It's a Tuesday, at about nine in the morning.  Scott Jones had just come home after a long night at the hospital.  His father, whom he had never been that close with, had just died from a heart attack.  His mother had died four years earlier and it crushed him, now he didn't have any family left except an older brother he hadn't seen in years and a niece.  His sister had died giving birth to Krista as a teenager and it drove the girl crazy. 

            "Jesus, what am I going to do?" he said to himself.  His father had already saved the money for his funeral because he didn't want to be a burden, only one thing would be.  His eulogy.  Odds were he wouldn't be able to contact his brother, and he didn't care to.  He left the family on bad terms.

            "Why do you have to do this?" cried Scott's mother, Laura.

            "I can't be stuck here in this place forever; I want to go to Aspen," answered Jacob.

            "What are you going to do there to support yourself?" asked Morris, Scott's father. 

            "I can ski.  I'll be an instructor."

            "You don't have a plan, you need to have a plan.  I want what's best for you, Scott.  I'm your mother, you have to trust me.  College will help you achieve so much," pleaded Laura.

            "You just want me to be what you want!  I'm sick of your constant nagging!  What do you want from me?  You know what I am, so just admit it!"

            "No, Scott, please it's just a phase," said Laura turning away, trying to deny the truth about her son.

            "My son is not a faggot!" screamed Morris at his son for the last time.

            That was the day his brother Jacob left.  Scott never mentioned his name or his sister's name after they were gone.  That was just part of his personality.  He liked to bury things, keep them hidden from himself.  He just couldn't do that to Krista.

            He loved his niece, but it pained him to tell her stories about her mother without being able to say her mother's name, Melinda.  He knew he would have to go and visit her at the hospital and tell her that her grandfather was dead.  Morris did love her.  "At least she's not a dyke," he'd often say.  He could be a sweet man, but he was raised in a different generation and thought homosexuals would cause the collapse of society.

            When he arrived at the mental hospital he saw the same old things in the intensive care / constant watch ward.  Schizophrenics seeing things, bipolar people jumping off the walls and then crashing hard, and then there was his niece.  She wasn't exactly crazy, but she had a lot of problems.  She suffered from so much guilt and depression that had tried to kill herself too many times to count since she was ten.  If she wore a t-shirt you'd see scars all over arms, from her wrists to her biceps.  The staff tried to keep her drugged, but Scott was her guardian and he wouldn't allow his niece to be a zombie.  He knew that his sister wouldn't want to do that to her, they were never sure who her father was.  When he got to her padded room, however, she wasn't curled in the corner like usual.  She was lying in bed.

"Hey, Krista", said Scott kneeling at her bedside.  "How are you feeling?  You doing okay?"

"Grandpa's dead," she said nonchalantly.  "I know, you don't have to stay here."

"How did you know?" asked Scott, half-way between concerned and frightened.

"I just know," she said pulling back to her normal position in the floor.  "I just know."

"But how could you?  He wasn't supposed to see you until Thursday.  It's only Tuesday."

"It is?  Sorry, I didn't know.  I can't see the outside from in here," she said almost bitterly.

"That's your own fault," said Scott so angrily that it shook him and Krista.  He had never once even raised his voice much more than a sweet whisper to her, and now he was yelling.

"Like I don't know that," she whispered back.

"Stop it!" Scott said gaining confidence, standing up to finally say what he always wanted to.  "Stop wallowing in your self pity!  Yes, your mother's dead!  I know!  She's my sister!  I love her!  I knew her since birth; you never saw her cry or laugh.  Yes, she died having you!  She had knew the risks!  She wanted to bring you into this world she didn't need to see your pale blue eyes when you were born to love you enough to kill herself over you.  She wouldn't want you to take away the life she gave you.  She wouldn't want it all to be in vain."

"Okay, she said standing up and walking to the metal door.  I'll stop.  I'm sorry I've been doing this to you and Mom."