.

I was so proud of him. Most kids would whine.

I took a peek in my wallet. Good, I had enough that they could each get something, and probably stop at the ice-cream shop afterwards too.

Around an hour later, we were walking out, me carrying a bag containing an Ironhide action figure, a tennis-player Barbie, and a new Bratz.

"Do you guys want to get some ice cream?" I asked. I was soon met by yells of approval.

The shop was straight across the street, which was fairly deserted this time of day. I stopped us at the curb and turned to Alicea. I had entered her and Chole into a program called Safety Town. I'd drop them off every day after school, and they'd learn things like how to cross a road, and the importance of seatbelts. It was a good program, and I was friends with one of the helpers. I knew they were in good hands.

"Alicea, can you tell me how to cross the street? I forgot." I said, giving her a small smile.

"Stop, look and listen, before you cross the street. Use your eyes, use your ears, and then you use your feet." she recited, looking proud for remembering something I apparently hadn't.

I made an 'oh' face. "Chloe, do you want to do the look?"

She nodded, and made a show of twisting both ways to see each end of the street, arms and blonde hair swishing back and forth. "Nothing." she told me. "Hey Neo, you do listen!"

"Okay." he said, smiling. We all fell silent, and he cocked his head dramatically. "Nope, I don't hear any cars."

I ruffled his hair. "Lead the way!" I told him, giving Neo permission to lead us across the street now that we had proven it to be safe.

It was little things like this that really defined childhood. The little things that you take time to do mean more than you think. They show you care.

Walking into the ice cream shop, I was glad to see that it was empty, except for an older man, who was eating a vanilla cone. Even the elderly enjoy ice creamy goodness.

"Aren't you Ashton's kids?" he said, seeing us walk in.

Ashton was our dad. This was a pretty small town. The Toys R Us was the biggest store we had, the second-biggest being a McDonalds. It was mostly residential.

I smiled at the man. "Yeah, we are."

He grinned back at me. "My son went to school with him. Had him over to our house a couple times."

I nodded at him, and followed the kids up to the counter, where they were ordering already.

I loved living in a small town. You knew everybody, everybody knew you. It was a network of friends and family, and everybody was nice to you. Dad had been to a New Jersey city once, and he said that there, you never so much as looked strangers in the eye, let alone smile and start a conversation. Personally, I couldn't imagine that. I smiled at everybody, and they usually knew me, from the kids, or grocery shopping, or school.

Poor city people. I felt bad for them, not knowing the feeling of security coming from a small town.

Really, I read the police log for laughs. It was usually pretty funny. People didn't usually get arrested for anything serious. One time, I read that in a nearby town, some lady was drunk, sitting in the middle of the street at 3 am. The police should have ticketed her, but they decided to give her a break and just drive her home.

The lady got arrested for trying to make the cops go to a Taco Bell drive through.

That was about the worst it got around here.

I paid for the ice cream, and licking my chocolate cone, I pulled a pair of scissors out of my purse and began to cut open the toy boxes for the kids. I was always prepared.

While they ate and played with the new toys, I watched the story they were making. They liked to act out stories with the toys. Those kids had great imaginations. Right now, Ironhide and Jade were helping Barbie find her missing shoe, which had been stolen by the evil Ice Cream Sundae Monster Of Doom.

The brother-sister combination made me grin. Neo was a little more sensitive and polite than he would be, thanks to his sisters. On the other hand, he made them more violent than other kindergarten girls.

It was the same thing with age differences. He made them grow up faster, and Chloe and Alicea made him grow up a little slower.

It made me smile at the thought.

I was just glad that they had such a secure home to grow up in. It was perfectly safe here, with little to worry about besides having a golf club stolen by teenagers. I was grateful to Mom for convincing Dad to move to such a nice, safe town. Nothing bad ever happened here-

BOOM!

I heard an explosion from somewhere in the back of the shop. Oh no.

"KIDS, GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!" I screamed at them, my only concern for my little angels to get the heck out of here, because I could already smell smoke. Fire alarms were starting to go off.

They weren't moving, though. They seemed shell-shocked, unable to move. Flames were starting to lick around the edges of the counter.

I swooped down and snatched up Alicea. I shook Neo and yelled at him over the alarms.

"NEO! GET CHLOE!"

Something sparked in his eyes, and he grabbed his little sister's hand and yanked her out onto the street. I followed as fast as I could.

Outside, I started to wonder what exactly had happened. Maybe the air conditioner or something had gotten overheated.

Kneeling down, I took inventory of my little babies. Neo was putting on a brave face, but he looked shaken anyway. Alicea had started to cry, and Chloe was trembling. I held out my arms, and three scared kids immediately collapsed into them, with me hugging them as tight as I could. I never wanted to let them go.

We had to go to the hospital; the doctors were worried about how much smoke we had inhaled.

The kids were fine, but I, being taller, had to stay for a day or two. I had gotten the worst of it. I had them stay with a friend of mine, Faith, who knew them well and didn't mind watching them.

The next day, their house was bombed.

I missed them so with all of my heart. I felt empty now, without my siblings, by myself. I had no purpose, now that they had been torn away from me.

I wandered wherever my feet took me. I kept searching for people. Now, two years later, it seemed as if there were no humans left. I kept trying, though. I had to keep going.