Sketch:

It has been days since I saw Sam, and it seemed to go by so slowly. All I had done was learn about useless information over and over again. Erin was beginning to get on my nerves, but he wasn't doing anything wrong.

It was just learning about math and history, but it just got boring after a while.

I was looking out the window, enjoying the sunny day. I couldn't go outside and barley could step outside the room, due to the incident that previously happened.

Orion hasn't been here lately either, and I had no news concerning Sam. I was lonely, only Erin to keep me company.

I liked his jokes and the way he talked about things concerning the outside world, but I didn't like how he would make me do work. I hated it, but he seemed to love learning.

"Come on Sketch, it's a simple problem. You know it, I just showed it to you." he commented, tapping his pen against the table.

"It's boring." I said.

"Why?" he asked. "Orion will get mad at me if we don't accomplish something. He's even threatened to replace me." he said the last part softly not meaning me to hear.

I looked over at his slumped form and frowned. I didn't want that, I really liked Erin, just not learning.

"Okay," I said, moving over to him and sinking into the chair and picking up the pencil that was on the table. I started doing the writing assignment instead of math but it made Erin smile, so it didn't matter.

I finished in a few minutes, doing my best for Erin to actually read it.

"Maybe one day we can go on a field trip and explore the world. You know a lot of cities still stand, so it would be amazing to see them. Also I heard the underground cities are beautiful at night time."

I turned to look at him in awe, what was an underground city? I've never heard of one before, but if they were underground how would you see the sky?

"How could you see the stars if you're underground?" I asked.

He smiled and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head.

"Well, it really isn't underground. It's more of covered in a way. When the world was overrun, there was an earthquake, you could say, and it knocked large cities down. When the buildings fell, they for some reason fell toward each other, making a tent like structure. These cities were big, so they had lots of building that stretched a long ways. When night time comes the stars reflect against the glass on either side if the buildings, making it seem like there is a star everywhere you turn. I heard it's really a beautiful sight." He said, smiling to himself. "They call them underground because it's covered all over by the buildings and it's dark. It even looks like the sky is alive. Just like it would be underground."

"Amazing." I whispered.

"Yeah, I really want to go. But I'm tagged, I can't leave this castle unless I want to die." he whispered.

"Then let's go!" I said, jumping up and smiling wide to get him to cheer up.

He smiled back, and chuckled, looking away showing me the sadness in his eyes.

"It's not that easy, this worlds not the same. It's overrun."

"By monsters?" I asked.

"No...by vampires."

I stared at him for a while, seeing how he had that far away look in his eyes. But he brushed it off and grabbed my writing assignment. He started reading it but I couldn't get over what he said.

I shouldn't try to defend vampires, since they killed my family. But then again, I really really like Orion. Like a lot, but it's hard to explain. Then another vampire turned Sammy into one of them, he hurt my brother too.

"Good job Sketch, even if it's really sloppy handwriting. You're a good writer," he commented, turning to smile at me.

I just frowned, resting my head in my hand and staring right back out the window.

"Oh don't be so glum, I'm sure you can go outside soon." he said with a half smile, packing his stuff back into his bag. Then it occurred to me, has Erin been outside recently, or at all since he ever got here?

"When's the last time you went outside?" I asked, which caused his smile to fade and that look came back to his eyes.

"A while." he said softly.

"A while? Like a few days or few weeks?" I asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. I haven't since the first day I got here." Erin said, zipping his bag closed.

"Are you leaving?" I asked.

"Nope, I have to stay with you until Orion comes back. Do you want me to read to you?" he asked.

"Yeah." I murmured quietly.

He took out a fairly large book, scanning through it until he landed on the right page.

He started reading about three bears and some girl with blonde hair, who decided to eat their soup or something. Her name was like Goldie or something like that.

She tried to sleep in their beds. But why would bears have beds in the first place? And why would a bear use silverware to eat soup? Wait, how did they even make the soup? Or was it even soup? It was a confusing story, I bet most people wouldn't get it.

Afterwards he got up and joined me at the window, looking out to the gardens below.

"That story didn't make sense." I whispered, but he just chuckled in response.

"It's supposed to be a child's story, I thought you'd like it."

"I'm not a child." I said, glaring over at him.

He just smiled in return. "I wonder if bears even roam the wild anymore." he whispered, looking down at his book then me.

"Probably. I've seen all kinds of animals out there. But I know there's not as many." I said.

He nodded, running a his fingers through his hair. We've come a long way but I felt that this was only beginning. The other humans were up to something, something big I know. I just wasn't sure what.

I wish I could go outside, or even go down and play with Cereberus. I wanted to do something.

Sammy wasn't available at the moment, and that had me even more bummed. I couldn't wait to see him.

I sighed, resting my elbow on the window sill, looking out at the colors below.

A knock on the door made me all excited, me thinking it was Orion, but it was just some maid. She brought in my daily lunch time blood.

Erin then decided to read another story, but I couldn't keep along with this one. It was about a sugar house, and a witch eating kids. I wasn't completely sure.

"Why don't you eat and then get some rest." Erin commented.

I agreed, since I was tired and drank the bottle before climbing up in bed. I pulled the covers tight around me as Erin turned off the lights and closed the curtains, so I could sleep easier.

I laid there, staring up at the ceiling. I looked over at him reading a book, even if we were in the dark.

"Will you sing to me? My mom used to before I went to sleep." I asked, looking over at him.

He nodded, closing his book and started to sing a sweet lullaby, that put me right to sleep in minutes.

--

"Sam, what do you want for your birthday?" My mother asked my older brother, who had stopped eating his pancakes to think.

"Um, well I really want a puppy." he said, winking at me.

I smiled at him, looking back down at my pancakes, and taking a few bites out of it.

"This isn't Sketch's birthday, it's yours. Grandma told me you wanted a new game, is that right?"

My mom gave me a small glare half smile, signaling that she knew that a puppy was my idea.

"What if I wanted a puppy too?" Sam asked.

"You're father would never allow that. Now what would you like?" she said softly, handing me and Sam our lunches for school today.

Sam smiled at me, switching our lunches like he always does. He knows I hate peanut butter, and always switches me for a ham sandwich.

"Nothing. Being alive is fine with me."

-

"Sketch? Come on baby, it's time to wake up."

I opened my eyes, greeted with Orion smiling down at me. I was tired, could the see I was sleeping? I turned over on my stomach trying to block him out. He rubbed my back, moving the covers from my warm body.

"Sam is ready to see you." he whispered. I got up quicker than anything, standing up so I could get changed. I was cold but he helped me change into those warm blue jeans that fit me nicley, and then a normal t-shirt which was also warm.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Well since it's a nice day out and Sam reacted really well to nature, he's outside." I jumped up, running over to the door at his words. Going outside and seeing Sam? This was awesome.

I didn't mind, I was actually estatic. I hope he's okay with himself and is handling this all right.

We were getting closer to going outside and I was super excited. I haven't seen him in a while and I miss him.

We walked out into the bright day, and Orion set me down on the grass. Sam was sitting down on the grass, his side faced me, but he was looking the opposite way so I couldn't see his expression.

Xanthe wasn't there but it didn't matter, I just wanted to see Sammy. I ran toward him, shouting his name and hugging him from behind. He laughed softly, which told me everything was okay. He turned to look at me, and my heart nearly stopped.

His eyes were red.