I met Samantha at her car in the parking lot. Club today hadn't been too interesting. Our advisor, Mr. Mekentric, the chemistry teacher, had decided that instead of our usual time programing our robots that were were making, we would work on coding a set of data that he had given us. A Simple task that I finished in a record breaking 5 min. I spent the rest of the hour re-reading the book on coding that he had given me for when I finished early. I was never happier to see Sam's Subaru parked outside the school in the parking lot across the street. I got into the car and Sam greeted me in her singsong voice.

    "How was school today?" She asked me.

    "Good." I said. like any other teenager would say when their parents asks them how their day was. It's such a stereotypical thing to ask.

    "That's great sweetheart." She started the car, so we were soon off cruising down the street towards the CB coffee shop. We spent the drive in silence, mostly because neither of us could find a topic that we both would enjoy.

    Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the CB coffee shop in the suburbs of Baltimore. The CB in CB coffee shop stands for coffee bean, which is the shop's official name, but I prefer to call it the CB coffee shop because it sounds cooler that way. Anyway, the shop was mostly empty because who besides the two of us would go out for coffee at 4 in the afternoon, but it was also empty because of the Starbucks across the street which happened to be full of people. We found a seat outside at a cover table near the edge of the enclosed patio. A waitress came to take our order. I ordered a large Iced Tea and a piece of coffee cake, which was my favorite kind of cake in the universe. Samantha only ordered a small Chai Tea Latte which she sipped carefully when the waitress came with our orders. I slowly nibbled at my coffee cake lost in memories of the times I spent in this shop.

    "So what's on your mind?" I looked up from my cake and stared almost blankly at Samantha who sat across from me.

    "Nothing really..." My answer trails into silence as I navigate through the torrent waters of my thoughts. Samantha's looked about the sparsely populated patio then finally sighed.

    "Your thinking about him aren't you." It took me a while to realize that that was what I was thinking about, and even longer to respond. I was thinking about him.

    "Yes, You know I always do when I come here." I had a bitter feeling in my chest that was mixed with swells of nostalgia.

    "True, you and your brother did use to come here together a lot after school."

    "Yah, When I was having a bad day, Frasier would take me here and buy me cake. Then he would take my writing homework and illustrate every sentence for me with his horrible stick man drawings on the back. That always made smile."

    "Your brother was nice wasn't he." Sam smiled at me. I smiled nostalgically at my cake. It was now almost halfway gone. I took a sip of my iced tea.

    "Yah, he was. I wish he were here with us." There was a long stretch of silence before out of her purse Sam pulled out the silver paper wrapped present she had tried to give me earlier.

     "This is something very important that your father wanted you to have today. He said he found it in a box of things that belonged to your brother. You should open it." She pushed the little box towards me. I let my fingers trail along the creased edges of the paper.

    "This was my brothers?" I pulled my hand back a little afraid. After he had disappeared I never dared to touch any of his things.

    "Open it Flora. that's why I brought you here."

    My fingers carefully unwrapped the paper. Underneath was a beat up, stained cardboard box. I opened the box and inside were 3 things; an index card folded in half, A silver key attached to a chain like the one used for military dog tags, and a necklace. I pulled the last thing out and examined it. On the chain was a pair of angel wings. I turned the charm around in my hand and on the backside a name was engraved there: Flora. Curious, I placed the necklace on the table and unfolded the card inside the box. I laughed when I saw the inside of the index card. on one side of the fold was a small cartoon of a bear in a field of what looked like white Clovers and Chrysanthemum's, and on the other side was two words: Be Careful.Another one of his jokes no dought. I placed the items back in the box. Sam had finished her latte by now and she stood up ready to leave. It wasn't dark yet, but off in the distance I could see the amber light of the sun dipping behind the skyscrapers of downtown Baltimore.

    Sam paid the waiter as she came to collect our dishes from our table, and we went home to where Max greeted us by jumping up and kissing our faces with his wet, slobbery tongue. I told him to sit so that he wouldn't cover my school uniform is his golden do hair, not that there wasn't already dog fur covering every inch of this house. I knelt and rubbed Max's neck, and his tail wagged happily. Max scampered off deeper into the house in the direction the Sam had went. I hung my blazer on it hook in the front entry way and went upstairs to change. I put the box sam had given my on my desk and my school bag on the back of the chair. It was late and I was doubtful that I would go anywhere else so I put on black sweat pants and a gray t-shirt with the words girl power written on the front. I undid my hair and brush out the tangle strands, and lay on my bed with a book and started to read. The book was called Jane Eyre, and it took all my concentration just to be able to understand what was happening. The old style english and big words made it challenging to read without total dedication. I was at the part where Jane was getting very mad at Mr. Rochester about... well I wont spoil the book. Anyway as I was reading and I kept hearing a fly buzzing around my ear. I swatted at it, but it just came back. The words of my book started to swim in my head and my concentration wander to the constant buzzing in my ear. Finally out of frustration I closed my book and threw it on my pillow. I layed on my back with my legs dangling off the end of the bed like a child sitting in a chair that was to tall for them, and stared at the ceiling. My thoughts wander from topic to topic as I ran through what had happened today. I thought about my walk this morning through the park. I had a nagging sensation in the back of my head as if I was forgetting something important. I rolled over and placed my head in my hands. My thoughts wandered again.

    I must have fallen asleep because before I knew it my room was dark, there was drool on my pillow (gross, I would have to wash that later) and I could hear Max barking and Samantha calling me to dinner. I yawned and stretched before heading downstairs for dinner. Tonight was spaghetti and meatballs, which just happened to be my favorite. The meatballs were the size of golfballs and I quickly devoured 4 of them before even touching my pasta. Even Max got a meatball mixed into his kibble which was a rare treat for him. Samantha had some of her kindergartners homework spread out across the table and she was grading them. It was funny to watch as she tried to avoid spilling her tomato sauce on the children's worksheets. Usually she didn't assign her student homework but for some reason she decided to give them number worksheets. After I finished, I put my dishes in the sink. Before I went back upstairs, Samantha pulled a cupcake out of the fridge. She sung happy birthday to me, and max howled and barked his way through the song surprisingly on key. Sam must have taught that to him. We all ate the cupcake together, excluding Max who couldn't eat the vanilla and chocolate swirled dessert; he got a bone instead.

     I finished and went upstairs after kissing Sam on the Cheek and thanking her. I brushed my teeth in the bathroom next door before returning to my room. I caught sight of the box lying on my desk. I don't know what possessed me, but I opened the box and put on the angel wing necklace. I usually didn't wear jewelry when I slept but this felt right. I never wanted to take if off because it felt like Fraser was here with me.

    After securing the necklace around my throat I layed down on my bed, but I didn't feel tired probably because of that nap I took earlier. I got up and I grabbed a blanket out of the closet where I kept 2 extra blanket for when it got cold, then sat on the bench under the window. I use to do this alot so my dad have put in the bench so I would have something to sit in. He may not be around all the time but he wasn't half bad, even if he did divorce my mom. I loved my mother dearly when I was little and I resented my dad for years over divorcing her. My mother would read stories to my brother and I even though Fraser insisted he was too old for them, and take us both to the park, which is where She had taken Fraser and I the day he disappeared 10 years ago today. After that my mother Esther had fought with my dad Collen all the time, and as soon as they were divorced, Esther left to live in Seattle with her parents, or so my dad tells me. I started to feel majorly depressed at the thought of my mom leaving me alone with my dad. I mean how would you feel if your role model left you with a father that was always leaving you by yourself. I tugged at a clump of my hair, I couldn't keeping thinking about the past, so I decided to think of happy things like... what Sky was planing. She wouldn't tell me today in the park, so I was left to my imagination.

    After awhile I looked over at my alarm clock which now read 10:32. It was getting late. No long after my phone buzzed from it charging station on my desk. Who would be calling at this hour? My curiosity won out over my laziness and I got up and checked my phone.

Skylar: u awake?

    I sighed, it was only Skylar. I unlocked my phone and opened the messenger.

Me: now I am. what's up?

Skylar: sorry 4 waking u up. I just needed to talk to u 'bout tomorrow.

Me: what about it?

    The little bubble you get when someone is typing appeared on skylar's side of the screen. The bubble continued to say that she was typing for 2 minutes, and that bubble could get seriously annoying if you had to stare at it for too long. She finally responded.

Skylar: make sure to keep your afternoon open for tomorrow. We're going to the Zoo. you can ask all the questions your hearts desires but you not going to change the fact that I'm not going to tell u why we're going to the zoo. night.

    I just stared at my phone, smiling in amusement. I told Sky goodnight, and went back to the bench. The only difference was that this time I was sort of drowsy, so it wasn't long before I fell asleep curled under the window.

                                                                         ...

    I opened my eyes drowsily, to the sound of something hitting my window. It was like a bird pecking at the glass pane or small pebbles. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked at my alarm clock. The clock said that it was 4 in the morning. I rolled off the bench and landed on the carpet with a small thud. It wasn't the most graceful thing you ever say, but I'm not a morning person and was seriously tired. I ran my fingers through my hair, the tapping had stopped but I decided to look out my window. I immediately grabbed my light blue knitted sweater that was draped across my desk chair. I barely buttoned the sweater before I quietly ran down the stairs. I tugged on a pair of converse not taking the time to tie the laces. I snuck the front door and standing their in the grass under my window, were two little kids.

    They both were boys and looked identical with brown hair and eyes. One was standing holding a few pebbles in his hand while using the other to pat his twin on the head. The other was crouched on the ground shivering.

    "It's ok Seth, we'll meet her soon."

    "But Zach,"

    "What are you two doing here so early in the morning? Are you lost?" I interrupted their conversation and the one curled on the ground looked up startled. He reached for the other boys shirt. He looked back at the boy sitting on the ground.

    "It's her Zach." The one standing must have been named Zach. The one sitting stood up and walked towards me.

    "Bonjour." He smiled cheerfully. I was momentarily stunned. Did he just speak in french. I swear that they were both speaking english before.

    "Umm, hello. C-could you tell me your names?" I stuttered out the question. Who were these children, their parents must be worried about them, and they're here.

    The one farther back bursted into action flying forward with bundles of energy. "Hi miss Flora, my name is Seth!" He burst out then grabbed my hand and grinned up at me. Startled I took a little step backward half an inch.

    "H-hello Seth." I crouched down so my eyes were level with the two boys. The other boy who had approached me earlier stood next Seth and bowed slightly.

    "Bonjour miss, my name's Zach." A little less taken aback this time, I smiled invitingly at the boy named Zach.

    " Do you happen to speak french Zach?" I asked. The little boy seth answered instead.

    "Zach speaks tons and tons of different languages." Seth said, exaggerating the word tons and making huge hand gestures. I looked from Seth to Zach, and Zach was smiling shyly. They are so cute. I shook my head, I had to figure out where they came from.

    "How old are you two, you look a little young to be playing outside at such an hour. Are you two brothers?" Little Seth exploded again.

    "Yah, were twins aren't we Zach?" Zach bobbed his head at his twin.

    "We're 7 years old." Zach said.

    "You're parents are probably looking for you. Can you tell me where you live and i'll take you home." The twin looked at each other with worried gazes.

    " umm, well..." Seth, or at least I thought it was seth, stalled. It was then I heard the footstep running down the street.

    " Zach, Seth, Where are you?"