“There you are. We have a visitor, why don’t you go spend some time in your new room.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but I couldn’t get a word in.

“Now!” I turned, rolled my eyes, and sped up the stairs.

I immediately stopped in Peter’s room. He was sitting on his bed playing PSP. I wanted to tell him about Ben and Leila, but knew that if I did, they would then find out that I knew. So it had to stay with me. I slipped out of Peter’s room without speaking a word, and slipped into Kelly’s.

She was arranging her American Girl dolls in the corner of her room. I approached her, and started to speak.

“Hey Kells? Why don’t you go downstairs and give Ben a message.”

“What kind of message?” She asked.

I walked over to her desk, rustling through the papers until I found a sticky note pad. Pulling off the first pink not, I scribbled “I’m onto you.” I smiled as I looked at the message. I wanted them to know that this was war. I pushed the note onto Kelly’s forehead. She laughed, as if this was a game.

“Now just go walk downstairs to Ben, okay?”

“Okay!” She said in a chipper tone, and hopped out of her room. I heard her tiny feet stomping down the stairs. The silence elapsed.

I sat down on her bed, waiting to see what would happen. There was a mirror on her desk, and I walked over to it. My dark brown, layered hair dropped over my shoulders. I tugged at the ends, wishing I had longer hair, like Mom used to. I didn’t wear much make-up; I wasn’t into that sort of thing. Just eyeliner, and on special occasions a little eye shadow. I straightened my back, trying to be as tall as possible. I would now and forever be 5’4”. I was poking at the freckle on my face where I heard the thud of Kelly jumping into the room. Before I turned around I could hear her giggling. As I managed to catch a glimpse of her jumpy figure, I saw a note.

“We’re onto you, too.”

I laughed. “Give it time. They’ll come around.”

She sighed. “When are we going to tell them? At least Peter and Lacey, I mean.”
“If I have my way, then never.” I firmly stated.

“And of course you have no legitimate reason…”
“It’s too dangerous. They could get in so much trouble if something happened. Besides, they wouldn’t understand.”  I said, frustrated with the situation.
“And what about Lacey?”
“Lacey especially can’t know. We still haven’t figured out what she can do. Listen, we’ll just hang tight for the next couple of weeks, see how things shake out. And we’ve still got the work schedule to figure out. We can’t leave them unsupervised, too many things could happen.”

“I know, I know. I just think you should try talking to her. Get her on your good side. If she does find out, she might look at it the wrong way.” She replied.

“What do you mean?”

“How about breaking the law? I bet there’s a hell of a lot of people who think that’s wrong. And not to mention breaking people out of prison?”

Lacey’s POV: My knees started to shake. I was seated just behind the doorway of the kitchen. That was it. They were criminals, weren’t they? For a different country? This was just getting ridiculous. I figured they’d do something legit, like be super spies or, or prostitutes. This was bad. This was very bad. I was living with terrorists. Suddenly the importance of my quest to break them up intensified. And what else? They knew I could do something, which means they can’t read my mind either. And that’s why their office is private. They work for the government alright, just not ours.

Ben started to speak.

“Listen, everything is going to be fine! They won’t find out anything anytime soon. Just relax, okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m just a little stressed, that’s all.”
He smiled and wrapped her arms around her. I gently stepped backwards, avoiding any noise, and crept out the front door. I tried not to think about what I had heard. I had to focus on breaking up their marriage, nothing else. Anything illegal that they do is their own business. I shook myself out, and decided on what to do.

I wanted to get a feel of the grounds before I began to infiltrate them. I started at the circular driveway, poking at the plants and creeping on the statue, and began my trek. The front door of the estate was facing north, and if you were standing outside, you would see the east wing come off the left side, and the west wing off the right. I started by going around the east wing, so I walked to the left.

I snaked around the side of the building. It was pretty boring, except for windows and more plants. Finally, I reached the backyard. I was speechless. It was even more extravagant than the inside! There was a gazebo, a pool, a fountain and a deck and behind that were green rolling hills. I kept my excitement on a down level, because I knew they had fancied up their house just to impress us, like it was made out of gingerbread and candy. Only the devils weren’t trying to fatten us up and put us in an oven. (At least not yet.)

I skipped past the backyard, cleverly avoiding the windows that might reveal my existence, and scaled the other side of the house. When I had reached the end of the side and approached the front, I saw a long black limo idling in the driveway. I stopped dead in my tracks.

So that was the big advantage they had over us. See, people on our side had minds that could be breached, but both of the devils were immune. What does this mean to me? Any planning to break them would have to be sought out alone. This is unfortunate, because it also results in the fact that I can’t use Peter anymore. What a pity. He was so good at sneaking around.

Finally we got down to the kitchen, and found all of our siblings waiting for us. We silently took our seats. As Leila loaded the table, and Ben creeped in the room from his office, my mind wandered. I still couldn’t find the devils, so I invaded my siblings’ minds.

Kelly was ecstatic. She had almost completely forgotten about Nana and was excited to live with the devils. Emily was unsure; she was really down about losing Nana, but at the same time was happy about the new living conditions. I didn’t have to read Peter’s mind to see what was plainly written across his face. He was pissed. He didn’t want to live here, although he was mildly impressed with the house. He didn’t want to be around the devils, although he was content with the look of the food that was being pushed in front of him. (Basically, everything that I was feeling, except for the food part). For some reason, I wasn’t hungry.

Leila and Ben took their seats at the heads of the table. I stared down at my toes. I felt uncomfortable being only a seat away from Leila. She was still a stranger to me, more so than Ben. We started silently passing the food around. Er, there might have been talking, but I was so involved in my own thoughts that I wouldn’t have heard it anyway. I needed to think of a way to get out of this, to be able to move in with someone else, and forget about the devils.

We outnumbered them, but somehow they over powered us. I glanced up for a second, and saw something remarkable: Ben, smiling, looking across the table, and Leila, smiling back. That’s it! Their marriage! If they’re not together anymore, how can they be our guardians? Ben can’t raise four kids alone anyway, not with his job. This was perfect. Destroying a marriage? Sounds fun! All I had to do was find their weaknesses, the little parts about each other that they didn’t like, and bring them out! I could get the kids to help me with this one, as long as I don’t explain to them what we’re doing. So I could use Peter after all. This was going to be a kick ass summer.

This closet redefined “walk-in.” It was, like, a walk-in, and in, and in, and in closet. It was almost like another bedroom. On the right side was a long horizontal pole with hangers, and the left side were shelves and a shoe rack. I happily set to unloading my suitcases, my obsessive compulsive side coming out. I arranged my nice shirts by colors on the hangers, put my T-shirts on the shelves, and arranged my shoes by season. I stashed my suitcases in the end corner, in case I would need them sometime soon (Like if Ben and Leila mysteriously disappeared and we found someone else to live with…)

Ben called us downstairs shortly after I had finished unpacking. The house appeared to have two long hallways, one for the west wing, and one for the east. Peter and I were at the very end of the hallway for the east wing, with Emily and Kelly near the front. I had no idea where Ben and Leila’s room was, but I hoped it was very, very far away.

Peter and I met in the hallway. We both wandered downstairs, stuffing our hands in our pockets while trying to look like we didn’t give a shit. Confessing to being impressed would prove that we had submitted to the devils. I was planning a full frontal attack. I hadn’t exactly decided just what we would be attacking, but it was going to be good. As we all arrived downstairs, as if it was roll call, Ben started us with a “welcome speech.”

“Now I know no one here likes rules,” he started, glancing at me for a second, “but there are some things you should know. For now you guys aren’t allowed in our office, which is the first door in the east wing on the first floor. We just need our time in there to be private while working on stuff related to our jobs, nothing else. Also, we know that you guys like to be outdoors a lot, and we want you to know we have a colossal backyard that’s completely open to you. We just want to make sure that you guys don’t wander too far from the house, because you are new here. Well, I guess that’s it for rules. Anyone have any, um, questions?”
We all looked at each other. I started.

“Where do you work?”
“We work for the government.” Leila answered politely.

I nodded, silently analyzing what she had said. It wasn’t much of an answer.

I continued.

“Why does your office need to be private?”
Ben took this one. “Some details of our work are confidential.”
I smiled inside. They had practiced.

“When’s lunch?” Peter cut me off, using an eager tone.

Leila laughed. “Soon,” she said, “what do you all want?”

“Macaroni!” Kelly squealed.

“Pizza!” Emily shouted.

“Fried chicken!” Peter joked, excited that if they were to serve him chicken, he could act repulsed, seeing as he was a vegetarian.

“Human flesh.” I murmured quietly, to make sure the devils didn’t hear.

“Oh wait, that’s what you’re having.” I added almost silently.

This day was going to go by very, very slowly.

“Welcome to the Baker Estate.” Ben said, sounding very proud.

I pushed down my sunglasses. It was…the most amazing thing I had ever set sight on. The beige colored outer walls complimented the white lining and pillars, which stuck out in the front and middle of the mansion. In the center was a massage cylinder like structure that held the front door, multiple windows and two giant lamps. Sticking out from the center structure were two rectangular wings on either side. Both were lavished with balconies. The driveway was one of those circular ones, so when I squashed on top of Peter and peeked out his window, I saw a large statue/fountain combo, surrounded by plants and flowers.

We all ran out of the car. Instead of grabbing my bags like the rest of my siblings were, I ran into the house, panting for air. The door nearly loomed over me, and was embellished with lions, or tigers, or whatever they were, as knockers, with gold handles. I flew inside, past the maid, who stared at me questionably. The stair case curled from the edge of the wall all the way to the middle of the next floor, and had a double on the other side. On the stairs was scarlet red carpet, with gold flowers. Huge pieces of art surrounded the front room, including a giant vase, a spectacular painting the covered the ceiling, and a giant chandelier with a billion twinkling lights.

Gold and scarlet seemed to be the theme of the house, as it was the main scheme of every room that I managed to run through before the rest of my family and the Devils managed to enter. I slid back into front room, breathless, as I observed my other siblings gawking at the interior. Leila came in last, dragging one of my suitcases and my duffel bag. I noticed Ben holding the other, and then felt a tad bit foolish that I had been so awed at the house. Nevertheless, as upon my reentering the front room, my siblings took just a second before they dropped their bags and invaded the insides, running into every room they could see. Ben laughed and slid his arm around Leila’s waist, who both looked amused. I glared at them suspiciously, trying to picture Leila as a prostitute.

It could work.

I turned to watch Emily and Peter race up the two staircases that were symmetrical to each other and chuckled as they attempted to push each other down once they had met in the middle.  When everyone’s excitement wore off and they all returned to the front room for their bags, the battle of the bedrooms began.

Ben spoke.
“Now there are seven guest bedrooms, and there are four of you. It would be easier if you were all either in the west wing, or the east, but every bed room is openly available to you.”

Before he even finished his sentence we all raced up the stairs, running left and right. I searched on my own, looking for something that I’d been planning on. And there it was. Two rooms, connected by a door inside each of them was staring me in the face. I dropped my duffel bag into the first one, and ran back into the main hallway. I spotted Peter, standing, looking confused. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him down until we had reached the end of the hallway, and the two conjoined rooms.

“Here, take this one.” I squealed, animated that my idea was working.
“Why?”
“So we can easily confer at night.” I said quickly, tired with his slow mind.
“Huh?”

“Listen; if we’re going to find out what’s going on with the He-devil and She-devil, we’ll need to be close to share our findings!”

“What do you mean, what’s going on with them?” He questioned, looking at me accusingly.

“Where did they get the money for this house? Where did they get the money for us? Why can’t I breach into their minds? Why are they seemingly perfect? There’s got to be something wrong with them. I can sense it, but I can’t place my finger on it. And there’s something suspicious about this Leila character. We need to get to the bottom of this, before the suck us into their church-going, book club running, perfectionist little family!” I took a breath.
“You with me?” I stated, hoping that he was convinced, just as I was.

He hesitated, then replied.
“Of course. But knock before you come into my room. Just in case.”
He left me alone in the hallway, entering his bedroom and shutting the door.

I cracked a grin.

We were a team again.

And we were fighting the devils.

I guess it still hadn’t hit me that she was really dead. I tried to cry, but I couldn’t anymore. I just…let go. It seemed to work for me. Unfortunately nothing seemed to work for Kelly, she cried every night. Emily seemed alright, just a little shaken. Peter seemed fine, as if Nana passing hadn’t even happened. He was angry about moving in with the devils, as I was. Emily and Kelly, however, were ecstatic.

I couldn’t understand it. They were going to forgive Ben for 6 years because of a five minute pep talk? Peter and I weren’t that easily fooled. We would play along all right, but there were suspicious things about Ben and Leila. First of all, where did he work? He didn’t mention details, just that he earned enough money to pay for the raising of four kids. And then some, because he managed to pay for a house and a wedding also. That’s also it. If Ben really loved us, why didn’t he invite us to his wedding? Or did Nana hide that too? I guess I’ll have an opportunity to find out, seeing as we are going to be living with them.

As the days passed and arrangements were sealed for us and Nana, we spend our time moping around or moping with each other. Peter and I particularly, we were the closest. I didn’t care much for my younger siblings, as they were just miniature copies of me. All made with the same intelligence, wit, cunning sense of thinking, but minus the mind reading. And who wants to be friends with miniature versions of themselves?

There was nothing left to do but leave.
I wandered around the house, making sure there was nothing I left behind. After packing clothes, everything in my bathroom, toys, CDs, my laptop and my video camera, I had decided to leave some of my childhood belongings home. For example, all of my stuffed animals, old paperback books, old celebrity posters and my dolls. I organized my clothes in one suitcase, toiletries and books in another, then random useless junk in my purple duffel bag. The thought of leaving this house was getting more depressing as time passed.

Peter stepped into my room.

“Hey. How’s the packing going?” He said, looking somber.

“Alright. Still pissed about…about everything.”
He walked over beside me and sat down.

“Think of it as a new adventure. Like when Mom and Dad died, we didn’t sit around moping forever. We embraced Nana’s reign like it was something that would be fun, and different. This is just like that. Except now we get to explore a new house, which Ben tells me is super big.”
“You’ve been talking to Ben now? I thought we were a team.”
“Why does there have to be teams? I know I don’t trust him, but I’m giving him a chance.”

I sighed. He was probably right.

Finally we got the phone call. Ben and Leila were on the way with the SUV (since when does a young married couple need a SUV?) to move all our stuff.

We all filed outside, carrying our various suitcases and bags.

Leila and Ben pulled up.

I swear on my life, they had the most expensive, large shiny SUV in the world.

What the hell did they do for a living?

Only one idea came to mind.
Mob boss and prostitute.

“I just want everything to slow down.”

“Ever since dinner, life has been racing past, as if everything has happened in just a few minutes.”

“The devils are here.”

“Nana’s dead.”

“We have nowhere to go.”

“If only Sarah could take us in…”
“You know she’s enrolled to start school again in the fall.”
“Nana’s dead.”

“Nana’s dead.”
“Nana’s dead!”

Then there was that awkward silence when no one said anything. Kelly and I were curled up next to each other, facing Peter who was sitting on the other side next to Emily. I glanced over at Kelly, I was worried about her. She’d gotten particularly quiet and that was unusual for her. I guess she was still in shock. Her hazel long hair that never ceased to curl at the bottom was now flattened on top of her head and sprawled in all different directions like a mop. I inspected Emily, her straight, light brown hair that barely reached her shoulders hung down like it was dead. Peter looked as he normally did, for he never really brushed his dark chestnut hair anyway. I shivered. Did I look as disheveled as the rest of them? Probably. But that was okay with me.

We heard a knock on the door. No one answered, but of course, whoever it was didn’t stop from coming inside. Well I’ll be. It’s the He-devil himself, with the She-devil following close behind him. We all subconsciously scooted away from them as they sat down on Peter’s bed. Ben flashed a nice smile and started to speak.

“Listen, I know anything I say will just float right out of your ears, but I want you guys to try and listen. First of all, I didn’t abandon you. I had my own obligations to fulfill. If I hadn’t graduated early then I wouldn’t have gotten a spot at one of the top colleges in the United States. I wouldn’t have met my future wife and I wouldn’t have been able to pay for your education.”
He paused. Peter spoke up.

“What?”
“Well where do you think all the money came from? Nana doesn’t work, and eventually Mom and Dad’s money ran out, so I needed to support you somehow. That’s why I had to work so much. Paying for four children requires a full time job, and then some. It wasn’t easy, but I did it all for you guys. I love you.”
There was more silence. More, awkward silence. I don’t think I had ever heard Ben tell me he loved me. This was new.

“Nana never told us that.” Kelly grunted.

“There’s more Nana didn’t tell you about.”
From behind his back he pulled out a stack of envelopes. He tossed them onto the floor, almost perfectly in the middle of us.
“What are these?” Peter said, obviously still angry at Ben.

“Letters. Addressed to you. I did write. A lot. I really do care about you. Unfortunately Nana was angry about me leaving so she thought it best for you that she should hide the letters.”

We all picked apart the stack, finding letters addressed to us. There were about 7 for me.

“Unfortunately as no one started to write back, the motivation to keep in touch with you guys began to lack and after I went months without hearing from you, I became very angry and decided to stop writing. I apologize about being angry, I had no idea Nana did this.”
No one said anything for a while, until Ben broke the silence.

“Come one guys. We’re still a family.” He informed us.

No one replied, but I could tell my siblings were being swayed to see his side.

“And I want you to know that Nana’s will left all of you with me. So in the next week we’re going to help you guys move into our house.”

There. The end. Of my life. As we know it.

I’m not saying Nana was terrible, she was very loving. My only concern with her was that she wasn’t accepting. She lived in the old times, and treated us like we were from the 60s. TV was a devil and gays were bad. It’s like she couldn’t see past her nose. She ordered us around, making us work around the house, because according to her, that’s how all children our age should spend their time. It didn’t help that our parents left us with an insanely high maintenance house either. Things were falling apart left and right. But we didn’t mind, we loved it all the same. It wasn’t a mansion, but it wasn’t a shack. All in all, our time spent with Nana was definitely an escape from reality. But now, with her gone, what would happen? Where would we live? More importantly, who would we live with? Would we have to switch schools? (Summer break just started last week, but somehow, my mind is always on school.)

It was all happening so fast. Nana’s never going to be here for us, then the He-devil and She-devil were here, and now what?

Peter was the “what.” He entered my room (without knocking, mind you) with a somber look on his face.

“Hey,” he started, “do you feel any better?”
“No, not really.” I murmured.
Silence occurred.

“So guess what’s going on downstairs?” He whispered.
“Ben’s face is being stuffed into a cheese grater?”
“Uh, no.”
“Then I’m not interested.” I mumbled.
He snorted. “Oh, you’ll love this.”
I turned towards him, suddenly concerned.

“What?”

He took a deep breath and mumbled something.
“Peter, I can’t understand you if you talk with your mouth closed.”
“Right, sorry.”
Another pause.

“So?” I inquired.

“There are people downstairs.” He stated.

“And?”
“And they’re discussing Nana’s will.”
“Ok?” I said, confused out of my mind. What was he getting at?

He continued. “Well Mom and Dad left us with Nana.”
“Right.”
“And Nana left us with…”

“Oh no.” I cried.

He simply nodded.

“NANA!” Kelly screamed. Tears were gushing down my cheeks, why couldn’t I move? I needed to know what was wrong. I heard more shouting, definitely Ben’s voice. At this point I was in hysterics, with the intense physical pain that had begun in my head and was now shooting down my legs. I kept trying to run, pushing and pushing my legs, but nothing happened. I could see out of Peter’s room through the door, and over the stairs. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear. Suddenly Ben’s voice cut through the air like a knife.

“She’s not breathing!”
And it was then and only then the pain subsided and I was able to breathe again. My legs started moving and I shot down the stairs like a bullet. The scene I found was quite disturbing. Leila and Ben were leaning over Nana, who was laying face up on the floor with her eyes closed. Peter was sitting next to them, while Emily was holding Kelly who was screaming. Right as I got down the stairs Sarah ran into the room waving a phone and yelling “I called 9-1-1!”
Javier entered through the other door, confused as to what had happened, and immediately rushed to Nana’s side. I stood there, my mind racing in a million directions. What exactly had happened?

Two hours and a trip to the hospital later, Nana was pronounced dead. I couldn’t handle that right now. Between the confusion with the mind reading, the wave of emotions Ben and Leila brought with them and the sight of Peter, weak and in need of comfort, I was nowhere near ready to handle this. We were in the waiting room when we heard. It was filled with uncomfortable chairs, cheap pictures hanging on the walls and screaming children running around. I was standing up. I’m not sure what happened when the doctor shared the news, but Emily told me that I fell, and Peter informed me that I had fainted. Darkness surrounded my view and I plummeted into the deep unknown.

When I woke up things were quite different from the obnoxiously loud hospital. I was lying down on my bed, in my room, in my house. I blinked my eyes a few times to get used to the light. A chair was pulled up beside me. And in it looked like a very tired Leila. As soon as she saw I was awake she put on a small smile.

“How are you feeling kiddo?” Her sweet-as-honey voice said.

“What happened?” I mumbled, still a little drowsy.

“You, um, fainted at the hospital. So I took you home. Ben is…Ben’s filling out some paperwork over there, and the kids wanted to stay. So it’s just you, me and Javier.”

I nodded. I felt extremely awkward and vulnerable, not being able to invade her mind. Over the years I had become dependent on my mind reading when I was in difficult situations. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do now. And I didn’t even have Nana to run to. Tears slid down my face once more as I curled under my blanket and pretended I was 3 again. When times were simpler, and Mom and Dad were still alive. They’d know what to do.

“So Peter, what’s it like being the man of the house? Since I’m gone, I mean.”

Silence ensued.

I waited for Peter to answer. After what seemed like an uncomfortable pause, I kicked him lightly with my toe. He coughed quickly and then answered.

“How can I be the man of the family, when there hasn’t been a family? Not since you left.”

I quickly scanned the table. Ben had dropped his head slightly, staring at his plate. Leila looked…amused. Nana and Sarah looked horrified, Kelly was smirking and Emily was poking me from under the table.

Ben spoke softly. “Then I guess you’re not a man yet.”

My immediate reaction was to chuckle, because anytime Peter was slammed it made me smile. But not this time, no, not this time.  I wanted to speak up, to be heard, but I had nothing to say! I wanted to tell Ben how angry I was at him, how much I wanted to stuff his face in a cheese grater, but I couldn’t get out the words.  Peter could.

“I can’t believe you. You haven’t called or visited since you left for college. What was that, 6 years ago? You have no idea what kind of person I am. I’m the one that taught Emily to ride a bike, and Kelly to tie her shoes. I’m the one that let Lacey cry on my shoulder when her very first boyfriend broke up with her,” Peter started, as I blushed at that last part, “you have done nothing but bad things for this family. And Nana will agree with me.” Well, she didn’t…

“Ben. How dare you insult your brother? And Peter! There is no excuse for the way you have treated our guests. Go to your room, now!”
More silence. Peter, angry as a tortured bull, jumped out of his seat and stomped his way out of the room and up the stairs, until you could hear his door slam. I swallowed, not sure of what to do. On one hand, Nana was right. Peter had poked Ben’s buttons and seeing as Ben is a guest, that was uncalled for. On the other hand, the gigantic, oversized angry hand, Ben had no right to say anything less than polite to us, seeing as he’d hurt our family so much. I silently stood up, ignoring the eyes of Ben and Leila, and followed Peter’s tracks until I had made my way upstairs. Upon entering his room, I found inside my older brother (by three and a half minutes) lying on the floor crying his eyes out. For once in my life, Peter’s power had fallen, and I had no idea what to do.

Emily’s POV: Once Peter left I felt unhappy. We had made an unspoken pact to stick out for each other while He and She were here and now he gets up and leaves? Now when Lacey left, that’s when I felt betrayed. Now it’s just me and Kelly on our side. (Nana and Sarah are neutral, although if Sarah gets a chance, I bet she’d stick up for us.) What was I supposed to do? Everyone was in silence. Nana was still furious about her two grandsons, Kelly was confused, Leila looked scared and Ben was staring at his plate. I made one of the biggest decisions of my life. I got up and left. And I took Kelly, too. We marched upstairs all the way to Peter’s room, where I found Lacey leaning next to our brother, trying to comfort him. He was upset. More than upset, he was furious. Lacey gave me a weak smile as I sat down next to peter, dragging Kelly with me.  We sat in silence for a few moments, waiting for Peter to cool down. Finally, he spoke.

“I’m so fucking mad at him.”
“We know.” Lacey replied, using a sympathetic tone.

“He had no right to…he shouldn’t have…this never would have happened if he didn’t….” He couldn’t seem to get the words out.
“Yeah.” I said, contributing to the lame excuse of a conversation that was going on.

We spent the next 20 minutes just lying around, not much talking or moving. We were all pretty upset, which is something that I could understand. I don’t know how Kelly felt, she never even knew Ben. We had told her stories about him, but it’s hard to understand someone that left when you were just a baby. I can guess, though, her first impression of him wasn’t a good one. I was only four when Ben left, so there’s not much I remember about him. I do remember what he looked like, and how he used to play with Peter outside. They were friends back then. And look at them now. Nothing could possibly make this night worse.