I do not own the Night World series…..yet! evil smile MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

ENJOY! :)

Kittey's POV

As I walked home from school (it's only two blocks), I thought about Cody's expression. He had looked confused, yet interested, almost like he was trying to figure me out. Haha! There are only two people who have EVER figured me out: Icee and our best guy bud, Chance Janafern. I loved them to death! We tried to hang out every weekend and this'll be our first weekend back together.

Chance has been at his Grandma's house ever since Christmas break had started. Grandma Janafern was fighting breast cancer. The first time Lacey and I had met her was when we had gone over to Chance's to hang out, but he had had the chicken pox. Grandma Janafern felt bad that we couldn't even see Chance, so she took us shopping. She bought Lacey and I a couple outfits and some get well soon gifts for Chance.

I hadn't realized I was even close to home, when suddenly I saw our mailbox. My dad loved to be silly and he also loved fishing, so, of course, we have one of those big mouth bass mailboxes. It's like, the fin is the flag and to open the mailbox, you pull on the hook that's sticking out of the top. My mom almost died of laughter when she saw it!

Knowing no one was home (the cars were gone. Duh!), I walked up the driveway, pulling out my house key. I quickly ran up to my room and threw everything down on my bed and then I ran back downstairs, straight to the kitchen. Knowing I didn't have any homework, I wanted to make something nice for dinner for my mom and dad.

I decided to make my specialty: bacon ranch chicken. I know, it probably sounds icky, but really it's amazing!

Once the oven was heated, I put in the pan holding the three chicken breasts. I then started microwaving 6 strips of bacon. Once the bacon was 'microwaving' (A/N: hehe! Couldn't help myself! Sorry!), I began to make a nice garden salad.

I was just finishing getting dinner ready when I heard Dad walk in.

"Hey Dad!" I called. "I'm just finishing dinner! When's Mom getting home?"

"Kate," my dad choked out.

I spun around, alarmed. Dad was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, his face taunt and obviously holding back tears.

"Dad? What's wrong?" I was panicking, worried about why my dad looked so hectic. "What's happened?"

"Come into the living room and we'll sit down and talk." Dad was trying to be calm and I could tell it wasn't working for him.

We sat down on the couch and Dad set his hand lightly on my knee. He turned toward me, opened his mouth and closed it, and then, suddenly, he was sobbing.

"Daddy? Daddy, what's wrong?" I yelled, close to tears myself.

"She's gone!" he moaned. "Your mom died in a car crash!" And he was back to sobbing.

I froze, ice running through my veins.

"A drunk driver?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," Dad said reluctantly.

"No," I whispered. Then, I yelled, "Nooo! NO! This can't be happening! It CAN'T be!"

And then I was running. Running away from the house from my worst nightmare, and my dad, calling out my name.

Before I knew it, I was at the city park. It's only two blocks away from my house. (A/N: Yes, the same amount as the school. You go one block then 1 block to the left is the school, 1 block to the right is the park. Got it?) I can't believe I ran that far, that fast.

And then it hit me: my mom is dead. Mom is dead. She's gone. Never going to help me get ready for prom. Never going to see me graduate. Never going to see me fall in love. Never to see me get married. Never to see her grandkids. WHY? Why did she have to leave? Why did you take her?

That's when I heard the echo. I then realized that I had been yelling all of that out loud and I was now looking up at the night sky. Before I could break down crying, I ran over to the bench that was underneath my favorite oak tree.

Mom and I had had good times here: my first steps, first words, first time I read, and even the sex talk a few months ago. This had been OUR place.

I curled myself up on the bench and started sobbing.

I don't know how many hours I stayed like that, when suddenly I heard a loud sigh and the branches above me moving.

I gasped and found myself looking into lightning-bolt blue eyes.

"Cody?" I whispered.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It took up a total of like 3 pages in my notebook! But only 2 full pages on Word! Blah! :P Well, please review!