"- Speech. ' '- thoughts.

+++- timeskip.

"Uhm....Ugh.....What happened? Why does my head hurt so badly?"

I feel so dizzy, my vision is so blurry and there's this loud ringing sound in my ears. I feel so uncomfortable, I can't even open my eyes. Oh, now it's all coming back to me...

My name is Faline Rodrigo, I lived in Los Angeles and was the daughter of a middle class family. My mom, Alice Rodrigo, was such a good woman, so kind and beautiful, she lit up the world around her with her smiles. But she got sick a lot, especially after my birth. As for my Dad, James Rodrigo, well he was harsh sometimes, but I could tell he loved us, especially my mom she was his everything. We were happy together though, despite my mom's reoccurring sicknesses. And then, five years after my birth, he came along. My little brother, Reginald. He was a welcome surprise, a little bundle of joy Mom and I loved to death.

But after Reginald or Reggie as Mom and I affectionately called him, was born, mom's sickness got worse, she tried to hide it but I knew. Dad got so worried about Mom that he didn't even seem to have time to care about Reggie and I. But that didn't matter, it was Reggie, Mom and I against the world. Oh how I miss those days. And then, everything changed on that cursed Saturday morning.

"Faline, Reggie seems upset, can you go and ask him what's wrong while I do the dishes?" Mom asked.

"But Mom, you look so tired, I want to help with the dishes instead."

"Don't worry about me dear, I'll be fine! Just go and help you're little brother out. A six year old shouldn't have such a troubled look on his face." I looked at Reggie, who was sitting on the couch of the living room. He did look stressed about something....

"Fine, I'll do it." Mom gave me one of her bright smiles and patted my head. "Thank you dear."

I quickly dashed to Reggie, hoping I could cheer him up quickly and go help Mom, she seemed more tired than usual today so I was doing whatever I could to help her.

"Hey Reggie, you look down, and it's not your usual frowny face. So something has to be wrong."

"Haha, very funny." Reggie said, unenthusiastic. He was remarkablely mature for his age, and usually looked so serious, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders or something. Usually when I point it out, he would roll his eyes and tell me I looked empty-headed most of the time. The little jerk. But seeing as he didn't bother to argue this time? Yeah something was definitely wrong.

"So, mind telling me what's bugging you?"

"I don't know, it's kinda silly." "Don't worry, I won't tease you, much." Reggie rolled his eyes at that. Good, he was starting to go back to his usual self. "Well if you insist...

I've had a really bad feeling all morning, it's like something bad is going to happen."

"Are you sure this 'bad feeling' isn't just a stomach ache? I did tell you not to eat all those tacos yesterday."

"Fal, I'm being serious. The last time I felt this way, it was the night before TomTom died."

TomTom was a little kitten we found on our door step one rainy night. Reggie and I begged Mom and Dad to let us keep him and the agreed as long as we were the ones to clean up after him. Reggie and I were estatic and after nursing him back to health, we named him TomTom. Although he was very playful and mischievous, he wasn't as energetic as the other kittens I saw around, and he seemed more frail. The vet told us that he had a weaker constitution than most kittens and that we should be careful what we fed him. We did as the vet asked but apparently, that wasn't enough. One night, Reggie came to my room and told me he couldn't sleep because he had a really bad feeling. I had to comfort him with jokes and his favorite bed time strory and after an intense pillow fight (which I won by the way) he was finally calm enough to fall asleep. But the next morning, we found TomTom dead on our door step, right where we first met him. Reggie and I were devastated and Dad help us bury him in our backyard. Reggie and I paid our respects to his grave once every week.

"So what, you're a psychic now?" I said playfully. "Seriously Fal, I'm worried something bad is going to happen, maybe to Mom! Afterall, she's sick already!" Honestly, I was worried too, but I had to be optimistic, like Mom kept telling me to be. "I'm sure you're just overthinking stuff as usual. Remember when you refused to play with your toys after you watched 'Toy Story?' You swore you saw one of the blinked and even tried to record them to see if the would ever move or talked! It one point you almost through them all out because you weren't comfortable having a bunch of people who refuse to talk to you stare at you while you sleep." His words not mine. Reggie blushed in embarrassment. "Ugh, don't remind me." I chuckled and pinched his chubby red cheeks. "Fal, stooopp!"He was so adorable sometimes.

"Okay, so I get that you're worried, but in case something bad does happen, which I still think is unlikely, I will be here to help you get through it, and I always will, okay?" I held out my had for a fist bump. "Siblings forever?" I said, inwardly cringing at how lame that sounded. Reggie chuckled and bumped his fist with mine. "Siblings forever, as lame as that sounds. I chuckled and ruffled his hair playfully. He tries and fails to push my hand away and we play fought for a while, laughing the entire time untill we heard the sound of plates shattering coming from the kitchen. Reggie froze up from fear and I immediately rushed to the kitchen to see what happened, and suddenly, a sickening feeling started creeping up my gut. I ignored it and ran faster to the kitchen and what I saw, still haunts me to this day.

It was Dad, kneeled over Mom's unconscious body with tears in his eyes. "Faline! Call 911, your Mom,she fainted-"

I didn't even let him fiinish his sentence before I rushed out of the room, grabbed Dad's phone and called 911. It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive and Dad told Reggie and I to stay home while he left with the ambulance to the hospital. Reggie was quiet the whole time we waited while I nervously paced around the living room, hoping, praying that Mom would be okay. But unfortunately, fate wasn't that kind. Three hours later, Dad came back home, and his now soulless eyes, were red and puffy from crying. And I feared the worst.

"Dad, where's Mom?" Reggie asked, his eyes tearing up and his voice trembling.

Dad sighed, and said emotionlessly. "You're mother, she's.....dead."