I am trying not to show any emotions and fight back the tears to keep myself from freaking out my younger siblings. This is the worst day of my life. The worst of all is that I have to hide my feelings for the whole funeral. My devastated dad is sitting in the corner of the room looking like he is frozen. As I went up to my mom’s coffin my little brother Cody went over to my dad. I am too upset to stop him.
“Where is mommy?” asks my 5 year old sister, Taya.
“She is… she is on a long trip.”
“When will she be back?”.
“I don’t know.”
The truth is that she died from a disease that no one knows much about, and it is spreading through the city, and only the adults get infected.
The funeral is so depressing I almost get up and walked out of the room. I miss my mom so much. She was caring, kind , generous, and everyone loved her. I don’t know what I will do with my mom dead and my dad very sick. The funeral feels like hours and hours of misery.
When the funeral is over we are heading back home. I am completely speechless.     
When we get home it’s completely silent. I go to the kitchen table to sit down and try to process what just happened. My dad is going to his room to probably just sit there like someone who is possessed. Taya goes to watch TV with Cody. The TV is blasting. “Turn it down,” I whisper. They did not hear me. “Turn it down” I say. They hear me, but ignore me. “Turn it down!” I scream.
I immediately hear Taya cry.
“Nice job,” says Cody.
“Shut up!” I shriek. I can’t believe I just yelled at my little sister and brother.  With Mom gone and Dad out it, I need to take care of them. 
“I’m sorry Taya; I did not mean to scream at you like that.”
“It’s okay,” she whimpers.
The day is finishing with a silent house. I am not able to go to sleep.

In the morning I can’t not stop thinking about this crazy disease. I need to find out more information on it and I have to go now before it is too late.There must be some stuff on it.
“Bye, I am going to the library. Be back soon.”
“I wanna go,” Cody demands.
“Fine, but it might be pretty boring,” I respond.
“It can’t be more boring than this place.”
“I wanna go too,” Taya says.
“No. It is way too dangerous for you to go out.” 
“How are you supposed to get there with no car,” Taya asks with attitude.
The little devil is right. I will just walk to the library.
“Let’s go right now then.”
“Okay!”
We live high up in an apartment building and the elevator is out. I try to limit the times I go outside so I don't have to walk down so many stairs.
“When will these dumb people get the evalator fixed?,” asks Taya.
“Hopefully soon, and it’s an elevator” I respond. “Let’s just try to get through this without any complaining.”
“This stinks,” Cody whines. 
I glare at Cody.
“I’m not complaining, I am just saying what I feel in an annoyed tone,” Cody complains.
The streets are one my least favorite places. Not because of the people or the smell or even how dangerous it can be. It is because my mom and I used to always walk through here just to talk. It was the only place and time I could really think. It was my favorite time of the day. Now I only think of it as a smelly dump.
“There is the library,” Taya proudly announces.
“Oh thank god,” I say under my breath.
As I am walking I see that there are only two other people in the library. One man with a long brown beard and a ratty old green shirt that barely fits him. He is also wearing khakis that show the bottom part of his leg and his sandals. The other person is an old woman that is wearing a nice sweater and jeans. These two people are dressed so differently. 
I have not been to the library in a long time. It is like an ancient museum to me. I remember it differently. Whatever. The librarian is a really old lady with glasses that cover her whole face. She reminds me of a book owl that was in one of stories my Mom used to read to me. 
“Excuse me, what genre of books do you have on diseases?” I ask.
“Well dear there are a lot: science fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, and even some fantasy.”
“Um, okay, where are the nonfiction books?”.
“Right over there,” she points to where the man is.
“Thank you.”
“No problem darling.”
As we start to walk over to the nonfiction books he starts to stare at us.
“Do not talk to that man,” I say.
“Why not? He seems nice,” Taya says.
“Just don’t.”
There were so many books I do not know where to start looking. Finally, I see a book that catches my eye. It says The Covert Disease. I never heard of that before so I look inside it. It starts out like this:

The world is not what you think. This so called city has been lying to all of us for generations. What you think is technology, created by scientists, are just pieces of witchcraft created by wizards. They were bribed by the government after the world was destroyed by nuclear weapons.

Wait, what?!, I think in my head. Did he say wizards? What is this guy talking about? I decide to keep on reading:

I know what you’re thinking: “This is crazy! Who would believe this nonsense?” But, I have proof. I used to be part of the central council, which I now regret, since I know that tyrants are the only people there. They have hidden hundreds of secrets, and have told the people none. You may think that you know something about this world, but you have no idea what happens. The wizards even cast a disease that affects all of the elders. Now, you can either trust me, or fall back into the hands of the oppressors. If you want to save the infected people, come to my lab.

I am in complete shock. I am just standing still thinking about what I just read.
“Are you okay?” asks Cody.
“Let’s go home!” I say.
As we are heading home Cody and Taya keep asking me what I read in that book.
“Don’t worry about it. It does not involve you.”
“If it has anything to do with dad or mom or this crazy disease, it does involve me,” Cody says.
I hesitated.
“Fine, you’re right,” I respond.
“It talks about how that we are living a fake life.”
“What?” Cody asks.
“I said--”
“No I heard you, I’m just confused about what you just said,” Cody responds.
“It’s okay, I know how to save dad now.”

I bust open the door excited to tell my dad that I know how to save him.
“Hey dad, I know how to save you. This book in the library told that there are these wizards that control our world and they are the reason why there is this horrible disease. All I have to do is go to this guy’s science lab and he will help us. I don’t really know where it is though. I am sure I will find it on the internet.”
“No, you are not going, it is way too dangerous and I won’t let you risk your life for me.  Besides, the scientist won’t help you,” Dad says.
“Why not?” I ask.
“Because that guy is your uncle. And he hates me.”
“Why?”
“Because he thinks I don’t deserve your mom at all.”
“Well that is not true,” Taya says.
“Thank you darling,” my dad responds.
“Well, I will make him give me the antidote, no matter what it takes,” I firmly say.
“Just tell me where his lab is please,” I beg.

I now know what I must do to save my dad. In the morning I will start my voyage with my siblings to find the antidote.

When I wake up I am so nervous. I must put the feelings behind me. I go into my siblings’ rooms to go wake them up. After that we quietly sneak out of the house so my dad does not know what we are doing. I leave him a note so that he at least knows where we are.
When we get to the road I tell my brother and sister that this will be not be fun but dangerous and has only one purpose, to get the antidote for the disease.

So far it has been easy to find shelter and food since I brought all of my life stash of money and asked my siblings for their stash of money. The only complaint so far is that Taya and Cody will not stop fighting.

We are now pretty close to our uncle’s science lab. I decide that it will be quicker to cut through an abandoned national park.
“Are there any crazy animals here?,” Cody asks.
“Of course not,” I reply
“I am pretty sure that we should go this way,” I say.
As we are walking we hear a very loud noise.
“What is that?,” Taya asked.
“I am not quite sure, it is probably nothing,” I say.
I hope that it is not a bear that is starving and smells us.
“Who wants to race?,” I ask, trying to get all of us to start running.
“Me!” Taya excitedly says.
“Okay, let’s go!”.
As we are running I know that the thing is chasing us. It is suddenly very close to us. I am trying to distract it from chasing Cody and Taya by throwing sticks at the beast. Don’t you dare hurt my brother and sister. It won’t look at me.
I am yelling, “Heyy, heyy, look at me,” to get the beast’s attention on me. I look ahead so I don’t trip and fall.
“Ahhhh! It is going to eat me,” Cody screams.
I look over and see the beast about to eat Cody. I immediately run over and push Cody out of the way to safety.
“Ow! Oh my god,” I holler in pain.
“I am so sorry,” Cody says.
“It is fine, this is-cough, cough- not your fault. I love you guys so much.”
“I love you too,” Cody responds.
My body is feeling some sort of hazy tingle like I am a mist.
I feel like I am floating. I can see Cody and Taya throwing rocks at the messed up beast. I don’t know why but it is making weird noises and shrieking. Now it is running away. It must be infected by radiation.
I see Taya and Cody run over to me crying and screaming. I want to tell them I am okay and I will miss them so much. I also want to tell them they need to go on and find the cure. Ten minutes have passed and Taya and Cody are still laying over me crying.
Cody gets up, wipes his tears away, and says that he and Taya must go on for dad and for me. He is saying that the only way to redeem me is to find that antidote. He is practically trying to drag Taya away from my body. Finally she lets go.
“Come on, we must go,” Cody says.
“He is… he is… dead,” Taya whimpers.
“I know, but we have to go. This is what Gage wants,” Cody replied.
“Okay,” Taya agrees.
Before they leave Taya runs over to me and gives my cold, dead body a warm hug. Even though I am dead, I feel this hug.
I am following Cody and Taya to see where they are going. Just as Cody and Taya are about to give up, we all hear a loud noise that is coming from a distance. Cody and Taya follow that noise.
They come to a stop in the woods when the noise stops.
“It is no use, we will never find this place,” Taya says.
“Do not say that, do not give up,” Cody announces.
The noise comes back. It sounds much closer this time. Cody and Taya walk some more and then freeze, there it is, the science lab.