It was no more of a dark dismal morning than it was 3 weeks ago. Alania woke up, her head pounding with resent. It was his birthday today. He would've been 13.

She couldn't bring herself to get up. She lay there, as if she was lifeless. Just lay. Staring at the ceiling above, with nothing else to do. She carefully examined each and every crack in the stone for the 4th time this week. The same monotonous tones of grey. The same slightly darker shade of cement, holding the stone together. The same planks of wood, in an odd colour, that she couldn't quite describe, surrounding each and every corner and edge of her room. The same holes in the same place as they had been every other time this week. Everything was the same. The same as it always had been. But it didn't feel that way. Not one bit. Not at all. 

It was the first time. The first time that they couldn't celebrate his birthday together. She wasn't likely to take it well, but maybe. Just maybe she would have felt just an ounce less guilt if it hadn't been a milestone. She may have felt a bit better had it been his 10th, or his 14th, even his 31st. But 13th... It was the day he would have turned a teenager. It was a big day for him. And she wasn't handling it well. 

There was one thing that was different this morning, that hadn't been there yesterday, or for a long time. One thing that caught her attention, out of everything else. One, singular thing. The smell of freshly baked pastries, coming from downstairs. She could smell the sweetness of the icing poured on top, the tartness of the fruit jam inside. She was curious. Blainey had left, just over a week ago, due to family issues.

Who was cooking?

It couldn't be Nathaniel. No matter how many times he tries to cook, it never gets better. Which is quite sad. Because he has cooked every day for the past 3 months.

This curiosity brought her enough strength to get up. She put some clothes on, didn't think about what they were. It ended up an old t-shirt and tatty jeans. She wasn't brothered about shoes. Over 16 years of living in a house with stone floors, she got used to the cold. And didn't care what Nathaniel thought of her clothes. This was the one morning since that she was actually excited to get downstairs. She had a purpose. A mission. Something to figure out.

'Was it Nathaniel?' She thought. 'He's normally up this early, so it's possible. No his cooking is terrible, there's no way it would smell even somewhat good.' she sighed.

She was overthinking it. Hoping for the best when the best was near impossible. She was setting herself up to be disappointed.

'Maybe Blainey had come back from her family emergency, yeah.. that sounds about right. She probably came back last night, and she didn't tell anyone because she didn't want to wake us.' This was the one thing she had come up with that she thought sounded possible.

She was eagerly walking through the halls, admiring the many photos that her mother and father had placed along them. Showing the progression of their family. The oldest one being of Alania and Nathaniel, playing outside in the paddling pool on a sunny day. Her father had made a great effort to cut Astoria out of the photograph, by folding the picture and hiding the back underneath. He had tried, but you could still see her blue fingernails in the corner of the photograph. Many of them were like that, joyous family moments that they shared with their mother folded out of it. One showing them playing with what looked like a pink beachball, another showing them on Nicholas’ first day of school. Another on Nathaniel’s last. All with Astoria cropped out. The only one on the entire wall that was different was a family photo, taken on Nicholas’ 4^th birthday. It was a grey backgrounded photo, with all 5 of them on. Their father on the left of the phot, his grey curly locks gelled back and he had decided to grow out his beard that year, so he had combed it through. Next to him was Alania, her dusty brown hair had been curled, as she revealed her smile to the camera. Then it was Nathaniel, his hair hitting Nicholas in the face as he held him, making the photo look more homely. Finally Astroria, her beauty was astonishing. Some rumours spread around the settlement that all people needed to do to cure illnesses was to look at her, which gained her the nickname, Rapunzel. Her blonde hair flowed far beneath her waist, with her blue eyes staring straight at the camera. Quite controversial, as all the males in the family had ash eyes, and the females had blue. She was wearing her best dress, a magenta colour with a belt around the waist.

She came to the old wooden door of the kitchen. It was large, larger than most other doors, at least twice the size of Nia. There were iron bolts, all over the door. In sort of a snowflake pattern. One line both horizontal and vertical, and two diagonal. She stared at the handle. She was nervous to go in, but she had no idea why. What was this feeling? Why was she so apprehensive?

She got hold of the vast handle and pulled the door open. The door was heavier than any others in the house, so she had to pull with quite some force.

"Blainey? Is that y-"

She couldn't finish her sentence. She was stopped right in her tracks. Someone was stood there. Cooking, right where Blainey would usually stand. The person was about 5"8, way too wall to be her. They were hooded, with a black denim jacket on. It was short and scuffed, frayed towards the middle of it. There were patches sewn on the back, all from different settlements. From different places they had been. There had to have been at least 20. Impressive. 

She walked closer, they didn't appear to have heard her, walking in nor trying to talk to them. She could see her earphones, hanging out their ear. She could hear the music faintly playing as it flooded out them.

'I must've left them on the side last night. They must have picked them up because they got bored.'

She walked over, to tap them on the shoulder. To her surprise, they turned around before she could touch them. Her hand still hovering over their shoulder. Their dark hood was covering most of their head, but Nia could faintly make out the blonde curls underneath. He was a boy, a young boy, chiselled jawline, light freckles. The jeans he was wearing being far too big for his figure, ripped and frayed around the knee. His T-shirt had a pattern on the front, but wasn’t easily made out because of the jacket over the top. His shoes were scruffy, mainly due to the fadedness and the soles peeling away underneath. But there was one thing, one thing that stood out amongst all the others. One thing which made her panic. Ash coloured eyes. 

She let out a sound, quite difficult to describe. Too loud to be a yelp, too quiet to be a scream. She didn't know what else to do. Was it his spirit coming to haunt her? Was it death coming to torment her? 'What was happening?' She thought. 'This can't be happening! This isn't real. This ISNT REAL!'

"Hey?" He touched her shoulder, his dark brown eyes stared at her. "What's wrong? Are you ok?" 

His voice was calming, as if a Saint was speaking directly to her. Pretty much the opposite of what she thought to begin with. He snapped her out of it, it was a bad day for her in general today. She was probably just worked up over it. Right?

"Um.. yeah. I- I'm sorry I-." Nia replied. She couldn't finish her sentence. Her mind was racing and her heart along with it. Breathing frantically, she glanced around. She didn't know what to do. What was happening to her? Was she going crazy? What was wrong?

"Hey. Look at me? Sit down a minute." The boy pulled out a stool from underneath the counter and she sat down on it. He crouched down so that she was on eye level with him.

"Ok... now. Put your hand here, and take 3 deep breaths with me ok?" He put her hand upon her abdomen and pushed it against her skin. "In... and out... Do you feel better?"

"Yeah... Yeah I guess so. Thank you."

"You sure? You look like you have seen a ghost" he chuckled, his voice was full, and reassuring. His hair was a chestnut colour, with loose curls beneath his hood. His hair was semi-long. His freckles were more prominent than she originally thought, mainly around his nose. He had a scar running though his eyebrow, which from far away, you would just recognize as a slit. It was only very small, but noticeable up close.

"Haha, I guess you could say that.." Nia said. She didn't know what was happening. She just looked at the dark pools in his eyes, getting lost in the depths. Until Nathaniel came rushing though the large oak doors.

"Hey! What's wrong? I heard screaming!" A bit less than screaming, but that’s how he interpreted it. He was genuinely concerned, sounding rather worried about the whole situation.

"Umm... I'm ok. I just jumped. That was all. I wasn't expecting anyone... new... in the house." Nia reached for the back of her neck. She was embarrassed. I mean, she thought it would have been her brother in the kitchen, or her nurse of 17 years. Not a complete stranger.

"Oh... Ok. Sorry about that. Well, I guess introductions are in order. Umm... Nia, this is-"

"Marcus Collier. Pleasure to meet you." He held his hand out for her to shake. She was reluctant at first, but eventually gave in and shook it. She didn't want to seem awkward in front of someone new.

"Marcus, this is my sister. Alania."

"Alania Canmore. You can call me Nia." She smiled, for the first time in a long time.

"Ok then Nia," he smiled back at her.

"Anyway. Marcus what are you doing here?" She asked curiously. After all, this boy had shown up at her house and started baking pastries. What else was she meant to ask?

"I-"

"Marcus!" Nathaniel said as he interrupted him. It was obvious he was trying to hide something. "Is here for something you will find out about later. At dinner. I promise you will love it. Ok?"

"Do I have to wait that long?" She already knew the answer, but the firm stare back was answer enough even if she didn't know it.

"Fine." She smiled at the both of them, and then turned around to leave.