When mom comes in to wake us up, it's night, and the celebration around Megaton has already started. Music floats in through the cracks of the house, and dances in my tired ears. Beside me, Dizzy sleeps, still and quiet.

"You two going to come out? Come on! This one's the best yet!"

I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes. Dizzy moans and rolls over, as I feel the exhaustion deep within my bones.

"You say that every year, mom."

Opening my eyes, I look at her. Mom. She smiles, and she holds a bottle of wine in her hand. But, there's something off about her. Almost as if she's forcing her cheeriness. I raise an eyebrow as Dizzy begins to stir and wake.

"Mom? Are you alright?"

Mom looks paler than usual. Most of the time, all of the time, she has a nice tan from being in the sun. Now, it looks almost as if she hasn't been out in a few days. But I know that isn't true. Mom never stays in the house for more than a few hours.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

She seems out of breath, too. Which is also really unusual for mom. Her and Dizzy are two balls of endless energy, leaving dad and I in the dust and struggling to keep up.

"You look off, mom, you sure you're alright?"

I maneuver over Dizzy and stand in front of mom. She looks at my tired face, and lifts her hand. Grazing my unshaven stubble, she smiles.

"You…are so much like your father, you know that?"

There's softness in her voice, and a gentle look in her eyes. As if she's looking at a past she can't remember. I smile at her, a bit concerned by her actions.

"Yeah, mom, I know."

Her hand falls, and she sways a bit. Before she falls, she catches herself. Brushing it off, mom smiles, as if I'm not supposed to worry.

"I'll see you and your sister outside, alright? It's going to be a beautiful night."

Before I can say another word, mom leaves my room and shuts the door behind her. Dizzy moans again, and I hear her sit up behind me.

"What's up with mom?"

She asks, yawning. I stretch my arms and back before answering her.

"I'm not sure…were you awake for that?"

"Kinda. She seemed a bit different."

"Yeah, I thought so too. She seemed tired, didn't she?"

I look back at Dizzy as she nods, yawning again.

"Yeah but not like, tired like we are. Almost mentally tired."

Looking back at my bedroom door, I sigh. Mom has a particular way of acting and doing things. Usually, when that way is out-of-sorts, there is something wrong. It's only been wrong a select few times, and that was because her and dad got into a small fight. But fighting with mom would be the last thing on dad's mind right now. And it didn't seem as if she was angry at anyone, or even sad.

"Maybe it's nothing and we're just delusional from being tired. And stressed. Mostly tired."

"Yeah, Diz, that could be it."

"I just want to sleep! I don't even want to go to this stupid party."

I smirk at Dizzy, and pull the covers from her.

"Come on, it's your last night in Megaton. At least go out with a bang."

"I guess you're right. I'm just so exhausted…"

"We all are, Diz, but come on."

Sitting down, I throw on my boots as Dizzy wakes herself up. The music goes on outside, followed by cheers and laughter from the citizens, and others. I hear Gob's familiar voice just outside my window, and Zack's deeper one. I'm glad he returned okay, and maybe I'll get the chance to talk to him later. For now, though, I need to concentrate on staying awake through this all-night party.

As Dizzy and I make our way down to the kitchen, our parents are unsurprisingly, nowhere in sight. Dizzy lets out another loud yawn, before grabbing a bottle of irradiated water off of the storage shelf.

"To wake me up."

She tells me, even though I wasn't going to ask.

"Yeah I can see that."

I go to sit down at the table, but instead my eye catches something. It's long, and almost transparent, and it sits on the table. At first I think it's a thin piece of paper, but I see quickly that it isn't.

"Diz? Did you burn and peel somehow?"

"What?"

Picking up the strip of flesh from the table, I hold it up for her to see. It is skin, at least it was. It almost looks like when you get burned, and your skin peels. But, hardly anyone burns out here. You get use to the sun, and your skin tans from it. Dizzy crinkles her nose at me, at the skin in my hand.

"Ew, no. Where'd you find that?"

"It was right here on the table."

"Cain, if I was shedding like that, the last place I would leave it would be on the table. That's disgusting."

"You're telling me."

I'm worried now. First mom acts strange, and then I find this. I know there's probably no correlation between the two, but it worries me.

"Maybe it's from dad, ya know? He's a ghoul and all. Losing skin is part of his everyday routine."

"Yeah but Diz he's already ghoulified. Why would he keep losing skin?"

She shrugs, finishing her water and not as concerned as I am.

"I don't know. Maybe he's going feral?"

"Impossible."

I toss the strip of peeled skin into the trash can. Dizzy brushes it off as if it's nothing, and I can understand why. Dad is a ghoul, and him losing skin shouldn't be uncommon. I don't know why I'm so worried about this. Sighing, I decide maybe it's best if I just ignore it. After all, it's probably nothing anyways.

"Come on, let's get out there and socialize."

I say to Dizzy, and she nods. I don't like going to this yearly thing, as fun as it is. Maybe it's just me, but I never really enjoyed large groups of people. My father is the same way. But we're sort of obligated to go. Dad and mom run Megaton as a pair, and we're their children. Going and meeting with the locals and passer-through people is something we have to do. As if it's this large, important unspoken rule. Which I'm sure it is.