Dakota was sitting on the stairs lying her boots when she heard a knock at the door. Christian answered. A tall girl, slightly shorter than Christian, walked in. Her curly, brown hair hung past her shoulders and her brown eyes were locked with Christian’s blue ones. "Hey Lissy," Christian said. At the mention of that name, Dakota stood up. She crept quietly up the stairs and lay back on her bed. She switched on her radio and pondered. ‘So,’ she thought, "Lissy appears. A mortal nonetheless. Why?’ Dakota listened to the lyrics of the song. ‘Am I being forgotten? Replaced? Does he not love me anymore? His little sister?’ Dakota stopped thinking for a moment and called, "Come on in Edge." Edge walked in, grinning, his black trench coat flowing as he moved towards her bed. "Tell me little one, what’s wrong?" "Nothing," she replied, "just thinking about some things, that’s all." "Like? Is it about me? Jeff? Matt? My brother?" Dakota nodded. "Sadly to say, all but you." "All but me?

How did I get so lucky to be not thought over?" Edge gave her a hurt look. Dakota hugged him tightly. "I never said I wasn’t thinking about you. I meant that I wasn’t thinking about what I was going to have to do with you. We have no problems, you see, so I don’t worry about us." Edge nodded his head. "Ohhh...I see. So tell me. What thoughts are going through your head?" "Where to start? I suppose I can start with Matt. He’s been avoiding me, and I’m worried. Is he upset about the whole situation with Jeff? Am I not doing anything? Did I do something wrong?" "Don’t worry about Matt, he’s been dealing with other problems. He’s been like that to everybody." "Secondly, Jeff. I mean, what do I do? I love him, and I will perish with out him. But I can’t just forgive him for double-crossing me like that. I don’t know what to do about him." "I think you should try..." "Are you listening to me or telling me what to do?" Edge shut his mouth and listened. "And your brother. Who is Lissy? Does he hate me or something? I mean, he never apologized for pushing me towards the edge, towards suicide. Now he’s with some girl who is going to take him away and corrupt him, making different, no longer sweet. I want the sweet innocent Chrissy I met, the sweet loving older brother back. What should I do?" "Confront your problems Cody. Nothing can get better with out first getting worse." Dakota nodded, "Yeah, I guess your right." "I know I’m right." Dakota smiled and Edge rose to leave her room. He shut the door behind him and Dakota stared out the window. The sun was setting on the Canadian wilderness. It was beautiful. The sky was a blending of different blues, pinks and purples.

Dakota looked at the door. "Come in Chris," she said. She poked his head in. "Cody? Cody, what’s wrong?" "Nothing Chris, nothing." "Don’t lie to me, tell me the truth." He went to put his hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away. Christian knew that there was something wrong. "Who is Lissy?" Dakota asked him. "Lissy? She’s my friend." "She is not! Don’t lie to me Christian, don’t." "You want the truth? She’s my girlfriend, okay? The secret is out." "Are you going to leave?" "NO! Why would you think that?" "Because everybody else has left me, why wouldn’t you? Do you still love me?" "Dakota, of course I still love you. You’re my little sister. I have to take care of you." "And that’s the only reason that you are sticking around? To help raise me?" "Dakota, no, listen to me..." "NO! You listen to me Christian. All my life I’ve been kicked to the curb when somebody knew came along. My mother and my stepfather, Mike and his girlfriend, Jeff and his bottle of booze. I mean, come on Chris, don’t you see the pattern here?" Without waiting for a response, Dakota went out on her balcony. "Cody, you don’t understand." "No Christian, for once, I do understand. You’re going to leave and never come back. It’s happened before, it will happen again now." Christian began to raise his voice. "You know what Dakota, if this is how you want to be, then FINE! Be that way. But don’t come crying to me when everything blows back in your face. I don’t want to hear it, I tried. I’m done dealing with a child such as yourself, it frustrates me." Dakota looked at him with anger in her eyes. Christian walked out of the room and slammed the door. She could hear him say, "Come on Liss," to the girl in the hallway. Dakota looked out the window and saw Christian and Lissy disappearing into the ascending darkness. Dakota ran to her bed, and collapsed on it in a bundle of tears. She pulled her dark purple, velvet blanket up around her and cried for many hours.