Problems... They were a sort of trouble for many people. A source of trouble, adding misery, desolation, sadness, gloom. They were the source and root of everyone's misfortunes and bad luck. The world was filled with problems, big and small, whether it was the humans that were dealing with them or Mother Earth herself fighting these problems. Animals had to pact with problems too: Food problems, survival problems, and all that sort. But the greatest things about problems is that they help us see the world in a knowing light, in a light of experiences, hardships. Whoever the luckiest tackles these problems get the chance to see this light. Unless the problem stemmed from within.

And the problem that I had to deal with right now was my own problem, the problem inside of me, that meant something was definitely wrong with me.

How on earth was I supposed to go out of town and expect to find myself magically parked in front of Ms. Toffy's house? I didn't even know where she lived! All that fuelled by pure curiosity? The things curiosity itself could make you do.

All these thoughts were roaming freely around my head—I had even taken literary liberty in them—as I gazed out the bus window, a wide variety of grasslands was the only sight visible, lining the sides of the road.

It was at this time that I was beginning to regret my awful decision, when I was probably halfway there.

The good thing is, Ms. Toffy wasn't the one to keep secrets, at least little ones, so she told me her dream home would be at the middle of a grassland, just off the road.

I just had to keep a lookout for stranded houses in the middle of nowhere, there were surprisingly many of them—too many actually, but most looked abandoned and were already rotting, falling apart. I am not taking the idle chance to go look into them. Who knows what lurks in their murky depths? I could get lost and before a random bus appears, it would take hours, assuming it would even stop its tracks for me. Then I would simply be gone, forever that is. I would starve to death reinforced by freezing and dry into dust. That's the problem.

And I made sure I didn't ponder on that anymore, death was the last thing I needed to think about at the moment.

My potential destination appeared from farther down the wall. The huge body of a building emerged. A house. The bus came level with it and I was able to make a good mental picture.

I took the chance and informed the bus driver that this was my stop, praying that I wouldn't have to unluckily get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

The bus driver drove the vehicle into a halt and looked at me weirdly, like Kyle did. "You live here, young lady?" He asked.

"Oh. Yes." I said as I got off my seat and went for the exit, "My aunt and I settle here." There was obviously nothing the driver could do about that, so he shrugged simply and pushed on the brakes immediately after I had boarded out.

I stepped off the road and landed on surprisingly soft ground, but several twigs cracked under the soles of my shoes as I stumbled on them, not quite stumbling myself.

I gazed up into the sky, it was dark, not from the rain clouds but the approaching night. The sun that had hidden itself within the clouds was now beginning to set its giant ball of fire down the horizon, leaving darkness in its wake as it brought light to other settings. The signs of a storm were still visible, the water that had seeped into the ground was what made it soft and squishy, but there were no puddles, of mud or the water itself. The ground was completely clear, unlike the sky. The storm clouds had decided they wanted to hang for a while, happily releasing a light drizzle after a heavy downpour from their place high above, slightly trickling off my face as I stared into them. Tiny bolts of light ran through them but discharged no sound. That was good. If there truly happened a strong strike of lightning bursting from up there somewhere, it would have made facing the house in front me even more petrifying.

It was fairly huge in its bulk. It was several feet as tall as it was wide. Three windows lining the top floor and two at the ground. There was a chance Ms. Toffy lived alone. Why a large house? I was beginning to fear that I had come to the wrong door. I knocked on it anyway. I walked down a wet concrete path up a stair, standing inside a porch that housed several pots of flower plants and a wooden white door. The flowers, each unique in their structure and colour, glimmered in what little remained of the sunlight, the grandeur they emanated visualized their good health and longevity.

When my knock had went unanswered, I knocked again and went to the flowers to get a sniff of their freshness. Indeed, they were freshly watered. The flowers, two or three in each six pots, looked and smelled as beautiful as whoever might have planted them, that person needed an award for doing such great work on these flowers. I wouldn't be surprised if it were Ms. Toffy. She had a sort of gentleness and care when handling things, whether they were children or plants.

And she chose to take care of the right flowers for that matter. The pots were arranged in order. The last two had roses growing in them, which were uncannily my favourite type of flower and daffodils stood tall from the two pots placed in the middle of all them, giving way for the first two pots that kept the tallest plants of them all. Sunflowers.

They were my brother's favourite.

"They look beautiful, don't they?" A soft voice spoke behind me. I didn't retreat from the flowers, knowing to whom the voice belonged to. I hadn't heard the sound of the door opening, that was enough to tell me who it was. I knelt and touched the soft petals of the sunflowers, inhaling their painfully familiar scent. "They smell just like him."

"They do."

I felt someone place their lenient hand on my left shoulder, the right occupied with the green bag I carried with me.

I turned to finally look at Ms. Toffy, her cherry blonde hair slowly swaying through the calm breeze that managed to settle itself within the porch from outside. My eyes, as they were staring into her own periwinkle blue ones, were glazed with tears. "I miss him." I sobbed.

"Me too."

We both stayed there studying the flowers for as long as the sun would allow, it was almost close to concluding its journey down the horizon as Ms. Toffy reached down with her hands to squeeze mine gently, "Come on, let's get in. The sun's going down soon." She reminded me.

"Oh. Yeah." I quickly stood up and reached to wipe my tears away, I've done enough of this pitiful crying for today.

"Are you okay?" Ms. Toffy asked as we made our way into the house and then to the vivacious living room that accommodated a three-seater sofa, another two-seater sofa and two arm-chairs, there was a relatively large floor space with in this room. The tiles were intricately arranged and designed into beautiful waving patterns, leading to a huge brick fireplace built into the middle of the wall, the arm-chairs were placed in front of it. Ms. Toffy gestured for me to sit on one of them, they were facing each other.

She disappeared into the opening of the wall at the right side of the living room, passing the bottom of a staircase that led upstairs.

I sat where I was and gawked around, marvelling at the wonders of the house. The entrance was quite elegant to begin with, the door mat resting on the floor made from fabric read the embroidered 'Welcome' dyed a yellow over a red backdrop. The curtains that draped over the two windows I spotted from outside were fashioned in a velvety mauve. The walls were tinted a beautiful peach.

So as the rest of the house.

This didn't create an odd sense of one, but many. The multiple bulks of furniture themselves scattered around were covered in varying hues, not giving way for any kind of simplicity.

A rather small table was placed between the arm-chair that I was seated on and the one opposite, a beautifully designed teapot and two cups that joined it were on the table. A trickle of steam seeped up from out of the teapot's mouth, producing the delicate aroma that hinted the presence of ginger and chamomile from whatever was inside. Oh. Tea.

The sudden movement and the splash of liquid into one of the tiny cups made my eyes waver from the large fireplace before me, even though there were no logs or fire. The only light in the room came from the chandelier dangling from up the middle of the ceiling.

"Here." I heard Ms. Toffy say as she poured the tea into the cup and placed a plate of cookies beside it, finding herself a seat on the duplicate chair across from me. "Help yourself. What better way to celebrate the rain than with my homemade cookies and a good cup of tea? Your favourite, especially?" She sat back on the chair, content with herself.

"Oh, yeah. It's the best." I muttered, holding up the cup of tea by its round tiny handle, placing its rim passed my lips and into my mouth. The heat of the tasty liquid warmed my cold tongue and throat, the effects of the crying that I succumbed myself to today had been washed away by the simple tea Ms. Toffy had made for me.

After a few sips of the tea and several bites of the chocolate-flavoured cookies that had been morphed into different shapes and sizes, that was when I realized how hungry I let myself be. I sighed as I lightly patted the shape of a box denting the green bag resting on my lap. Eating would have to wait until I set this one problem out.

My curiosity.

"SO..." I regarded Ms. Toffy out loud after clearing myself of any cookies or crumbs that might have found themselves on me. "How have you been?"

"I know why you're here, Carrie." Ms. Toffy said almost immediately. "Though, I have been fine for a while now. Until someone decided they had to come here unannounced."

"You were... expecting someone?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"You."

"Why did you leave the school?" The question was finally asked, the answer was the only thing I had to dread for now.

"I quitted." That was too simple.

"You quitted? But why?"

"I thought you came here to ask how I was."

"I am. What happened?" Realization hit me almost a second later. "Is it about the factory?" I gasped. "Is it going out of business and your family needs you?"

"That's too many questions."

"Please answer at least one of them. No one was able to tell me what happened today! Not even Levi!"

"Is this out of curiosity or care?"

"Care." I mumbled, she was shaking her head and chuckling.

"How is Levi doing anyway?"

"Great, I guess." I lied, if she wouldn't answer my questions, why should I?

"Yeah, sure. Your face gladly tells me otherwise." Ms. Toffy and her face-reading clichés. "It gives too much away." I wish I could invisibly facepalm myself.

"Yeah. She literally just forced me and Kyle to be friends today. How great." I muttered.

"Kyle? The Rennerds boy? Why would she—"

"It was to replace a punishment she was going to give us."

"Oh my god. I've only been gone for a day. What did you two do now?"

"Literally nothing! I just spaced out in class! I'm not even sure what happened with Kyle though, Mr. Busher just sent us to her."

"Mhm." Ms. Toffy hummed in response. "I bet you did something more. Ms. Levi would never do anything that unnecessary. Forcing you two to be friends? Even a four-year-old would laugh at the idea. You're just not that compatible. And I know that better than anyone else, you know."

"Yeah. I know." Silence filled the air for a few minutes.

"So, how are you two doing then?"

"Can I lie, please? I don't wanna say we're doing good."

"Your face says just enough. I told you so. Kyle is... quite likeable, I can say."

"Definitely not."

"Hmm, I would disagree."

"I... guess he isn't that bad? But trust me, if he were to be an actor, he would never cut it. So, tell me, why did you leave? You wouldn't have made us do that if you were our principle, right?"

"Not really. I might actually consider it. Ms. Levi might be bold and deliberate, but she can be a lot smarter and considerate too. I've worked with her for so long. Even surprisingly before I became the principle of that school. She was my personal assistant."

I wandered my eyes around me, "What happened to that?"

"I told her to step it down on a notch after becoming my official assistant when I became a principal, I told her it would be best if she did less."

"But not pay her less?"

"Mhm. Why would I? It would be unfair if I did, you know."

"Yup. I truly do know."

"How's home? Your work? I can't believe you came all the way here when you have to go to your work."

"Hey, I don't have to go until..." I checked my watch, it flickered the figures '6:32 p.m.'. I didn't have to go to work until 8. I still had plenty of time.

"Until...?" Ms. Toffy prompted, raising her perfectly lined eyebrow.

"Until the time comes, I still have more time though. And home... Mr. and Mrs. Park are doing pretty good. No more grouching going on, yet."

"So, when are you going back? Don't you think they'll be worried?"

"Worried? They wouldn't care less about me. The only reason they'll even bother is if I won't be able to pay them rent anymore."

"How are you holding up on that?"

"Great. I'm doing great. Really."

"Carrie, if you need anything—and I mean anything, you can co—"

"It's okay. I'll be fine. I've been alone for a long time now."

"Oh."

"Like, aren't you gonna tell me anything, for goodness' sake? Did I come here for nothing?"

"Oh, so that's what you're really here for, hm?"

"It doesn't matter. Why won't you say anything?"

"Because... I don't know if you'd want to hear it."

"Is it really that bad? I literally had to spend more than 5 minutes talking to my greatest enemy!"

"Your enemy? Kyle is your enemy?"

"Well, he is, but that's not the point. Are you sure you're okay? Don't tell me, did you catch an incurable disease or something?"

"Uh..." She was out of words. Ms. Toffy's face scrunched in obvious pain.

"Um... Ms. Toffy? Are... you okay?" I asked in worry.

Sweat trickled down her shining forehead, "Oh, of course. Yes. I'm fine." She chuckled nervously.

"Are you sur­—"

"No, don't worry. I'm really, really fine." She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and forced a smile.

"Your face isn't telling me that, you know." I countered with her own trick. She might be able to read me, but I was able to do that too. Except, maybe, less effectively. "Ms. Toffy?"

"How many times am I going to tell you, Carrie, dear? Call me Chenille!"

I winced at her sudden outburst, she was finally back to normal.

"You know I can't call you that. It doesn't seem... right to me."

"I know. But I'm not your principal anymore. You can call me by my name now." She sighed in annoyance. "You just had to ruin it by calling me that. What am I, your third-grade teacher?"

"You're like my sister­—"

"Then refer to me as that then. Please. I really, really don't fancy formalities. Okay, if you really don't like it just call me Toffy then. Deal?"

"Sure, Ms.— I mean Toffy." I cringed at uttering that. "What happened? Are you really okay? If you want me to refer to you as my sister, you gotta tell me what happened. Sisters don't keep secrets, right?"

"Yes, they don't." She slumped her shoulders in defeat. "It's just that... my family's been going through a lot these days, I don't know if you'd want to hear anything about it."

"I'm your family too, aren't I? I'm basically part of it!"

Toffy gave me an apologetic look. "Not in that way, dear."

"What do you mean? You were with my brother. Of course, you're automatically my sister, then!" She winced at my extremely loud tone. My face fell, "You... don't see me that way?"

"No! No, of course I do. It's just... being in a family like mine is so hard and... I don't want to drag you into this mess. You know that."

"Well, I don't wanna know. Just tell me what happened! That's it!"

"Fine."

"Um..." A brief stillness froze the living room's atmosphere, the air seemed like it had wanted to take a break. And it felt it did.

A few painful seconds later, Toffy decided to articulate what had happened. "Okay." She breathed, attempting to calm herself. "Here goes."

"Why are you making it sound like it's such a big deal?"

"Because it is, you have no idea how much has messed up."

"Okay, let's not stray then. I want to know."

"The truth is... I retired." Toffy quieted down to let that sink into the air, nearly choking me in the process.

"Retired? What? Why? How?"

"One topic at a time. I'll explain it to you anyway. You see... my family's business is actually starting to decline—"

"—I knew it! I knew it had something to do with the factory! But why?"

"You're not letting me explain. Don't you want to know so badly?"

I nodded my head vigorously. "I do. I do."

"Okay, then listen carefully and don't interrupt. Got it?"

"Okay, okay. Tell me!"

Toffy made sure to waste a few precious seconds inhaling and exhaling before she did so. "Okay. So, as you already know, Toffy's is falling back in its sales and industry, it's really doing badly. My family's doing everything they can to sustain it, it's working but barely. So, unfortunately, they eventually needed me. Now here I am, claiming that I had retired when literally I just switched on to another job. But I'm sure that after all this is over, I'll never, never have to work again. I've finally got to find my real purpose in life."

"Oh. That's it?"

"What are you expecting? Something more... juicy? There's nothing really that interesting about a candy factory, just promotes more dentist visits, that's what I can say about it. It's my family's business whatsoever, there's never really anything exciting enough that happens, it's just business. But of course, I have to respect the right that I hold in it."

"Okay." I looked down at the carpeted ground, twirling my toes around the soft fabric, like grass. "Really? That's it?"

"Yes. Absolutely. Does that mean you'll be leaving then?"

"Do... you want me to?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Depends on whether you actually will or will not be a nuisance." She knocked back a hearty laugh when she saw the change in my expression, looking at her shocked. "Just kidding. You can go whenever you want. We're really done."

"Except there's one thing... I could just give it to you when you decide to leave. So, when are you considering to?"

"I don't know if I wanna go back home—"

"Aren't you leaving for your job first?"

"Yeah, of course." I sighed. "But... one day off won't hurt..."

"Nope. No way. As much as I don't agree with the fact that you are working at all, I do know that you've got to learn to be responsible and discipline yourself. What would your employer think? Whoever that person is might let you off the hook for once—"

I coughed.

Toffy raised an eyebrow, then realization dawned on her face and she rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Are you kidding me? You mean you haven't been going to work for more than one time?"

"Actually, I haven't been to the shop since... well, since a few weeks ago—"

"What?!" Toffy settled deeper into her chair to calm herself down. "Why?" she asked softly.

"You know... Because of what happened."

"Oh. Of course. But why haven't you ever told me? It's already been a month since, you must have been struggling too much." She lowered her head and gazed deep into the carpet, digging her delicate feet into the grass-like wonders of its features.

Toffy slowly glanced up at me, ridding the silence of the chance to actually clog our throats. "Carrie, I know you don't want me to tell you this but... You have to understand. He's long gone."

That was when my emotions threatened to burst out after they had been triggered. "No! Please. You can't say that!"

"Oh, I can. I understand. I felt it too. I felt the loss. But it's high time you snap back to reality, Carrie. Do something about yourself. Corey would've wanted that."

"No! He wouldn't! In fact, I'm pretty sure he still would've left me."

"He told you he wouldn't, he promised—"

"—But he broke his promise." I said solemnly, this time I was surprisingly able to suppress the emotions moulding inside of me from erupting.

"Carrie, you know that's not true."

"Then why did he have to leave?" I was beginning to loosen my grip.

"What are you talking about?" I huffed a heavy deep breath and looked down at the green bag that I had placed on my lap. I zipped it open and peered my hand into it to retrieve the extra load that had made carrying the bag a tad bit harder than usual. I pulled out my laptop.

I set down the silver device on the small table beside me after moving the teapot, teacup and the small plate sprinkled with crumbs far off the edge, almost tossing them out. Toffy automatically offered to fetch more of the tea and cookies but I just shook my head at her.

"You have to see this." I told her. She nodded and picked them up instead before they eventually smashed against the ground.

"What's going on?" Toffy queried when she came back from disappearing into the large opening on the wall.

"I'm just gonna show you something." I said as I drew up the laptop's screen, pressed the on button located at the top right corner of the keyboard, and waited for it to load. The hum of electricity indicating that the device was turning on was the only sound tuning the suffocating hush that surrounded the room.

As soon as the window's logo appeared on the screen and loaded, I immediately clicked to access a recording app. Where there were various recordings or audio that I kept in there. Or my brother did, more so. This laptop was the only closest thing I had that belonged to him. It's been a considerably long time since I actually used it. If I wanted to browse the internet or complete a homework or project that requires it, I usually go to the computer lab at school.

And since, unfortunately, Mr. Park was very superstitious about having these types of devices at home, having it with me was not something that happened regularly. Instead, it laid in my locker collecting dust.

I took in a deep breath and dreadfully searched for the recording that I was looking for.

"This may sound cliché, like in a lame spy movie." I told Toffy upon clicking on what I intended to, not yet letting it play. "But I remember Corey telling me he wanted you to hear this." I pointed at the recording on the screen with my forefinger to punctuate what I had just elaborated.

Toffy nodded, like she had known that all along, "He did." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah." I replied anyway. I hadn't gotten the time or effort or heart or courage to actually listen to it after... everything that happened. Corey told me to hear it with Toffy if anything was to happen to him. Back then, I foolishly regarded what he said as a sick joke, but it wasn't. And now, he was gone because of me.

Before the torrent of emotions came crashing its wrath down on me, I quickly pressed the play button and slit my eyes shut, slumping back on the chair that decided to suddenly feel comfortable enough to sleep on. But it wasn't sleeping that I had to do now—even though I wanted to so bad. I finally needed to listen to what Corey had to say.

A guttural sound came from the laptop, followed by a cough, and then came forth the painfully familiar voice that boomed out of the laptop's speaker. It made it sound like he was here. Like he was really here.

'He isn't. And he'll never be. Ever! Stop being nonsensical.' I scold myself, I didn't have time to deal with the mess striving to burst out of me at the moment.

"Hello." Corey's voice resonated out of the laptop. "Let me try not to imagine what must have happened to me when you hear this..." I cringed in my seat, my eyes flickering open in little slits. I caught Toffy squirming irritably in her seat too.

"Yeah, I shouldn't..." He continued, I could feel him shaking his head at himself in disbelief. But the fear in his tone was what made me quiver.

"Care, you're there, aren't you?" He asked, in a way that he sounded so sure I could answer him, like he believed I could delve straight into the laptop and time travel to his side to assure him. That surely wasn't going to happen.

"Chenille, love. I hope you're there too." I moved one of my eyelids open and saw Toffy tilting her head in response, her face beginning to glaze with fresh tears. I closed my eyes immediately, not wanting to do the same. It was horribly contagious.

"I need you two both to listen to me carefully. There's something... there's something really horrible going on. And..." he hesitated for a few seconds. "I want you both to be safe. Really, I..." His voice was starting to hitch now. "I need you both to promise me you won't come looking for me when you hear this. But if I'm already gone... Just don't do anything. Do what I say instead. Chenille, love, I want you to return to your family. I can't tell you why but you shouldn't have any business in that school anymore. And Care... You have to trust me. You have to do this for your own need and good, for your own safety..." He paused, catching his breath. What he uttered next literally made my own breathing snag.

"Go back to our parents."