It was a quarter till ten, as Natalie and Aunt Clara sat in the living room waiting for Natalie’s mother to go buy groceries. Natalie sat there on the white stained couch, slightly hugging a pillow up against her chest. Aunt Clara sitting across from her beyond the coffee table, just watching her Thirteen year old niece sits there uncomfortably, as her long black hair covered one eye. “I’ll be back in an hour Clara. Make sure Natalie finished her homework and look it over for me,” Natalie’s mother yelled out from the front door in a hurry to leave the house. “Okay, but…” Aunt Clara yelled back as the door shut before she could finish what she was saying. “Never mind, I guess,” she whispered to herself as she looked around the room, trying to find a topic to talk about to break the silence.

She slowly looked down at the homework, holding it in her hands confusingly, “I never really understood math. I was more of a PE kind of kid, when I was your age.” Natalie sat there and politely smiled back, but it was more of a polite smile to ensure that she heard what she said. Aunt Clara was starting to feel uncomfortable, but continued trying to break the tension.

“So how are you and your mother doing, since your dad…” she couldn’t quite get herself to finish that sentence, so she paused there for about 3 seconds until Natalie finally responded, “It’s been fine.” Natalie began to look down at her hands and her mouth slowly tightened up as he swallowed some saliva, “It’s been okay. I’m fine.” Aunt Clara wasn’t convinced; “Are you sure?” her eyes looked soft and sympathetic as she watched Natalie think to herself. She knew something was wrong; she just wanted to know what it was.

“I told you already, I’m fine. It’s not that important.”

“Not that important? Don’t ever think that what you want to say isn’t important.”

“It’s nothing okay.”

“Nothing, huh? Well at least you’re not getting beaten or anything. So I shouldn’t be worried much,” she said with a slight giggle until she looked at Natalie. Her eyes were red and tears began to build. Her lips quivered as she looked down at her faded blue jeans and tear drops began to fall upon them.