Here is the final part of the prologue, before I begin the main story! If you're enjoying the story so far, please feel free to review, give suggestions on where the story should go, etc. I'd love to hear from YOU! Hope you enjoy!

Serenity's face lit up upon hearing her brother's revelation but fell just as quick. Reality had sunk in then; her brother's back, but why did it take him so long? Why didn't he write? Or even call? Didn't he miss his little sister, like his little sister missed him?

Without a word, she shuffled her feet over to the door where her brother stood. She looked at his red, strained eyes for a moment, before enveloping him into a brief hug. Before pulling away, she swallowed the lump in her throat and forced the words out of her mouth as if they made her ill.

"I'm really glad you're back."

Before he could say anything in response, she disappeared down the hallway and into her bedroom. She laid down on her side, with her back to the door. Silent tears fell from her right eye, over the bridge of her nose and onto her linen pillowcase beneath her head. She placed her hand under her face, over top of the wet stain her eyes created.

There was unintelligible chatter coming from the kitchen, followed by footsteps that drew nearer and nearer to where the girl lay. A sudden gentle knock made Serenity twitch. She didn't bother to even look in the direction the sound had came from.

"Hey," the boy let himself into his sister's room, "can we talk?"

She swallowed the rest of the tears before looking over her shoulder at Sean, who was now standing at the edge of her bed. She wiped away the stray tears that were welling at her eyes and sniffled, dropping her head back onto the pillow and responding to her brother with a silent nod. He sat on the edge of her bed then.

"I missed you a lot, Ren. Whether you want to believe me or not… I really missed it here."

She rolled her eyes, still curled up staring at the wall with her back to him.

"I'm sorry."

She sat up then, "for what? For abandoning me here? With them." She spat, referring to their parents and holding her hand out towards the door where they were mere meters away. The tears came back, burning her eyes worse than before.

"It's not like that."

"Then what is it like, huh?" Her words growing more and more vicious as she spoke, "no visits, no calls, no letters. Nothing. That's abandonment, if you ask me."

She felt awful going off like this after her brother suffered such a traumatic experience, but it was a resentment she could no longer hang onto. She yearned for the day he would come back and supply her with the answers to questions that kept her up almost nightly.

"Mom and dad sent me, okay?" He spat, the look on his face apologizing for such a harsh tone. "I didn't want to leave you. But after I deafened Tyler, it was the last straw. They figured Toronto with Tracker was the only way to keep me out of trouble here."

He continued when she didn't respond, "and as for the zero contact," he sighed, sounding disappointed with himself, "it wasn't about you. I didn't want to deal with mom or dad, so I figured it would be best to avoid any sort of communication with anyone here in Wasaga."

She took in a deep breath, unsure of what to say next. She really couldn't blame her brother for cutting ties with the mess that they called a family. In an attempt to avoid eye contact with him, Serenity looked down at her crossed legs and began anxiously picking at the skin on her thumb. A short silence filled the room.

Sean opted to change the subject when he realized the initial conversation wasn't going any further, "why weren't you at school today?"

With her head still tilted down, she lifted her eyes to look at the sincerity in her brother's face upon asking the question.

"They were on a bender all weekend, Sean," she sighed, "they don't have a clue what day of the week it is."

His jaw clench, narrowing his eyes in anger at the doorway. She knew what he was thinking. It was as if all his troubles were pushed aside in that moment, and being a protective older brother was his new priority.

"It's fine, Sean. I'll go tomorrow."

"I hate that I had to leave you with them, Ren." His head fell in defeat, "Tracker and I fought to convince them to let us take you, we really did. We didn't want to leave our baby sister."

A small smile crept across her face then. She hadn't been called anyone's 'baby sister' in years. There was no way she could stay mad at her favourite sibling.

The girl suddenly opted to the lighten the mood with a change in topic. "I could use a glass of water after all that crying."

Sean breathed out a quiet laugh, "tell me about it."

Serenity turned on her heals to grab them each a drink from the kitchen. Sean stayed seated on the edge of the bed, looking around and inspecting the somewhat familiar surroundings of his sister's bedroom. It all looked the same. The walls painted in her favourite colour – baby blue, Sean recalled. Photos of her favourite bands and actors plastered around the room, with photos of her and her friends framed above her old, brass bed frame. In the corner of the room, her old wooden vanity still sat. It was more chewed up than he remembered – probably the work of Charlie. On top sat her makeup sprawled about lazily. When he left, his sister wasn't interested in all that stuff. Amongst the brushes, mascara and eyeliner laid a photo frame flipped upside down. He stood up quietly, peeking over his shoulder at the door, before picking the picture up. He found himself staring at an old photo of the three of them that he hardly remembered taking. He smiled, running his finger along the glass gently.

"Us Camerons sure can't take very many good pictures, huh?"

Sean jumped at his sister's voice, who had returned holding two glasses of water.

"Sorry," he chuckled, placing the frame down the way he found it.

"Put it back up," she insisted, nodding her head in the direction of the vanity, "I knocked it down by accident earlier. I miss those guys."

Sean smiled. "Me too."

"I miss the old me, too."

He slumped back down onto the bed. Serenity passed him one of the glasses.

"He's still there." She reassured him, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him. "You're home now, Sean. You're where you need to be."

Sean silently agreed, but he couldn't help but feel that there was still something — someone missing. He was glad to have his sister back in his life, but he couldn't help allowing his mind to wander back to the way he parted with the pretty blond girl who sat in the backseat of the orange sedan as it peeled out of the gravel driveway.

"I'm just sorry that it took something drastic like a shooting to bring me back here again."

The two continued to chat until the darkness became light once again. Though they had years of stories to share, and memories to recount, to Serenity, it started to feel like he'd never left at all.