I woke up the next morning to the sun beaming light through the transparent curtains, momentarily blinding me. It took my eyes a few minutes to get used to the brightness, but the problem was my head. After everything that happened last night, it's amazing we're all still here. My encounter with Cole in the woods where he nearly gave me a heart attack, my fight with Aunt Lauren, and the extreme tension between Derek and Cole.

I slowly swung my legs over the edge of the bed and glanced at the clock. It's just after eight in the morning. Wow, it's awfully bright for eight. I looked over to find Tori's bed hadn't even been slept in and my mind began to wander.

What happened between Tori and Kit that set her off?

Not caring that I was still in my pajamas, I decided to go and find Tori. After everything that's happened lately, I need reassurance to kniw that she just didn't disappear into the night. I wandered around from room to room until I found Derek standing in the kitchen, listening to Amy ramble on about something. He looked over at me just as I was backing away to keep looking for my roommate.

I found Tori sitting out back on the dock, her feet dipped in the lake water. Her head was bent as it normally was when she was thinking. I sat down beside her and crossed my legs. I don't know how long we were there, but the day just kept getting brighter and brighter as time unknowingly passed.

"How do you do it, Chloe?" Tori asked without looking at me.

I just looked at her, saying nothing.

"Does it not bother you that you hardly knew your mother?" I could hear a sadness in Tori's tone, but her face didn't show any signs of it.

I took a deep breath. "It always bothers me," I admitted. The thought of growing up with a mother who was always there instead of a father who was always absent hurt me every time I thought about it.

"But how do you deal with only having one parent?" she asked me again. "Don't you ever wonder what it would have been like if you had both parents?"

Tori's question made me uneasy.

"Why are you asking me this, Tori?" I asked.

She shook her head and got to her feet. She stomped off back towards the house and disappeared inside. I remained in my spot for however long I was there, which must have been some time because Simon came out to sit with me, and by then I had already figured out what Tori was talking about.

I remember the conversation I had with Aunt Lauren about the possibility of Simon and Tori being related. It's interesting how Tori just suddenly begins asking me about not knowing one parent. I could be wrong, but maybe it finally came out that Kit Bae really is Victoria Enright's mother.

"Everything okay?" Simon asked, breaking through my thoughts.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"You've been out here for quite some time, Chloe." I noticed him look behind us. "Derek's going nuts. He thinks you're mad at him."

I scoffed. "What could I be mad at?"

It was Simon's turn to shrug. "It's Derek."

Fair enough.

Simon and I sat in silence before I finally bucked up the courage to ask him Tori's sudden need for isolation.

"Dad finally came clean about mine and Tori's biological connection," Simon said.

"And?" I pushed.

Simon took a deep breath. "She shot him down and told him to go to hell for lying to her."

Yeah, that much I heard.

"How long do you think it will be before she comes around?" I asked concerned.

Simon shrugged again. "Who knows?" he said as he watched the open water. "It's Tori. She can hold a grudge for a long time."

"I guess."

The two of us continued to watch the water wave in in silence, listening to the birds in the distance, and just enjoying the idea of freedom. This may be the closest thing we ever get to freedom for the rest of our lives and that really depressed me.

All I wanted in life was to grow up and move to becoming a big-time Hollywood director. I wanted to bring all of my innermost thoughts to life and show people that originality isn't dead. But here I am with nearly a dozen other real-life supernaturals, on the run from some big organization set out to destroy us, much less continue their "rehabilitation."

"This is not what I wanted," I said in a cracked voice.

"What?" Simon said.

I looked at him through blurry eyes from the tears forming in them. "I never wanted this. Any of this."

"Chloe," Simon whispered, placing his hand over mine. "This isn't your fault. You didn't ask for this."

"I had my whole life ahead of me, Simon," I choked. "The things you see on the Space Channel is what's happening - we're living that." I dropped my face in to my hands and sobbed.

I don't even remember the last time I cried this hard. I don't even think I cried this much when my mom died. Maybe because I didn't quite understand what death was and what it really meant to be dead. However, I did know what it meant when I was told that my mom wasn't coming home. But somehow, knowing you have no parents to be there when you needed them most seemed to hurt much worse than knowing that there were people out there trying to kill you.

My breathing became uneven and came in short breaths. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders and I looked up to see Simon with tears in his eyes as well. I found that oddly comforting, to see someone else express genuine emotion related to this horror of a life instead of pretending like our constant travelling is a vacation. No one in this house really smiles anymore, no one cries, no says anything!

"I know," Simon chokes out. "I know it hurts, Chloe."

I shook my head, not because I didn't believe he was hurting too, but because the reality of all of this is so overwhelming and the pressure is so great, it's a wonder we have all made it this far.

"Jesus, who died?" We turned to see Cole standing behind us. Simon wiped at his eyes and I just looked down at my crossed legs.

"What do you want, Cole?" Simon asked as he worked to compose himself.

"I thought you two looked awfully cozy until I heard the sniffling." I heard footsteps circling around in front of me. "Everything okay?"

I looked up into Cole's frozen blue eyes and nodded my head. By now I could feel the pain in my back and lack of feeling in my butt from sitting down for so long, so I decided to stand up. Cole reached out to help but I waved him away, insisting I wasn't crippled. He didn't seem offended, more so amused and I hated that. I guess that showed considering he looked more sympathetic now.

"Do you want me to grab Derek?" I heard Simon ask.

I shook my head and listened as he the grass shuffled underneath his sluggish footsteps. For a moment longer I looked into Cole's eyes, trying to figure out what he could be thinking, but I came up empty. As we looked into each other's eyes I could feel something pass between us; nothing romantic, more...spiritual, almost like I was looking at another me.

I broke eye contact with Cole and made my own way back to the house. I didn't hear footsteps behind me, so I assumed I was going alone.