I hadn't told Kimi about me leaving for college yet. 

It's been a whole week since she started camp and I've had plenty of opportunities to talk to her. She follows the same daily routine. She goes to camp every morning, not without at least waving goodbye to me from across the street. Returns in the afternoon. Has a snack at her house, sometimes in mine. Then we walk over to the neighborhood park to play around. She tells me all about her day at summer camp on our way there and back. 

Any of those walks could have been a great moment, but I wasted every single one. Not this time, though. I had to tell her, at any given chance.

Knock, knock, knock. The front door.

I looked up from the bowl of pancake batter I was preparing to see the hour at the clock in the kitchen. 7:25am. Still in my pijamas I walked to the front door and the sides of my head started drumming. I pressed my fingers in circles on my temples. My heart skipped a beat before I opened the door.

My eyes landed on Kimi and a smile automatically tugged at the corners of my lips. Then I saw her holding someone's hand.

"Good morning to you, Kerri-Ann," his voice was deep and velvety.

"Rohan. Good morning to you too," my smile faltered. Something about his presence always disturbed me and I couldn't understand it.

"It's great to see you," he said. Did i just see his eyes quickly shift to look me down or did I imagine it?

"Sure thing. How are you doing?" I said focusing my gaze back to Kimi.

Adorable as ever with a pair of pink leggings and her white summer camp tee, she hopped in place with a huge smile.

"Good! I wanted to see you before Rohan takes me to camp," said Kimi.

"OH? Is that so?" I looked over to him and he smiled, nodding.

"You girls are inseparable," he pointed out.

"Yup!" Kimi and I both responded to his comment at the same time.

"Kerri who's at the door?" I heard my Mom call as she came down the stairs.

Opening the door even more I said, "It's Rohan and Kimi."

"Ah, good morning! Why don't you come in for a cup of coffee," my Mom invited.

"No, that's alright. We don't want to intrude," Rohan said trying to excuse himself.

"Nonsense. Come right in." Of course Mom wouldn't give up.

I stepped aside for them to come in. Kimi let go of Rohan's hand and found mine instead and he walked straight into the kitchen where my Mom had disappeared into. A waft of his musky cologne slapped me right in the nostrils and I had to wiggle my nose so I wouldn't sneeze.

"Did you have breakfast?" I looked down and asked Kimi.

She nodded, "Rohan made pancakes."

"No way. I was going to make pancakes too!" I said smiling

We giggled as we went into the living room and threw ourselves on the couch. Kimi started telling me about some event that was happening that day at camp. I listened carefully exaggerating some of my reactions to see her pleased expression. My ears tried catching on what Rohan and my Mom could have been talking about in the kitchen, but I couldn't hear anything. That's when I remembered...

"Hey, Kimi," I said and she paused to look at me. "There's something I need to tell you about."

"What is it?"

"It's about the end of summer. I'm going to--" I was beginning to explain when Mom came out of th kitchen with Rohan following close behind.

"Kerri, sweetheart, Kimi needs to get going now." Mom said.

"Of course," I agreed, feeling a bit disappointed because I didn't manage to speak to her.

We got up and we all walked to the front door where Mom and I waved goodbye to them. Kimi blew us a kiss with her little hand before smiling and running across the street with Rohan. Watching them get in the pickup truck and leave I felt a pang in my chest.

"Did you tell her about leaving?" Mom asked.

"Is everyone really so concerned about this? Geez." I responded annoyed and turned to see my Mom raise an eyebrow about my tone. "Sorry. I just haven't found the right moment."

"I know you two are going to miss each other, but the sooner you let her know about it, the sooner she can be emotionally prepared for having you away for a while," my mother, the ever-so-patient, held me close as she spoke and led me inside to the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast.

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The hours went by slower than any other summer day. My energy had been pretty low after Kimi left. I felt so bummed out. Still I did my best to keep myself distracted, did a few things around the house, even offered to cook dinner for my parents. Kimi hadn't come to play today.

As I was stirring some sauce into the meatballs I was cooking, my phone rang in my back pocket.

"Hello?" I answered putting it between my shoulder and ear so I could keep my hands working.

"Kerri. Hey," Paxton's voice came from the other side.

"Hey, Pax. How's it going? How did the second date with Layla go?" I asked.

A nervous chuckle came from him, "About that... yeah, she's not my type."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. But it's cool. I'd rather stay single, you know. Not that I don't want to have a girlfriend. If the right one would come around I'd totally go for it. It's just she's not... it."

"Okay, you," I laughed. "You'll have no problem finding someone soon. I'm sure."

"Right..." he said, pensive. "Anyways. I was actually calling because of something I saw on the news."

"Oh, yeah? What is it?" I put a lid on the meat and rounded the counter to sit on a stool.

"There was a fire at SVC," his words made me shiver.

"What...?" my voice barely came out a whisper.

"Sunshine Valley Center, yeah. But apparently it wasn't a big deal and it's under control."

Sunshine Valley Center was where Kimi's summer camp was being held. It's a huge community center with sports areas including a big pool. Even I would go to summer camps there when I was a kid. I went cold and panic started creeping up from the tips of my toes.

"Kerri? Did you hear me?" Paxton brought me back to focus.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I said I just called to ask if you knew if Kimi is alright."

"I-- I-- don't know, Pax. I guess so. If not, I would've--" I hastily walked out of the kitchen towards the living room where my Dad was watching tv. Or at least he was before I started cooking, but instead I found him opening the door to a disheveled Marjorie, Rohan with an arm around her shoulders. His eyes red rimmed and she was sniffling, tears rolling down her cheeks.

My jaw fell loose. The cold crept up to my head. A tingling began at the tips of my fingertips, my heart hammering in my chest. I tried to formulate words, but I couldn't.

"KERRI. KERRI-ANN. HELLO?" Pax was screaming on the phone, but I heard his voice like a muted speaker.

The phone almost fell from my hands as I felt my surroundings move in slow motion. My mother ran past me in a blur, straight towards Marjorie. She pulled her in a hug and they walked together towards the couch. My Dad patted Rohan on the shoulders.

I could hear Mom asking Marjorie what was going on. Their voices felt so far away. Questions wildly ran through my head, but the biggest one was: WHERE IS KIMI?

Marjorie answered to my mother through sobs as if she knew what I was thinking.

"She's gone, Cassey. My baby is gone."

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Thank you for reading!
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