It was a beautiful Autumn day on Earth. The scents of meat cooking on grills and lawn clippings were carried along the warm breeze that had remained, even if Summer had already past. Soon, blue sky would turn completely grey. The frigid winds of winter would rip through the gold and orange trees, and tear them from their branches. Adam hated winter. There was nothing good about being cold all the time. There was nothing fun about the snow that gathered in dunes and covered the city. Anybody who said otherwise was one of those people who consider their blind optimism their finest trait. The worst. Nevertheless, the small whisper of cold in the breeze sent some nostalgic pains through Adam's cynical heart.

This was probably as close to winter as Adam would see in a good long time. The young man took a step back and twisted his body so that his side faced the door in a low, wide, stance. The door seemed to be made from a rich wood, but either time or some sort of freak beaver attack had done a number on it. It was covered in scuff marks and there were gouges in several places around the edges where the wood had been splintered, looking like something had tried to claw or chew its way in or out. He tucked the bundle of papers he carried under his armpit and raised his shoulder, bracing for impact. By the time winter came, Adam would certainly be in prison, he thought to himself. That's what happens to people who are dumb enough to break down a stranger's door in broad daylight.

No matter how reasonable his assumptions were, they did nothing to dissuade Adam from his folly, for he had a higher purpose. He wasn't the type that was prone to heroics, but he was worried about her and he couldn't help it. She was usually only gone for a couple of days, but it had nearly been a week and a half this time. What if she was sick or injured? He knew she lived alone. Everybody knew after the scandal that had accompanied her parents' disappearance. If she had been left alone and injured for this long, it may already be too late.

Sure, it wasn't likely. Sure, this was probably just another one of the delinquent girl's usual absences, but Adam didn't want to take that chance. After their teacher had asked him to drop her homework off at her house, he had shown up every day after school to bang on that dilapidated, wooden door, and for three days, nobody had answered. It was time to get serious.

As Adam dug the toes of his sneakers into the pavement and prepared to launch, a movement at the door stopped him in his tracks. He watched in rapt amazement as the tarnished, bronze door handle turned. A curious gaze met his eyes as it stopped only inches before crashing into him on its way out the door. Before Adam stood his absentee classmate in the flesh.

Frustration began to well up in his chest and creep its way up to cloud his mind. All of the time he had spent knocking at that door. All of the worry he had accumulated. And for nothing. He had known all the while that this was a possibility, but somehow, seeing her standing there with her usual placid expression, completely oblivious to all of the trouble she had put him through, really rubbed him the wrong way.

"Where the hell have you been, Nora? Do you have any idea how long I've been standing here knocking?" Adam demanded angrily.

Instead of the usual expression of fear or concern that would usually be produced by such an outburst, the look that Nora produced was more akin to annoyance or disgust. It pissed him off. It really pissed him off.

"You were going to knock down my door?" she queried dismissively in response. Adam seethed.

"You've been gone a week and a half! I thought something might have happened! What would you have had me do?" he snarled.

"You could have just opened it," she replied simply.

"Oh, yeah! Of course! You think I didn't try that, smartass? It's locked!" he retorted sharply.

"Of course it's locked," she muttered lazily, rolling her eyes. "I can't just leave my house unlocked for any random crook to break into. I did get tired of the police breaking down my door every time somebody called in a welfare check on me though, so I stuck the key under the mat for them to use. You would have found it if you'd looked. Or you could have done the reasonable thing and gotten the cops to do it for you. You could have been arrested, you know?" she added concernedly.

He knew. And hearing her say it wasn't doing much in the way of calming him down. That sure explained the condition of the door though.

"Yeah, I know," he answered, giving an exasperated sigh. "You shouldn't worry people like that though."

"You were worried about me?" she asked, a faint grin playing across her lips. There it was, that self-mocking smile. The smile that never met her eyes. It was a smile of hollow amusement, not one of playfulness, and it was so pitiful in Adam's eyes that he couldn't find it within him to get mad at the taunt. Nora had killed his anger.

"Whatever. Do you want to take your assignments or not?" he asked. The sooner he could stop wasting his time here, the better.

Adam didn't hate Nora. He even considered her one of his favorites amongst his classmates, even though they weren't particularly close. He was one of the only people she ever spoke to, because he was one of the only people who ever gave her the chance. When she did show up to class, she always said interesting things. She was quiet most of the time, but when she did speak up, she was smart as a whip, and hilariously sharp-tongued. Sometimes though, it seemed like she was separated from the rest of the world by something. A near-impenetrable wall of objectivity. Like she was simply a spectator amongst them. He couldn't handle her when she got like that.

While he didn't hate her, what he felt for her was more of a nauseating sense of pity, not for her unfortunate familial situation, but for her own self-loathing. He couldn't understand how someone could feel so terrible about themselves, and when she let it show, like now, he couldn't help but to be just a little bit... disgusted.

"Sure," she murmured, taking the bundle of papers from his hands and dumping them unceremoniously behind her onto the floor of the foyer. Adam frowned a bit at her actions. He had gone to quite a bit of effort to bring those papers to her, but as long as they were in her possession, it didn't really matter what she did with them, he supposed. Seeing Adam's expression, Nora felt that she had to explain her actions somewhat.

"I'll take care of them when I get back," she proclaimed defensively. Adam no longer cared what she did with the papers, but he was concerned that she was about to perform another of her disappearing acts. He watched pensively as she pulled a large keyring from her pocket and locked up the battered door. Ultimately, he found himself unable to restrain his curiosity.

"Leaving again?" he queried.

"Just for food," she answered with a grin, understanding his intent. "I don't keep food in the house unless I plan on being there for a while, which is impossible recently, due to the diligence of the CPS."

That made sense. Nora couldn't even go a full day at school anymore without about twenty people from various agencies breathing down her neck. He didn't agree with it, but he understood the impulse to run away from all of that. Of course, regularly attending classes would solve that problem, but for whatever reason, that didn't seem to be an option for Nora. He was just turning around to leave, when the impossible happened.

"You can join me, if you like," she offered with her typical placid expression betraying none of her intents. He furiously contemplated the invitation. To his knowledge, she had never been known to accompany others outside of class, and certainly not to extend the offer herself. He couldn't help but wonder why she would do such a thing. The question practically exploded from his lips.

"Why?" he spluttered.

"Well, we're friends, aren't we?" she replied simply with a casual shrug.

Adam had places to be. Adam had a family waiting for him with a succulent, home-cooked meal. Adam didn't particularly care to become associated with his truant classmate, but like a spell, the word 'friend' seemed to compel him to follow. His feet began moving of their own accord, and he found himself trudging down the pavement by her side. Quickly, he fired off a text to his parents to let them know he'd be missing dinner.

Friends. Perhaps that is what they were. Somebody who frustrated you to no end but you still can't help liking. Honestly speaking, Adam didn't have much experience with friendship, but he thought to himself that this was probably not it. Regardless, he resigned himself to conforming to the label that had been assigned him, writing it off as curiosity. He wouldn't deny that he had become interested in the girl who spent well over half of her time missing. It was a reasonable interest, and if that interest just so happened to result in a friendship, well... what was the worst that could happen?