When I got up this morning, the first thing I had to do was go to the kitchen. I wasn't sure why. I slept in Ain and T's room last night since T didn't feel good. She wore herself out again. There wasn't much I could do about that, but I wanted to be with her. Still, I had to go to the kitchen.

Recah was in there when I got there. She was at the table with her big, black, noisy thing and a mug of steaming drink. She put some fresh paper in her big, black, noisy thing before she got up. "Did you eat anything yesterday?"

"Ain made soup yesterday. I had a little bit before I went to bed."

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows. "When did you go to bed last night, sweetie?"

I put my hand over my pocket watch pocket. "Eight o'clock. I was tired yesterday."

"I don't blame you. That was a lot of excitement." She pulled out a chair. "Come sit. Have some breakfast before you go back to your siblings." She glanced at the door to the rest of the house. "Is your brother asleep?"

"I think so." I furrowed my eyebrows. "He didn't say anything when I got out of bed."

"I'll assume he is then." She put her big, black, noisy thing on the table by the door to the backyard. "Is there anything specific you want to eat?"

I shook my head. "Not very hungry."

"What about half a sandwich?" She got out some bread. "I want peanut butter and jelly even though I just ate."

"That's good," I said.

I ate half the sandwich Recah gave me. It was good. I started coughing after I finished it, though. That wasn't fun.

Recah put a cup of water in front of me.

I drank some of it when I got a break.

Recah rubbed my back. "You feel better, bud?"

"Okay."

Noah came into the kitchen. "Hey."

Recah raised an eyebrow.

"Duke let me in." His face got red. "Hannah asked me to bring his brother something."

"Oh?" Recah put her sandwich down. "What is it?"

"She didn't tell me..."

I got up.

"Do you know where your brother is?" Recah asked me.

I nodded, so Noah followed me. Unless he woke up, Ain should still be in his and T's room.

Ain came out of his room right when we got close to his door. "Hey, Noah."

Noah pulled a little bottle out of his bag. "Hannah asked me to give you this."

"Did she tell you what it was for?"

"No idea!"

Ain smiled. "Don't worry about it. Did she want you to just run this by?"

"No. Don't think she would have asked me to do this if I had anything to do."

"Did you want to stay for a while?"

I looked at Ain.

He came and whispered in my ear, "Go get some fresh air. I can keep an eye on T."

"We can do whatever you want, bud," Noah said.

I really did want to hang out with Noah, but I was worried about T. This happened before, but it was still scary. I wanted her to wake up, but I knew it was gonna be a while before that happened. I wished I could do something for her...

"Fresh air will help."

"If you wanna go outside, you should probably grab a jacket." Noah turned his head. "I didn't and I really should have..."

I felt hot. It'd be good to go outside, I guess, if it was cold.

"I think Eni's jackets should fit you if you wanna borrow one."

Noah said thanks.

After we got jackets out of my closet, Noah and I went into the backyard. I didn't really want to leave the house with T still sleeping like she was...

"Did something happen?" Noah sat on the edge of this fountain. "You don't have tell me if you don't want to."

"We went to look for Ain's friend yesterday." I wanted to stick my hand in the fountain but decided not to. "We had to make a bad person go away. T's been sleeping ever since we got back."

Noah put one of his hands on mine. "It's scary to see her like that, huh?"

I nodded. "Ain thinks she'll wake up soon, but it's still scary..."

"Everybody feels like that, sometimes." Noah looked up at the sky. "I don't like it when my brothers and sisters don't feel good, either."

"What did you give Ain, anyway?" I asked.

Noah laughed. "No clue. Hannah wouldn't tell me. She just said she got it from her friend Ethan."

"Ethan?"

"Someone Hannah has known a long time. She hasn't seen him in a while, though."

I felt weird. It felt like my insides had a heater in them.

"You're not cold, are you?" Noah asked.

"Okay."

I wished I had my sketchbook with me. I wanted to draw something. I wanted to get it out of my head.

"Be right back," I said.

I came back to Noah after I got my sketchbook and colored pencils. I still wanted to be outside.

It was like Kayleigh took hold of my hand. The sky was all cloudy. The clouds were gray. I got this feeling the clouds were in pain.

The ground looked like someone had just been burning a fire there. There was a breeze, but the stubborn clouds wouldn't go away. The breeze might not have been helping the clouds.

There was a tree in the corner, and it had little flecks of fire on its trunk. It looked like it was hurt from the fire.

Overall, you couldn't see the place very good. It was sort of a gray place. The greens and browns were really dull.

Noah peaked over my shoulder after I was done. "Wow, bud. That looks amazing." He had a hand in his pocket. "Can I take a picture of it?"

I tilted my head.

"I'm not sure if you've met him before... Star has a friend called Cole, and he's an artist."

"An artist?"

"Yeah." Noah smiled. "He makes paintings and things like that. He keeps some of them for himself, he sells paintings, too. People like to give him money for them."

I handed him my sketchbook.

Noah took a picture of it with his phone. "I really think Cole is gonna like your picture."

My cheeks got extra hot. "I wanna go back to Ain and T..."

"Okay."

I started coughing again. That wasn't fun...

Noah gave me a pat on the back.

"Okay."

"Maybe you should put on your jacket?"

"I'm okay."

Everything would be okay once I got back to Ain and T. I just wanted my big brother and sister.

***

Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!