I looked down at myself and sighed. "I don't know what to do." I muttered to myself as Emma opened the door to the room. My sister looked at me and sighed before walking over to me and embracing me in a large bear hug. "We'll find him." she said. "No... we can't. It's been too long." I stated and earned a soft gasp from my sister. "Ashley, we can't lose hope. We've gotten too far to give up." she said. "What about you guys? You've already given up." I snapped at her. Emma's eyes widened at me and then a saddened expression appeared on her face. She sighed and then turned and left the room without saying another word. I slumped down on my bed and then slowly fell asleep.

The next morning, I slowly woke up and groggily walked out of my room and down the steps. I then walked into the kitchen and poured myself a bowl of cereal that I probably wouldn't even touch. Maddie walked to the table and sat down next to me. "Hey, you doing any better today?" she asked, the tone of her voice was soft. "No, probably worse to be honest." I stated as I looked over to her. Maddie sighed before hugging me a bit. "What is it with you and Emma today? You guys keep hugging me." I asked a bit bitterly. Maddie sighed and looked at me once again. "You're going through a rough time. Stuff like this is known to help in the long term recovery." she said. "Whatever. Leave me alone." I snapped at her. I heard Maddie get up before walking out of the kitchen.

    I walked through the streets of town, glaring at everyone. I hated the world for taking Ashton, and my happiness. A few people stepped back, but others didn't seem to care. I then went into a shop and looked around. I could see the clerk looking at me out of the corner of my eye. I rolled my eyes and then kept looking for stuff that I could just spend money on. I didn't have a lot, but I had enough. I then found something and walked up to the register. The clerk smiled at me. "Hello, how are you?" he asked. I stayed silent and just slid the notebook I had gotten towards him. He rang it up and slid it back towards me. "That'll be $9.57." he said. I gave him a ten and he gave me 43 cents back. He then handed me the receipt and I grabbed it and the notebook and walked out without saying a word.

    After getting back home, I walked into my room and opened the notebook. I grabbed a pencil from the top of my desk before I started writing in it.

   An hour of writing later, I'd filled three pages of sorrowful and hateful words. Front and back. I then closed the book and set it down on my dresser before walking back downstairs and getting food from the fridge. Emma and Maddie were sitting at the table and they then looked at me. "What?" I asked as I looked back at them. "Nothing, we were just wondering how you were feeling." my sister stated softly. I sighed before turning my whole body around. "How do you think I'm doing?" I asked bitterly before closing the fridge and walking back up the stairs.