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       Waking up to the sound of something scratching at the window, the early chorus of morning just as the day is beginning, Adelinde groaned and pulled her pillow over her head. She'd grown up in this house and had been woken up by birds nesting on window sills, by overgrown branches of trees tap-tap-tapping on panes. She used to be able to ignore it and go back to sleep, but it had been a while since then. She didn't worry about those things in her modern apartment building with no trees growing near the building and little spikes outside of every window to keep birds from sills.
   The scratching got more intense. The watery sunlight bled through the thin lace curtains and the small shadow of something caught Adelinde's sleep-heavy gaze. Something flicked from one side of the sill to the other, the shape pacing now that it had taken a break from its scratching. Curiosity overtook Adelinde's thoughts as she gingerly got out of the bed, a creak beneath foot making her nearly fall back into her sheets. The floorboard caught the...thing's attention and it stopped pacing, resuming its scratching and yowling.
   A cat? Why was there some cat on her window sill?
   Tying back her hair with an elastic she'd left on her wrist all night, Adelinde approached the window to get a look at the cat, squinting as the light stung her eyes. She didn't want to shoo it if it was hurt, but she guessed it was a house cat. Why else would it be trying to get into her house? It might have been lost.
   "Where did you go?" she muttered tiredly as she drew back the curtain to find the window sill empty. Or so she thought. Regrettably, Adelinde opened the window, not seeing the grey shadowy mass of a furry demon on the roof below it.
   The cat pounced up onto the window sill, startling Adelinde enough to take a step back, and it proceeded to make itself welcome in her room. The grey thing wandered around her feet, its large puffy tail swaying as it meowed up at her.
   "No, out, this isn't your home," she said to the thing, more awake than she had been initially. The cat had a collar around its thickly furred neck, a stark yellow against the smokey grey, so she knew it was someone's pet. But not hers and not her family's. "Stop rubbing against me, you're soaking."
   The rain had stopped but the cat's fur had soaked up the rain that had collected on the roof tiles. She could already smell the dampness.
   However, the cat didn't listen to her. It just made its way further into the room, hopping up on the bed that she'd just been sleeping in. "Get off!" she shouted at the feline intruder, only to be hissed at in return. She had never been a cat person, she wasn't really what you would call a pet person either, so this wasn't something she had experience in. She'd never had a cat decide that her house was its house. "Off, now," she told the ball of damp fur, but it didn't listen to her.
   When she made a swipe for it, however, it bounded off of the bed and scurried underneath. With a groan of frustration, Adelinde got down on her knees to try and coax it out. "Come on, come out," she tried with a softer more sing songish voice. The cat hissed again, curling more into the wall. She could see its hackles rising. "I'm sorry for shouting. You surprised me. How about you come here and I'll find your owners," she bargained as she made the mistake of reaching for it.
   Its talons caught the back of her hand, scratching her skin decently, as it hissed one more time. Adelinde's shoulder hit the base of the bed as she tried to get out.
   "That fucking hurt," she grumbled, the back of her hand already coming up in red welps. Blood slowly rose to the surface of the scratches and she knew, without a doubt, she was going to kill this stupid cat.
   "Adelinde?" a voice called from the hallway. Her sister, her voice was unmistakably shrill this early in the morning.
   When the door flung open, the cat darted out and Astoria just missed standing on it. In the doorway, a shocked blonde stood staring at Adelinde, a mug of steaming liquid in one hand and a cellphone in the other.
   "Stop that cat!" Adelinde told Astoria, but she only looked at Adelinde like she was insane. "It had to be feral. Get it before it gets into Lottie's─"
   "Fizzgig is our cat and adores Lottie," Astoria interrupted her sister, her eyes returning to the phone in her hand, briefly before meeting Adelinde's. "Didn't I tell you? Oh well. Hey, what time do you call this?"
   "What?"
   The shock of the cat, her sister letting it loose in the house, and how nonchalantly she was being greeted, Adelinde had to take a second to wrap her around what had just happened. Ten minutes and already, she missed her quiet apartment.
   "It's 08:30, so you might want to come down for breakfast," Astoria answered her own question. Adelinde suspected that she was being sarcastic, given what time she'd gotten in the night before. But if it was 08:30, Adelinde should have already been awake. Her alarm hadn't sounded. "Oh and also, mind your language. There are sensitive ears around."
   "Your ears have heard much worse," quipped Adelinde as she fished a pair of socks from her overnight bag and pulled them on. "In fact, you've probably said much, much worse, Story."
   Astoria had a tendency to be loud and unapologetic with her words. She said whatever came to her mind, regardless of the situation or who was there to hear it. Yet, it wasn't the first time that she'd scolded her sister for cursing.

       Adelinde and Astoria were as different as two sisters could be. From personalities, to hobbies, to interests, and right down to their physical appearance. Adelinde had their father's eyes and hair, light amber eyes with dark brown hair. Astoria had their mother's eyes and hair, bright green eyes with honey blonde hair.
   Adelinde had always been jealous of her sister's outgoing and loud personality. She made friends so easily and gained a lot of attention from boys. As a teenager, that was one of the biggest injustices she could think of. Things just came so easy to Story, effortlessly popular and liked, and pretty. There's a four year age gap between the two, so they never ran in the same circles, but no matter what, every person that Adelinde tried to associate with knew of and was more interested in Story.
   Story, on the other hand, would never admit that she harbored some resentment toward her little sister's more subdued and quiet teenage life. It was a little unfair, and she knew that, because she was the way that she was because of a trauma no one else in their family or town could sympathize with. And yet, it caused strain on their sistership, their friendship that had been minimal to begin with, but was supposed to get stronger as they got older.
   Story had always imagined that when Adelinde got into her mid teenage years, when she started high school and boys became all she could think about, that she'd come to her and she'd get to be the big sister she'd been so excited to be when she found out she was going to have a little sister. But as she graduated high school and Adelinde entered high school, she never came to her for advice on boys, clothes or makeup. She never let on if there were girls giving her a hard time, and there was, there always was. Story's imagined friendship was never achieved. She'd never say it out loud, but she hated Adelinde for taking that away from her.

       The backdoor that led onto the backyard patio was open wide and growing warm sunlight washed over the kitchen, and right in the center of it, the fuzzy beast that had rudely woken Adelinde up was bathing in it, lying on its back with its legs splayed out. Fizzgig didn't so much as move as Astoria walked over to him and scratched his turned up belly.
   On the back patio, there was a table set with four breakfast plates, three mugs and four glasses, and a large patio umbrella sat in the center. There were four chairs, two of them taken up by Adelinde's mother and niece and the other two were pulled out. They must have been her father's and Astoria's. There was a high chair sitting to the side of her mother's, where Lottie should have been sitting. There were even eggs and toast on the little tray but Adelinde could already tell that her niece had convinced her Nanna to take her out.
   "Morning," Adelinde greeted her mom, her golden blonde hair already styled and her face prepped with makeup. She was ready for the day and it shouldn't have been a surprise, since she and her husband had been getting up at 06:00 am every morning since Adelinde's childhood.
   "Morning, darlings."
   Breakfast in the Crane House always involved small talk, usually dabbed with a smidgen disappointment in one's life choices. Vivia, Adelinde's mother, was quick to ask her daughters what their plans were for the day. Adelinde was just waiting for the funeral to be brought up. No doubt, her mother was going to be covering the floral arrangements, seeing as she was a florist and God forbid Vivia Crane not lend a hand to someone in their time of need. Having no plans would not work for her, she'd be roped into helping with that.
   "Adelinde's taking Lottie into town," announced Story, smiling between her daughter, jam smeared across her cheeks and already in her hair, and her sister. "I've got some things I have to do and can't have little miss underfoot."
   "I am? When was this decided?" Of course it was decided for her. It wasn't as much of a save as Adelinde would have liked. Whether she had plans or not, Lottie was going to be her responsibility.
   Typical Astoria.
   "Oh, come on, you haven't seen her in such a long time and baby girl missed you. You'll have buckets of fun." Even if Adelinde told her no, Lottie had already heard that Auntie was looking after her for the day. And it was a well known fact that Adelinde's heart would break into pieces if she disappointed her niece. She had to agree to it now.
   "I guess I'm taking Lottie into town," confirmed Adelinde, nodding to her mother, who now had the little one sitting on her knee. "Where's dad?" she asked, picking up a cup of coffee and hoping it was strong enough to chase the sleeplessness away.
   "Oh, you know your father," was all Vivia said, pointing toward the archway of green that acted as the entry point for the rest of the backyard.

       Although Vivia was the florist, her husband was the one who did most of the tending to of their property. Wynston Crane in all of his glory was always wiping dirt from his hands or his brow or his knees. He'd recently retired so had more time on his hands.
   The statement was all Vivia had to say to her daughter, because Adelinde did know her father. He was her hero growing up, and hadn't stopped being so, just because she was an adult and living by herself. Whenever he had free time, he would be out tending to the flowerbeds, even if they had someone who came to do those things for them. He would probably be fixing up any damage that had been caused by the rainfall the previous night.
   She'd have to wait until later to see him.

       Breakfast wrapped up quickly. Lottie helped Adelinde with her eggs, eating most of them. It was fine. Adelinde wasn't a breakfast type of person. She usually skipped it to get to work.
   Astoria assured Adelinde she'd make sure Lottie was dressed and ready to go, giving Adelinde time to call and make the necessary extensions to her time off. Helen hadn't been in the office, however, she didn't have to jump through hoops to clear the situation up. The person she spoke to must have been new─he was definitely someone she'd never met before─and at the mention of her being away to attend a funeral, he told her that he'd sort the extension and she had nothing to worry about.
   It seemed too easy, but the easier, the better.
   She hadn't thought to ask about the person who had passed, her mind on what to say when she called work. Astoria just waved her off when she asked after her phone call. She didn't want to discuss it around Lottie, stating that she was too young to understand but it would still upset her.
   Perhaps it was an extended family member? Adelinde would find out in town.

       Much to Astoria's promise, Lottie was dressed and all set by the time that Adelinde was ready to go. She'd put her in the cutest little sundress and matching sunhat, with a pair of gummy glittery sandals. They made Adelinde think of her pre-teen years when shoes like that were all the rage and she'd begged her mom for a pair.
Thankfully, the sundress was a bright yellow with lemons and little white flowers on it, so Lottie wouldn't be hard to miss at the play park. Adelinde had to remind Astoria to put some sunblock on the little girl, slyly sliding it into the bag that she'd been given with diapers, wet wipes, a change of clothes and some snacks. The last thing to be handed to Adelinde was a neon pink water bottle with a sippy straw, filled to the brim with chilled water and plastic ice cubes floating at the top.
   Lottie put her little bag on her back, a little bumblebee shaped thing with a leash attached so that the adult could hold it and walk the child like a dog. Adelinde didn't want to walk her niece like a dog, but Lottie put the handle in her hand and smiled a big toothy grin up at her.
   Slipping it around her wrist, she offered the toddler her hand instead. "Come on, Pumpkin."