“No luck,” I whisper, having turned over what felt like the hundredth appliance thrown away here. “Random mentioned this place, but I can’t figure out why. It feels like I’ve gone through every nook and cranny looking for Dizzy, but I’m starting to believe she isn’t even here or doesn’t even exist. But Random wouldn’t make something like that up...”

 

With tons of junk piles mixed in with dirt, old electronics, appliances, furniture and whatever else you can think of, I couldn’t think why anyone would come here. After looking over the metal however, I found some of it to be in pretty good condition, but I put it out of my mind as that wasn’t the reason I was here. But even based off of the information Random gave me of what she looked like, I still couldn’t find anything.

 

I turned to the side and sighed, noticing the sun was setting, painting the edge of sky with a mixture of orange and yellow. Dinner should have been placed on the table by now and here I was playing in the dirt. Thinking whether I should stay here or return home, I decided to give up and head home.

 

On the way back I made sure to carefully rake over each corner of the junk yard that I could see, carefully making sure I missed nothing, no hint of anyone else being here. I soon got my hopes up when I saw some foot prints, but found them to be too large based off the description Random gave me. And my suspicion was confirmed when I noticed Aurora not that much further ahead of me, wearing an ocean blue mini skirt, V-neck, single sleeve blouse and heeled shoes. She also had a bag by her side that held a faint glow to it, and when I got closer to her, my head started to ache, but then quickly subsided. I decided not to pay much attention to it, passing it off as just being here a little too long.

 

“Hey Aurora,” I greet her, matching her stride. “What brings you here?”

 

She doesn’t even flinch once then replies with, “I could ask you the same thing,” she answers with a smile. “I just had some things I needed to get.” She lifts her bag to indicate she got what she needed, and my head starts to throb again before she lowers it back to her side. “So what does bring you out here?” she asks again, probably expecting an answer but not showing much interest.

 

As we pass by the entrance and she waves to the guard, I wonder if it’s okay to tell her. Random always acts strangely around her, even though I find nothing wrong with her. She was nice, kind, and helpful and if I might add, beautiful. But if I attempt to ask anything to do with her, Random immediately changes the subject. There had to be some kind of reason, but whatever it was, I didn’t know.

 

“Cody?” Aurora says, tilting her head to the side to make sure I was still listening. I decide to tell her, thinking it could do no harm. I’ll just explain it to Random tomorrow at school.

 

“I was looking for someone,” I tell her, wondering if she’d believe me or not; hearing someone running away to the junk yard sounded farfetched.

 

“Really?” she raises an eyebrow, almost as if to see if I was telling the truth or not. “Why would you look in the junk yard? Who in their right mind would live out there?”

 

“I don’t know,” I shrug, honestly unsure of how to answer. I didn’t really know why I went, and was disappointed when I turned up nothing. When I hear her say it though, it does make a lot of sense. How would anyone survive out there, even with the nights starting to become warmer thanks to spring? It didn’t make any sense and yet for some reason I felt compelled to go there regardless.

 

“Well this is where I stop,” Aurora tells me, turning down a road that leads out of the city. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” she waves over her head, continuing onward without a second glance.

 

 

 

“Hey, Cody.”

 

The first person to greet me after returning home was Mel. She had a new book dangling from her hands as she walked by. Glancing at the title I noticed it was Romeo and Juliet. I forget how fast she can read books sometimes. “When’s dinner going to be?” she asks as she plops down on the couch and removes her bookmark from halfway within the book, reassuring me she was a speed demon when it came to books.

 

“It’ll be ready soon, could you let everyone know? I’m going to go talk to Cindy then start it up.”

 

Placing the bookmark back in its place, she gets up and goes around to tell everyone without a second thought, book dangling from her hands once more. But that was Mel; as long she had her books, she was always happy to do just about whatever you asked.

 

Heading up the stairs and down the hallway I had started throwing around ideas for dinner. It wasn’t even a top priority on my list of things at the moment, and even though I could barely think with my head so full of different thoughts, I knew I still had to get dinner on. But my head started to pound as I walked up the stairs, distracting me a little more than it should have. Why was it hurting so much today? First when I saw Aurora and now…

 

I tossed the question aside when I approached the door, rapping lightly on the wood before pushing open the small crack, allowing me enough space to peek inside. Both my mom and Cindy were asleep. Cindy was collapsed on the edge of the bed, still sitting in the arm chair we got for her to sit by our moms side.
Not wanting to overstay my welcome, I slowly begin to close the door when I hear my voice being called in a low whisper from within the room.

 

“Cody, is that you?” my mom asks, speaking quietly as to not wake Cindy, even though I doubt she’d wake up with how exhausted she must be.

 

“Yeah, it’s me,” I answer, pushing the door aside then returning it to its slightly open state before going to stand beside the bed.

 

Staring down at her I can hardly believe how her disease has affected her so much in the past few years. You couldn’t even tell how active she used to be, at least as lively and normal as a parent could be. Now she’s bedridden and can barely do much of anything without Cindy’s or my dad’s help and I knew she hated it.

 

“Poor Cindy,” my mom murmurs, gently caressing the hair off of her forehead. “She works so hard to stay here when your dad’s at work that she barely gets time to sleep. I’m sorry I put so much on all of you…”

 

Even staring into her serene, soulful eyes it was hard to tell her none of it is her fault.

 

“We’re tough mom, we’ll get through it,” I reassure her as I shift Cindy’s body into a more comfortable position. She’s in such a deep sleep she doesn’t even notice. “Besides, dad will be home soon so she can take a break.”

 

“I know, it’s just- *cough cough*

 

“Mom, take it easy.” Handing her a glass of water I return to the other side of the bed.

 

“I just wish I could do more for you two so I wasn’t such a burden.”

 

The cold, painful sadness in her voice is so much that it’s making it hard to continue talking to her. Before it was easy, but now… Now it’s just too much.

 

“Anyway, Cody, you should go make dinner. I know it’s late and that you had things to do, so I asked the others to wait. But I’d appreciate it if you coul- *cough* *cough*”

 

Looking at her from in-between the bedroom and the hallway, I knew I had to go, even though I didn’t want to. But in the end I turned and began to leave, glancing over my shoulder one last time to notice her fall back asleep, watching her chest rise and fall slowly assuring me she’s still with us.

 

“Cody, when’s dinner?” my little brother, Jack, asks as he makes vroom sounds for his hot wheels.

 

“I’m hungry too,” the other one, Daniel, echoes.

 

I sigh and look between the two, wondering if they got Mel’s message. Then ask them, “Didn’t Mel tell you I was going to start it soon?” But they just continue on as I head toward the kitchen.

 

Once in the kitchen I open the refrigerator to see what I could make. I saw that there was some steak, chicken and ham pulled out. I also noticed there was quite a bit of shredded cheese which then got me thinking of making some pizza. Having not done so in a while, I figured something quick and easy was a good way to go. So I turned toward the cabinets and checked to make sure we had yeast along with the other ingredients. Once I confirmed that we did, I pulled out the rolling pin and got to work.

 

Halfway through, once all the dough was made and rolled out, I started to preheat the oven and readjusted the metal racks to make sure the pizza cooked evenly. Luckily we had one of the advertised ovens that cooked everything evenly. Once done, I went on to get the ingredients prepared when Chantelle comes running in from upstairs and glares at me with a sly smile.

 

“Making dinner without me?” she asks with a hint of amusement, in her own playful way. “You know I like making pizzas.” And with that she hops up on one of the stools surrounding the center counter and goes straight for the sauce.

 

“Sorry Chantelle, I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now,” I tell her as I continue to cut tomatoes and onions.

 

“Wanna talk about it?” she asks as she spreads the sauce nice and evenly over the dough before beginning to roll the edges into crust. I forget just how talented she is with food, but she did start much younger than I did. And when it came to conversations, they were mainly with her or Cindy. Her because she joined me in the kitchen so often and we’d strike up conversations of food and whatever else, and Cindy because she was the only other one who could really understand me, being the older sister and having gone through most of it before. Thanks to all our conversations, she’s a lot wiser than most kids her age.

 

“It’s okay, thanks Chantelle. It’s just part of life.”

 

And when I notice her smile fade and a frown take its place, I needed to reassure her that it’s not because of her, but it’s just something else I needed to figure out. Something I needed to sit down and think about, picking through all the details till I’m able to talk about it after reaching firm conclusion. Because to tell the truth, right now I don’t know what to say or do…about anything.

 

“Do you think you could take out the pizza when it’s done?” I ask Chantelle as I turn toward her, making sure I closed the oven door. “I think I’m going to head upstairs and go to bed. Get Mel to help when everything’s done, okay?"

 

With a simple nod and smile, I turn for the stairs. I didn’t know why I was going to bed so early. But ever sense I was with Aurora, I was starting to feel woozy and light headed. Even while making dinner I tried to keep up a façade for Chantelle so she didn’t think anything was up. But knowing her she could probably tell. She could always tell when something was off with me.

 

As I made my way up the stairs the feeling started to intensify. My head began to feel like a raging whirlpool as I swung side to side, trying to keep my balance. Thankfully no one was around; I didn’t want to cause alarm for anyone. But as I neared my room I could barely grip the doorknob and then open the door.

 

“Why am I getting so mane headaches?” I whisper, forcing myself to stay standing.

 

Once inside the pain got even worse as I reached toward my head, willing my body to make it to the bed so I could collapse on it and not the floor to hopefully stop the swirling. And once I was finally on the bed, I gripped my head with both hands, wishing the unbearable pain would stop. But it just got worse and worse as I lay there, reaching an almost inhuman level of pain.

 

I wanted to scream, to wish the pain would just stop and disappear. But I just grabbed the pillow and bit down hard, waiting for it all to subside and my head to feel normal again. And just when I think it’s about to stop, that the pounding will go away and it’ll all return to normal, it spikes up to a point where I can’t handle it anymore, and I end up blacking out.