The door opened and he grinned, ‘Bags I the biggest Bedroom!’ and sprinted in and up the stairs. ‘Bastard!’ she shouted and chased after him. ...She found him lying on an old twin bed in one of the upstairs front rooms. ‘My room!’ he teased. ‘We’ll soon see about that!’ and she flew at him landing square on top of him. He fought back by tickling her, she tried desperately to fight back but he was stronger and had longer arms, and she was soon helpless… and wrapped in his arms. She stopped. .. of silence. Just dead air, and the creaking sounds of an old house settling in the rapidly cooling weather.I needed to get laid. I needed my girlfriend. I missed DJ.Maybe she wouldn't mind if I drove down to visit?But then maybe she would. Already, I'd seen the energizer-bunny of a hot blonde girl get more and more tired as the months rolled on. Papers were piling on top of midterms, which were piling on top of her SAT preparations. She already had a decent score from the previous Spring,. Presently Merie’s dad joined him.“She’s gone,” he said as he handed Brock an envelope.Brock feared the worst.“You don’t mean,” he said, leaving his thought unfinished.“No,” Sam said. “Not that. She just up and left. She wanted me to bring that to you.”Brock unsealed the envelope with shaking hands and read what Merie had written.Brock (it read),_I’m sorry but this is what I need to do. The last months have been terrible. Not just for me but for you, too. It hurts me to know that I’m causing you. "To find out if my fear was real or only in my head, in my mind. I did not want to fear a shadow, something that wasn't real. And I found that it was so, I was afraid of something that was not real. You're not fearsome, you're a lot like us. Different too, yes, very different in many ways, but not a kind of difference to fear, just ... a difference."There was a long silence. Nobody moved. Then at last the mother spoke again. "You humans have taught us very much in many ways. You teach us again.