.Sophie.

I hated the rain so much. I was no pluviophile. But Lacey on the other hand, was enjoying the fresh air and the abundance of mud. She splashed around, her curly hair falling out of her hood, quickly getting wet as she jumped from one muddy puddle to the next. Her cute little rain boots no longer even close to pink anymore. Her pink raincoat was even worse, for some strange reason.

"Lacey, don't go near the woods!" I cried out my arms folded acrossed my chest as my own head was ducked down. My hoodie was soaked through, and I instantly regretted not purchasing my own rubber rain coat on our trip to the store earlier.

We had been here a total of four days, and every moment was excruciatingly boring. La Push was probably the worst place to live in the world. It was like the world had frozen and all the young people died, leaving only only people who liked to gossip about their grandkids and Barbra Anne from the bingo hall.

My attention snapped back to Lacey, her curly blond head bobbing as she stopped to pick up a stick, throwing it. She giggled, grabbed another, and tossed it a foot or two infront of her. Excited, she grabbed another and tossed it. She continued doing this repeatedly, never so excited in her life. I was proud to be raising a little Einstein.

"Hey!" Yelled a voice over the sound of the faint splatter of the rain. I jumped, startled, my turning around to look at the soaking wet yard behind me. , Cutting acrossed the yard to stand next to me was none other then my old bestie, Jared. This time he managed to atleast pull a black shirt over his muscles. Not that the lack of one was complaint worthy, but those nips could have poked someones eye out.

"Oh, hey. Funny seeing you here. In my yard."

He laughed, and then we turned, glancing over at Lacey to make sure she didn't fall in a ditch and that I didn't need to call Lassie.

She was still over there. Throwing her sticks.

"So you live here now? Like really? You're just not staying here, but living too. That's great! This town could use a little more So-pee." He smiled again, his face bright and happy. "Also, we're both jobless and I need someone to chill will. And a ride to the store." He then hit me with big brown baby calf eyes.

All I could do was laugh. "Yeah, nice course of action. First, engage me in conversation, don't even wait for my reply, and then cut straight to the questions and demands."

With a shrug, he strode infront of me, grabbing Lace and flinging her over his shoulder. She let our a squeal of excitement, almost maiming him with the stick in her hand. He reached over, quickly grabbing it from her hand it tossing it into the woods. It went so far there was no way I could ever even tell when it landed. "Miss Lace, tell your Mom that I don't tiptoe, and that I need things for Pizza Night!"

All the blond haired bugger did was giggle. "Pizza Night!"

"Well, I need to get her changed first. I don't need no runny noses."

Quickly jogging to the porch, we entered the house. I had never been so happy to be out of the rain in my life. Jared set Lacey on the floor, and she took off at the speed of light to her room, tripping and face planting on the floor. Jared and I both froze, waiting for her reaction, but she shoved herself up and started ascending the stairs. I quickly followed behind her, taking her to her room and helping her change into cleaner, dryer clothing. After drying her blond head with a towel and pushing a new pair of shoes onto her feet, I scooped her up and we went downstairs. Jared had made himself at home on our couch.

"Hey," he called from the sofa. "Do you remember that time in 2nd grade when we got lost in the woods?" I blinked. That came from no where.

"Uh yeah." Of course I remembered. We had been playing tag and had wandered to far. Dark soon settled on the woods, and the rain had started to pour. And in that moment, shivering and wet, Jared had clutched my hand, pulling me under a tree and squeezing me tight. He was the big brother I never had, and the best friend I had ever been given. And in that moment, scared and wet, huddling close together and waiting for the flashlights to flicker as they looked for us, Jared told me the stories of our people. Well, more of his people then mine. My mother was from Forks, and whiter than snow. But he told me, using his pudgy fingers to draw in the mud. I had never been happier. Home was a mess with screaming and sometimes, even silence which was a thousand times worse.

"I was thinking about how you looked like a drowned rat out side earlier, and how much you looked like your 2nd grade self." He pushed himself off the couch. "Kinda nerve racking actually. Since you've been gone for so long."

"14 years isn't so long."

"Longer than you've been alive."

On the drive to and from the store, I listened to him criticizing my music tastes, making distasteful remarks and noises every other seconds. Things like 'You listen to Fall Out Boy? Really? Ugh.' 'I never pegged you for alternative.' and my favorite 'you can't just switch from country to death metal like that. Its so weird.'

To which I responded: 'Its not death metal. Its Finish Longhorn Alternative Retro Metal D Minor' and giggled at his utter bafflement. It took me the whole time in the store to convince him that that was actually not a type or genre of music.

Once we had arrived back at my house, Jared having remembered that today was actually Kim's night to cook, he plopped himself back onto my couch, watching the TV idly as Lace played with her legos on the floor. I sat next to him, completely at ease. It was nice to have actual company. Bea had either been sleeping or working, and when she was awake, she was hidden in her room. Watching her closely, I only saw her eat 2 or 3 times. She needed my help more than she let on. But she was still trying to pretend that the call from the hospital a month ago hadn't actually happened.

"So...wheres Lacey's Dad?"

Snapped out of my trance, I glanced at Jared from the corner of my eye. His own eyes were focused on the TV. But I can tell that the moment he looked away, his big brown eyes would be back on me.

"Allen...died. When I was pregnant was Lacey."

He nodded, and then we went back to our silence, watching TV together until Bea opened the front door, her heels clacking loudly on the floor. When she entered, Jared stood up, greeting her with a smile.

"Jared, I'm not feeding you. Go bug your lady." Bea said, waving him off with her well manicured hand. Dropping her bags to the floor, she greeted Lace with a quick tickle, before turning back to me. "Hey, Bum, go talk to Emily tomorrow. She's looking for a pastry maker thing at her bakery. She said she'd be happy to talk to you."

I snorted. "Whose gonna watch Lace?"

With a roll of her eyes she crossed her arms over her chest. She looked tired and thin. Her face was all cheek bones, and her black hair was falling out of its bun and onto her shoulders in small tendrils. "We have a built in baby sitter."

Munching on an apple he swiped off the dinning room table, Jared protested.

"Not like you're doing anything, jobless. Anyway, Kim said you would. Don't you bend to her every call?"

With a unhappy grunt, Jared agreed, saying he would be here at 9 the next day.

xXx

"Allie?" The voice that came out of my throat didn't sound like my own. Tired and sore from the cold winter weather. I had woken up that morning with an extreme case of the vomits, and my whole body felt like I had been through the slaughter house. So it wasn't a suprise that at 2 A.M. Allen was still hidding down stairs, away from my bitter mood. But it was still surpising. He was usually way gone into dream land by 11, and usually snuggled at my side, his face like that of an angel as he snored softly. Sometimes even slobbering in the process.

There was no response, but a flicker as he passed infront of the lights. descending the stairs, I rounded the corner sleepily. "Baby?"

I spotted him, slouched on the black couch, the TV flickering infront of him. The blanket that usually laid acrossed the couch was discarded onto the floor, sneakily hiding Allens work boots. I bent down, picking it up and tossing it to the love seat. If I didn't, Allen would spend forever looking for his boots in the morning. And by looking, I mean complaining until I got up and found them for him.
I smiled to myself, reaching out my hands to grasp around his neck and squeeze him, but all I felt was cold, cold, cold skin. "Allie? Allie your freezing." I murmured, leaning forward to give him a quick kiss on the lips. I never made it that far. A horrified scream escaped my mouth, and I fell back on the ground.

They said it was a mystery. A heart attack for someone who had been as healthy and strong as an Ox.