No Silver Lining

Chapter 1

Two months after the mystery, in February, I came home from school one day. I got dropped off the bus and headed into my house. Inside, my dad was sitting at the kitchen's island reading a magazine about hunting. On the couch, was my sister listening to music and chilling. My mother's location was unknown at that moment. I flew up the stairs, backpack on my back. My day had gone well. I felt like I was the happiest girl that day. I hopped to my desk and pulled out my Math homework and flopped it onto my desk. I had begun to solve the third problem when my mother called for me.

"Alyssa! Honey! Come down here please!" my mother screamed.

"Coming!" I replied. I got up and left my homework open on the desk.

As I reached down the stairs, I noticed that my mom was standing by the coffee table, nearly crying. My father was sitting in his recliner looking sad. Everything seemed off, like everyone had gone opposite. It was all too weird. To top things off, my sister was on the love-seat, crying into the pillow. I knew something was wrong. Kayla NEVER cried. There was the occasional time my parents shed a few tears, but my sister had never cried, except for one time. "We need to talk to you honey," my mom said.

"What's going on?" I asked fearfully. I sat down on the couch next to the recliner. My father was silent. I looked at his hands and realized that his hands were tense. This couldn't be good.

"We know this will be hard on you, honey," my father half-answered. The amount of "honey's" they used was frightening. I was starting to get scared. They didn't answer me right away.

After minutes in silence, my sister was bawling then, my mom was shaking, and my father was in tears. I couldn't stand it. "What is it?" I questioned with unknown tears in my eyes.

"Alyssa," my mother choked, "your father and I......are getting a divorce."

Whatever happened next was immediately shut out by my sobbing. The homework on my table was never finished. I knew how to solve four hundred and twenty divided by three. This...I couldn't solve.