"No thank you. I can take care for myself." Gaven sort of shrugged and then turned around, and walked off. Before I thought anything could get any worse it began thundering as loud as possible. The thunder echoed in my ears until I was sure they were going to explode. I covered my ears with my hands and dropped to my knees on the wet, muddy ground. Sat there for a moment and looked at the sky, then dropped on my stomach. I made circles over my stomach with the tips of my fingers until the storm had stopped. There was nothing around me, just mud and dirt. No houses, no trees, and no people. I heard someone scream from behind me and I turned around to see Ryly running twords me with her hands out stretched. "Madiline!" She screamed as she flung her arms around me.

"Where have you been! Are you alright?" She ask me. Shouldn't I be asking you this question? I thought. "Yeah yeah I'm fine. What happened to you?" "Me? Oh, nothing. Nothing." "Are you sure?" She nodded her head, avoiding eye contact. I grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at me and then spoke to her directly. "What happened to you when you were taken." "Nothing. I was just tortured for a while and then I was let go." She pulled back her sleeve and showed me her wrists. "See? Just some scratches." She shrugged and pulled her sleeve back down. She seemed more worn out, older, weaker then she was last I saw her but I pretended not to notice the difference. "So. I've noticed the tummy." "What?!" I screamed, looking down at my stomach. "Did you and Gaven finally decide to get married and have a kid?" I shook my head violently and pointed at her, "No! I am pregnant but not with Gaven! With another boy named Greg. I don't know him anymore." She gave me an odd look and then lifted up my shirt and placed her hand on my stomach.

"It's cold." She said. "Yeah. I guess." I rolled my eyes at her and then laughed. She grabbed my hand and started leading me somewhere. "Come on, we're going to go to my car and drive back to my new house to get your baby checked out." "Why?" "I'll explain later. There's no time." I walked to her car with her and got inside, playing along with whatever she thought was wrong with me or my baby. After about thirty minutes we got to a house that had one other car at it and people roaming around inside. When she got me out of the car she opened the front door and lead me to the couch. On the other end of the couch there was a little boy and an older man about in his twenties with his arm around the little boy. "Hey Kyle I need you to take Arthur into another room and call the doctor for her okay?" The older man stood up and took the little boy in his arms and carried him off into somewhere in the house.

An hour later another car pulled up in the drive-way and out stepped a small man dressed in a white cloak. He held a suit case in his left hand and held another silver object in his right. When he knocked on the door Ryly answered it and the small man stepped inside. "Where is she?" He ask. "She's right here, I think something is wrong with her baby." He nodded his head in a sort of slow way and then placed his hands on my stomach. He frowned and squinted his eyes real hard at my stomach for a long time like he was trying to see somthing. "I can't find anything, but I'll come back next week and check it out again." Before Ryly could even pay him he left and got in his car and drove off. The man who Ryly called Kyle sat down next to me and placed his hand on my stomach. "Ryly?" He began, "I don't think anything is wrong with her. I think you just want something to be." Ryly didn't say anything back but we all knew it was true.

"She's too young to have a child. It'll ruin her reputation." "Ryly, it's still not fair to claim that something is wrong with her baby just because you think she is too young. When you had your first child with that Thomas kid you were even younger than her so don't try and pull that." "I'm trying to prevent her from humiliation!" Ryly walked out of sight and into another room with the little boy Arthur I'm guessing.

I spent only about two weeks with them before I left. I planned on going back home, but on the way there I head someone following me. Whispering things behind me and then disapearing when I turned around. I looked around for a long time and then strated walking again. Hands grabbed my sides and whirled me around. One hand grabbed my wrist and another closed my mouth. A quick surge of panic went through me but when I saw his face my whole body relaxed. It was Layne. I smacked his hand off my mouth and then looked at him sternly, "Layne! Why are you here!" "I couldn't stand not seeing you." "Layne, we had a one percent chance of making it anyways." He shrugged and then tried to convince me, "Maybe we could be that one percent." Could we be that one percent that makes it? "What about if we have kids?" "Then we have kids." "But how will we keep them safe from the towns?" He smiled now and grabbed my hand, "We run away."

After that we ran, not stopping for any breaks or food. We ran until we came to a little cottage house. My house. I looked at him as he let go of my hand and nudged me twords the house. I slowly walked up and lightly knocked on the door. Seconds later a little boy with bonde hair opened a crack in the door. Madison. Tears filled in my eyes as I kneeled down to meet his highth. "Madison? It's me, Madeline." His eyes opened wide and the door flung open in a matter of seconds. At that point he was wrapped in my arms and another boy came running ou the door. Ragen. After a long time we stopped hugging and I pulled them back so I could talk to them. "Where's mom?" Madison turned around the pointed inside the house with a scary looking face. I stood up and reached for Layne behind me who was already at my side. I grabbed his hand and walked inside. "Mom? Are you here?" No one answered. I walked infront of Ferris' door and then knocked on the smooth wood. A weak "yes" came from the inside. I opened the door, it creaking all the way open.

"Mom? It's me. I'm back." My mom didn't move, she smiled. But didn't move. "Hello Madeline! Where have you been dear?" She ask in a very slow, weak voice. "Every where. I'm pregnant." I heard someone make a stuttering sound and then turned around to see Madison who was about ten now standing there. Jaw wide open, eyes too. My mom took her weak finger tips and ran them across my stomach. "To bad I'm not going to live to see it huh guys?" Madison and Ragen nodded their heads and they curled up into bed with my mother. Madison grabbed her hair and twirled it around in his fingers. "Mom's going to die soon. She's very sick." "Oh." I managed to say before choking on air. They were this young and already going to lose their mother? "Where are you boys going to live?" Madison shrugged his shoulders and looked back down at the hair in his hands. "It doesn't really matter." Ragen;s tiny voice spoke out. "Gaven comes to bring us food every day. We should be alright."

I held my breath until I started to get dizzy and the world began to spin, I didn't want to be here anymore. Layne grabbed my sides and pushed his lips to my ear, "Breathe." I let the air out of my lungs and began to function again. "So...You're dying mom?" She nodded her head but refused to actually say that she was. "It's a shame that you can't see the baby. It's due in about six months." She nodded and closed her eyes. Ragen covered up to her chin in blanket and Madison led us all out of the room and shut the door. "She needs some rest. You guys can sleep here for a while id you'd like." I looked at the couch, one of the placed that Gaven had protected me and I felt my body getting ready to cry. I landed in Layne's arms and thne began to cry. I didn't care who saw me anymore I just wanted this all to be over.

Madison and Ragen wrapped their little arms around me torso and held me along with Layne. After a while I stopped and sat on the couch with Layne's arm around me and the boys in my lap. "Maddie, we've all been really worried about you because came back here one day and told us everything that happened and we thought you wrre dead." I smiled at how mature Madison had gotten and I hugged him, "No. I'm very well alive."

For a minute, no one said anything. Not me, not Amy, not Nicole, or the little girl at the edge of my bed, who was named Leslie I discovered. Tears filled my eyes and ran down my face, still, no one said anything. I covered my face in my hands and felt the little girl crawl up beside me. "Don't cry June! We love you, and I'll help you with the baby if you want." But then she was removed from beside me, I looked up to see what had happened but all I saw was Nicole carrying Leslie out over her shoulder and Amy was leaving the room close behind her. A few minutes later my door swung back open and angry Nicole came barging in. "You took my little Layne's freedom! How dare you! Burn in Hell!" "Mum! I've had the baby for two months and I've only been here a week, how could it be Layne's!" She sat back a moment and actually thought about what I said before making further notes on the subject.

"It's another boy's. His name is Greg Stalk." "...Stalk? Does his father's name happen to be Gene?" I nodded my head, not sure where this convorsation would go next. "That boy? No, no! He was such a good little boy when I knew him! I grew up with Gene, up until the point he cheated on me with Jen his wife. They had five kids and the oldest was Greg, he use to baby sit Amy when she was a little girl." I didn't have anything to say, so I kept my mouth shut. She looked at me, waiting for a response she wasn't going to get. "Aren't you going to apologize?" I shook my head, "No. Because I did not ask. Greg asked me, and I only agreed because he seemed pretty embaressed when I didn't reconize what he was trying to do. So, no mum. I will not apologize." She didn't say anything else, she just stood up and left the room.

The next morning no one came in to wake me up, no one brang me break fast, no one even walked by my room. I slowly pulled back my blankets and walked very unsteadily to the door. Quietly opening it. I walked all around the house and found no one, before I actually let myself panic I walked into the kitchen, searching for a note or some sign of them coming back. Finally, I found a little slip of paper on the kitchen chair that I claimed as my own. "Dear June, we went to go get some food. Be back soon." I crumpled the note and sat down in the chair, allowing myself to rest. I picked up a strand of my now blonde hair and ran my fingers through it, twisting it this way and that. Attempting to braid it, then failing and trying again. It felt like only three minutes had gone by but when I looked at the clock, it had been over two hours that I had sat there playing with my hair.

I heard a loud bang and jumped up to the door to see what it was. Nicole was unloading Leslie and Amy from the car, but what was the bang? Then, Nicole grabbed the door and slammed it. Another bang. When they walked inside I had run to my room and was now pulling the blankets back up over my head, hoping they would think I hadn't woken up yet and they would come up to check on me. But no one came still. Finally, little foot steps stopped infront of my door. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping the door would open but nothing happened. The foot steps made no more steps, and the door made no  signs of being opened or even touched for that matter. After a while, the little foot steps wondered off again. I let out a sigh and sat up, "You're not even going to come wake me up?" I screamed at them. Soon enough, Nicole walked in my room. "June. I've decided that you staying here would not be the best choice for the girls. I don't want them to be influenced or, damanged by having an unmarried, young, pregnant woman in the house. You need to leave."

"You're kidding right?" Nicole looked down and shook her head. "I have no where to go! I'm eighteen almost nineteen, I can't go live in an orphanage!" "Maybe you'll be lucky and find another family." "No. No, I will not go live with another group of people that I'm going to get attached to and lose. I'm done." I grabbed my jacket from Layne's chair and walked out of the room, out of the house. Leslie called for me, but I just shut the door. I only walked about three miles before I began to get tired and dizzy, that's when I lost my dinner from the night before. I looked up and saw a muddy figure running twords me, running fast. So fast I turned around and tried to run away but soon stopped to puke again. Hands touched and rubbed my back and the muddy figure squatted down bside me. "You alright June?" I looked up at the person and tried to make out their face between the mud flowing down it and the rain pouring on it.

"Layne?" I asked, confused. The figure shook his head, "No. It's me, Gaven." I screamed in horror as he wiped the mud from his face. I started to back away but he grabbed onto my shoulder, "Maddie it's alright I love you!" "I don't love you though!" I waitied for him to hit me or something but nothing happened. He only let my shoulders go and dropped his head. "You want to come back with me Mad?"

After a minute Layne let me go and we walked out into the living room and sat down on th couch. Then, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," I nodded my head and Layne walked over to the door. There where guards standing there trying to look inside. "Uh...Mum! I need you to come here..." Nicole came out of the bathroom and walked over to the door. The guards began talking but they were too far away for me to hear anything so I walked over to the door with Layne, who put his arms around me as soon as he saw me. "Miss Dorn. We need your son to go with us to war. We don't have enough men to fill the camps so we need your son to help. He is of age and qualifies for the job." Nicole didn't say a word, neither did I. Nicole stood there for a moment and then burried her face in her hands and began to weep.

"We will be back in the morning to retrieve him. Have a good sleep ma'am." How can we sleep when the boy we love is going off to die in the morning? He can't take this, he'll die.  Me and Nicole both knew it too. The guards waiting for a response but didn't get one so they walked away. Nicole didn't say anything but walked up the stairs and shut her door and didn't come out for the rest of the night. Layne wouldn't look at me, he wouldn't talk because every time he tried to say something nothing would come out the way he wanted it to. Nothing made this okay, nothing could ever make it okay. "Come on. Let's go to bed and sleep while we can." I agreed with Layen and followed him to his room. He pulled down the blankets and lay me down on the bed and then layed donw next to me. He began to kiss me, my neck, and then he stopped. "Are you pure?" He asked. I wanted to say yes, but I'd be lying to him if I did. "...No." I said as softly as I could, hoping he thought I said yes. "What!" He flung himself across the bed to get away from me and stared at me like I was some sort of disgusting creature.

"What? Layne what's wrong?" "You...You're filthy!" "No it's okay Layne." Now I was crawling across the bed to get to him and kiss him again but he shoved me away and leaped off the bed. "With who." He demanded. "A boy named Greg...Greg Stalk." Layne nodded his head and then slammed his hand into his forehead. My head began to spin and I felt sick. I began to run for the bathroom but only made it a foot away from the bed before I gave away my dinner on Layen's floor. I expected him to run away in even more disgust but instead I felt him wrap his arms around me and  rub my back until I stopped. He got up and left the room for a minute and I thought for sure he wasn't coming back but a few moments later he came back in with a towel and wiped the puke from my mouth. But as soon as he was done, I began throwing up again. He sat there with me through it all though.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "I, I don't know." Then, I passed out in his arms. When I woke up in the morning he was packing his things and getting ready to head out the door until I called out for him. He turned around and smiled to see me up. He dropped his things and rushed over to me, "Were you going to leave without telling me good bye?" He laughed and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. "I was going to let you sleep. You needed some rest." "So you were going to leave me?" "I guess so." I tried to stand up but didn't have the strength or ability so I fell back down. Then, the sound of cars coming twords the house and Layne looked at me in a good bye way. He kissed me on the forehead and walked out of the room. I screamed after him and forced myself onto my feet, running down the stairs after him. "Don't take him away from me! You can't do it! Don't leave me Layne!" But by the time he turned around the soilders had his shoulders and were hauling him into the large box shaped car.

I screamed and then began puking again, I felt horrible. Last thing I remember was Layne blowing a kiss back to me and waving, then I passed out. When I woke up I was in Layne's bed, covered up in blankets and a sweaty body that soaked through the sheets. "Mum!" I screamed before puking onto the circle rug on the floor next to the bed. Nicole came rushing in with a bucket of steaming hot water and a cloth. She quickly, seeing what state I was in, rushed back out and brang in am empty bucket and a cold drink of water. She soaked the cloth in the boiling water and placed in on my forehead. It was so painful I began screaming at the top of my lungs until she took it off. "Sorry sorry sorry!" "It's okay mum." "I called a doctor and he's going to come in and see what's wrong with you. He'll be here soon."

A few hours later there was a knock at thedoor and Nicole went running to open the door. Soon enough there were foot steps coming up the stairs and a young man stood in the doorway, looking at me. He looked at me a moment andthen sat on the bed next to me. He poked my stomach and stuck a wooden thing in my mouth. "You're pregnant." "Wha...What?" "You're pregnant. See you guys later. You're due in six months." Then, he walked out.

Before I could ask anything Layne grabbed hold of my hand and said, "No matter what you hear in the middle of the night, you can't scream, or run, or cry. Don't do a thing, just let me take care of you." I nodded my head and layed back down. I heard the door open but didn't open my eyes to see who it was. Then, I felt Layne's body get up and block infront of me. He told me not to do anything so I stayed still, trusting him to take care of whatever was here. Then, it struck me. What was this town's horror? My eyes flashed open and I saw the same black cloaked people walking around in the room with numbers painted on their backs. "Oh my God..." I whispered as Layne shoved me further to the wall, covering me with the blanket and his body.

"Have you seen her?" I heard Gaven's voice say. I dug my face through Layne's arm and managed to see through the cracks between his body and arm. There was Gaven in A Watcher's cloak with number ten and eleven. They were looking for me, and I guess Chelle wasn't the only town with Watchers either. Prim, and maybe some others have them too. They didn't seem to want Layne or his family for anything, they were just looking for me. When they left Layne turned around and wrapped his arms around me, "Don't worry, I won't let them find you." I nodded my head and lcosed my eyes, watching Gaven's frantic eyes searching the room for me again. Then, he looked at me, reaching out for me. I opened my eyes and flung my arms away from Layne. Layne sat up as I twisted all around the bed, trying to get the feeling of Gaven's grabby hands off of my body.

I kicked and smacked at the air until Layne sat me in his lap and held down my arms and legs until I settled down, "June! I told you, they're not going to get you! I promise!" He dried the tears that were dripping off my chin and kissed me on the lips. "It's alright." I sighed and layed back down for the last few hours of night that we had. In the morning we were awoken by Layne's mother storming into the room and peeling the blankets off of us. "June, in the kitchen. Now. Layne. You to." Layne and me ran down to the kitchen and sat in chairs, waiting for mum to come in. When she did, there was a bottle of liquid in her hand and she was wearing an apron and rubber gloves. "Alright June. Come sit here in the chair." Slowly, I got up and sat down in the chair that was infront of her. I felt a wet feeling in my hair and realized she was pouring the liquid in the bottle on it.

"What are you doing?" "We are dying your hair blonde so The Watchers don't reconize you." I didn't say anything else, I didn't even know what dying hair meant. Was she going to burn all my hair off? Dying hair...Ew. I shook my head in a twitchy kind of way as the cold stuff ran down my neck. "Oh! Sorry about that dear. I'll wipe it off with a towel." I didn;t even bother to respond because again, I had no idea what she was talking about. Layne sat in the chair across from me, his patient eyes waiting. Watching. After a long time she tapped my shoulders and told me to stand up. Then, she walked me to the bathroom and told me to get in the shower. I watched as she walked out of the room and I peeled my shirt off the top of my head and then slid my pants off down my legs. One by one I put my feet into the large tub. Then, I turned the knob and it began raining in the spot I was standing, I was so startled I screamed. Layne rushed into the room, me being naked seemed to not bother him the least bit.

He walke dover to me and turned another knob that made the rain warmer. Then, he smiled at me and closed some sort of wall between us. I pressed my face up against it and watched a blurred vision of Layne shut the door. Then, I ran my fingers through my hair and let the warm rain continue to fall on me. I stayed in there for nearly an hour before someone opened the door and opened another door that trapped me inside the area that rained. Layne stood there, smiling. Then he held up a towel and wrapped it around me. "Mum!" He yelled as she opened the door behind him. She held out another towel and began scrubbing my hair with it. "When this is dry, you'll have blonde hair like mine." But, when it was dry it was not blonde. It looked more like straw and mud stuck all together. Mum ran her fingers through my hair and then looked at my face, "You don't like it?" "No, no mum! I like it but, I thought it would be like yours." She half smiled and then replied, "Your hair was too dark to make it like mine."

Layne walked back in the room and dropped his jaw and didn't say a word. Tears filled in my eyes and I covered my hair with my hands. "You hate it don't you!" I screamed. Layne rushed over to me and pulled my arms away from my head and grabbed my shoulders so I would look him in the eye. "no, no. June. You look beautiful. I was amazed by you beauty, I think you look wonderful." He brushed my bangs away from my face and kissed the top of my cheek bone. He grabbed the back of my head and pulled it into his shoulder.

She closed the door and then took a key out of her pocket and locked him in. "Hey!" I said, almost yelling. "You can't do that to him!" "Sure I can. And I can do it to you too." She said. Then, she grabbed my arm and lead me up the stairs into the room she locked Layne in. "You stay here till dinner!" She yelled. And with that, she hurried off and slammed the door. I screamed and threw things across the bed room and then suddenly stopped. This looked like an older boys room. Was it John's? I coulnd't remember what the bed room Layne had shown me earlier looked like so I began picking up the things I threw and putting them back where they belonged. I slowly sat down on the bed and brang my knees tight to my chest, letting little air into my lungs. I closed my eyes and began to rock myself back and forth, thinkning of Gaven. Gaven, why did I ever leave you? Are you alright? Gaven, I miss you! I forced back the tears in my eyes and removed the thoughts from Gaven that were beginning to come back into mind.

Finally, the door flung open and Layne's mother stood there. Looking at me sternley. "I thought about what you said. I have decided that I do need to stop treating Layne like a child. I guess I just don't want him to grow up. You know?" I nodded my head, having no clue what she meant. And then, she broke down in tears. "I just miss my John!" She cried. Then, she rushed for my arms that desperatley clung to my sides. Afraid to comfort her. I patted her back with my left hand for about a minute and mumbled, "it's going to be alright," to her. She jerked away and then wiped off her face with her long white sleeve. "I'm alright dear, don't fret." Like I was going to. I thought to myself. She patted my head and then unlocked Layne's door.

I was expecting someone to dart out of the room and run away from this crazy woman. But, instead. No one moved a muscle. Mum just began to weep. "My Layne! He's gone too!" My heart began pounding and words didn't make sense anymore. I ran into the room and looked around only to find an opened window and bed ssheets tied together, leading out of the window. "Layne!" I screamed out the window. In another spit second I felt my feet hit the hard, dark ground outside of the window and felt my feet take off running down the roads. "Layne!" Louder now. "Layne!" I screamed until I heard a soft laughter behind me."Looking for me?" I turned around and saw that same autumn colored hair boy smiling at me. I felt relieved and angery all at the same time and ran into his arms, hitting his chest with my fist as hard as I could. "I thought I lost you, you loser! Don't ever ever ever, do that again!" I screamed at him, waiting for him to scream back.

But instead, I heard a very soft, sweet voice that I had never heard before. "It's alright. I'm here. I'm safe. I won't ever leave again, I promise." He hugged me tighter and kissed the top of my head. Then, he took my hand and we walked back home. When we opened the front door mum had settled down and Amy was eating pieces of watermellon. Mum didn't even say anything, she just looked at us and became more relaxed. "I'll see you guys in the morning. Goodnight." Then, she went to bed. Layne tood there, shocked I guess. Shocked because for the first time in his life, his mother didn't scream and cry like her baby boy had just went through the downtown part of town. He kind of smiled and then we went upstairs into his room. He turned me around and told me to hold on while he changed. So, I waited until he was done and then changed myself. Him, covering his face with a pillow.

I yawned and climbed into the bed with him. Tucking the blanket into my side for warmth. Layne was behind me, snoring until I smacked him. "What?" "Stop snoring you pig!" "Gees, sorry." And the rest of the night was silent. Almost too silent until the birds made some sort of an awful screeching noise. I sat up straight and would have screamed if the hand wouldn't have covered my mouth. I followed the arm to the body it was attached to. It was just Layne. He held his finger to his lips and looked at me. After a long time he took his hand off my mouth and kissed my cheek. "What happened?" I asked. "Just stuff." But I could tell it was so much more then what he was trying to fool me for. But, I lay back down and rested my head against his chest. It wasn't worth worrying over if Layne wasn't going to tell me. He was clearly not telling me for my own saftey.

Layne's mother looked at me for a moment and then headed upstairs. Layne took off his brown jacket and threw it to the floor and then waved his hand for me to follow him. "So," He began, shoving an apple piece in his mouth that he stole from his sister I believe. "Hey! Layne that's mine!" She squeeled as he rolled his eyes and walked away from her. "What rich person you want to work for?" He ask, pulling out a list of names. "Uh, well. I don't much mind." He threw back his head as if he was going to laugh but soon looked back at the paper. "The three nicest people on here would be, Mrs. and Mr. Polx, Mrs. Brutus, or Mrs. and Mr. Fric. Your choice." I looked around for a moment and then grabbed the paper from his hands. He reached forward to snatch it back but he couldn't reach it. "It says that they're the meanest of all these people!" I shreik. "Why are you trying to get me to go there!" I say, frowning at him.

He cocked his head to the side and then began to bite on his finger nails, "I don't know." The little girl sitting at the table lid off her chair and ran out infront of me and Layne. "He did it because he's a big fat meanie head." She said. She crossed her and arms and began to shake her head violently. "Okay, well. Can you tell me who the nicest people are?" I ask. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the paper, forcing me to bend down to look at it. "You see this girl right here?" I nod my head. "She's the nicest. I don't know how in the world to pronounce her name. But she's nice." And with that, she dropped the paper and stormed off upstairs. Layne picked pieces of apple from his teeth and spoke through his teeth to me. "She's a brat, right?" I shrugged my shoulders and he grabbed my wrist. "Come with me." He guided me upstairs and into an empty room. We stood there for about ten minutes before I finally asked what it was.

"This was my la mere and pere's room." I couldn't decide on what 'pere' and 'la mere' meant so finally, I asked. "It means mother and father. Dumb ass..." This was the moment that I finally got fed up with him and smacked him with the back of my hand, leaving a red mark. "You sir need to watch what you say!" I yelled. He glarred at me and then made a low growling sounds, don't ask why this scared me, but it did. I turned on my heels and ran down stairs, his foot steps being not even a foot behind me. I screamed as I slipped on the hard wooden floor in the kitchen and landed on my face. My head hit the floor and I turned on my back just as he sat on me. "Get off!" I yelled, squirming under neath him. "You are so childish!" I screamed. He stuck his tongue out at me and began to let the spit slid out of his mouth and hang it over me. "Ew! Layne!" Then, the spit dropped. Landing on my eye. I screamed, knowing how childish my next action was and screamed as loud as I possibly could, "Mommy!"

Everyone knows that no girl that is about to turn eighteen should still be using the word mommy. Layne jumped off of me and stood by the counter and his mom walked in. "Layne! What did you do!" Layne shrugged and got himself a glass of milk. His mother bent down and held out a hand to me, "I'm sorry. Layne is very, very, childish." "Am not!" He argued back. "Layne! You are nineteen years old and you still do this crap!" She screamed at him. He wrinkled his nose at her and then put down his glass. "Mum!" He yelled at her. She looked sharply at him, "How else am I suppose to act!" She rolled her eyes and him and looked back at me, "My names Nicole by the way. You can call me mom, mum, mummy, mommy, la mere. Doesn't matter. I apologize about my son, he may look handsome but, he doesn't act like he is. This is how he was treated his whole life so he doesn't know how else to act."

I nodded my head even though I didn't fully understand why he had to act so stupidly. I grabbed the towel that Nicole had handed out to me and wiped the spit from my face with it. When she left the room Layne did something that couldn't have confused me more. He ran over, wrapped me in his arms and kissed me. Not a short mommy kiss, but a long, real kiss. After a long time, he finally broke the kiss and looked at me. Neither of us said anything. After a moment he leaned back in to me and kissed me again. This time even longer. I could feel the inside of my body start to tingle as it spreaded through out the rest of my body. Then, therte was a quiet but harsh, "Ew." From the other side of the room that made me and Layne jump away from each other. Layne rolled his eyes and tucked me back in his arms, "Go away Amy." "Um...You shouldn't be kissing on your girlfriend in the kitchen. It's nasty." "Go away Amy! You're seven what would you know about kissing!" Then, she rolled her eyes and walked out of the kitchen.

She closely resembled her mother but nothing of the little sister resembled Amy. Amy had thick straight autumn hair that, like her mother's, hung just to her jaw and curled underneath of it. But the little girl from earlier had bright green emerald eyes that glistened and thin dark brown hair that reached all down her back. It took me a while to realize that again, Layne was kissing me. I quickly squeezed my eyes shut and hoped her hadn't seen what happened. Foot steps came twords the kitchen but Layne didn't pull away. I tried to get my body out of his grip but nothing happened. I opened my eyes and saw Nicole, standing in the door way. Arms crossed. She took a breath and then walked over to Layne, grabbing his ear and jerking him away from me. His eyes got wide beore he realized what had happened and then he moaned. "Muuuuum!" "Don't you mu me young man." And now I understood why Layne acted like a child, he was treated like one. She sent him to his room.

I ignored the cries behind me as I turned my slow walk into a sprint. It was fall and all he leaves were falling, catching the curls in my hair and getting stuck. Leaves covered the ground and a rock that was infront of me. I took another step and trippeed over it, landing on my front. I took a minute and rolled ovr on my back and looked up at the sky, ""Why don't you take me now?" I said to myself. I heard crunching ahead of me and I looked up to see what it was. A boy aout my age stood threw, his bow and arrow drawn, aimed at my head. "What's your name." He asked as I slowly stood up with my hands up as if I was being arrested. "June. June Day." I said, lying. He looked at me suspicously and then, slowly, drew down his bow. "June Day? I've never seen you around here. Where you live." He said, looking aroundas if someone was watching us.

"My family died in a fire. I managed to escape and I didn't know where to go so I just ran." He studied me from head to toe and then stepped twords me. "Well, I'm Layne Percher. Sorry about your losses." And with that he turned around and headed off. "Wait!" I screamed after him. "You're just going to leave me here!" He smiled and walked back twords me and grabbed my arm. "I wondered if you'd let me walk away." This boy had autmn colored hair and brown eyes that match the color of milk chocolate. He was charming and had a deep, soothing voice that calms you down. We had only walked about a mile until we came to a small town that had ashes every where and was dark. Everyone there was poor and had ragged clothes and dirt on their faces.

"What town is this?" I asked as I looked at the children with their worn clothes and dirty bodies as we passed each one. "Prim." He said, not even ignoliging the people around him. "Why is everyone so dirty?" I asked in a hussed voice. "We just had a coal mining expolsion. Lots of fathers and brothers were killed in there and no one has food now." "So, how's your family?" "We lost my older brother John in the explosion. I'm too young to work in the mines and my father left us for another lady in Norm. I go out illegally in the woods every day and hunt." "Have they ever caught you?" "No." We came to a door and he threw a bag he had been carrying over his shoulder and opened th door. "Hey mum! I got us some food and a girl!" A young looking woman peered down the stairs. She had blonde hair that only came to the bottom of her jaw and curled under.

She walked down and grabbed the bag and looked at me, "Who's this?" "Her name is June. I found her in the woods, her family is dead and she had no where to go. I figured she could stay with us. Maybe work for the Careers and make some money for us." She looked at me, eyes wide. Her eyes were a rich brown like Layne's but huge. "You're willing to work for the Careers?" "Who are the Careers?" I asked, confused. "The rich people up north of here." I tilted my head back to think and then nodded, showing my aprooval of working for them.

When class was let out Greg, Samantha, Aaron, and I all ran home. But when we got there Ma and Pa were loading things onto the carriage. "Littles, get in. Greg and Madelene are going to stay here and watch the place for about three days. We'll be back." Ma said as Samantha and Aaron climbed in. Then, they headed off. Greg and I stood there for about a minute, starring at the empty space that use to hold our family. Then, he grabbed my hand and drug me inside, ripping off his shoes and socks. We ran into his bedroom where he started to unbutton his shirt and pants. I starred, confused. "What are you doing?" I asked. I knew what he was doing, but I didn't know if I wanted to join in. He was almost sixteen and I would be eighteen next April. He stopped removing clothing and then looked at me, "Well...they're...they're gone and I just thought..." He stopped and put his head down.

I grabbed his hand and looked at him, "Not here." I said, leading him to my room. "Here." He smiled and shut the door. Only minutes later I was laying alone in the bed. Starring at the picture of Gaven I had on my side table. Greg opened the door and climbed behind me into bed, turning his back to me. I looked back to Gaven's picture and turned it over, making it face the table. It's for the best. I thought to myself. My heart sank to the pit of my empty, starved stomach that ached with pain of both guilt, and confusion. I closed my eyes and tried to erase the memories of Gaven. I sunk my sharp nails into my thies until I couldn't feel it anymore. I felt Greg get up and leave again, he hadn't sat still for more then a minute since we got home from school. I opened my eyes just in time to see him shutting the door. I jumped up and slid my pants on, I had been sitting in the bed without pants for a long time and I was getting cold.

After that I sat on my bed and put my elbows on my knees and shook my head, being disapointed in myself for doing what I had done. I began to get more angry at myself the longer I sat there, so finally I stood up and kicked my side table until I saw blood splattered on the front part of it where the hard wood had gashed my shin. I sat down and began to cry as Greg entered the room and ran over to me. "What's wrong?" "I didn't want it to be you!" I screamed in rage. "I never wanted you to be the one I gave myself up to! I hate you!" I screamed. Greg's eyes fell to the floor before I could take anything back. He stood up and left me alone in the dark room. I bit my lip in order not to scream in pain and anger. I stormed out of the room, throwing things as I went. Knocking things off their shelves and punching walls. I got into the kitchen and reached into the back cabinet and got some bandages for my leg.

Greg must have been in his room because no one was in sight. I plugged my ears and screamed as loud as I possibly could until I couldn't scream anymore. I tried to whisper to myself but nothing came out. Someone knocked at the door and I went to go open it, it was two of The Watchers. I tried to scream for help but no sound came. They grabbed me and headed off into the woods with me. When we got to their hide out they slid off their hoods and looked at me. "Why would you leave Gaven!" Lucy yelled in an angry voice. "You meant everything to him!" Thomas added in. "He abused me." I managed to make out. I pulled up my sweat pants and showed them the four finger nail scars on the back of my knee. "See? And these are only the scars he left. You should have seen the bruises." Thomas shook his head and covered his eyes and Lucy sighed.

I heard a familiar voice come in behind Lucy and Thomas and then I saw Gaven. I swung my arms every which way and kicked my legs at him. "Madelene please! Listen to me!" I stopped and looked at him, "What..." "I miss you. I love you. I need you!" "I don't miss you. Or need you. Or love you." Tears filled in his eyes and his voice became high pitched, "But Maddie! I love you!" He said, bursting out in tears at the end. "Too bad. You had your chance Gaven. You left bruises and scars on me." "I'm sorry!" He wailed back. "Sorry doesn't cut it." And without anyone else having anything to say I left. I didn't know my way back home. So I followed my instincs.

I didn't want to be reminded of Gaven every time I felt safe, I didn't even want to be reminded of him at all. I just wanted to forget everything that had happened with him, everything that we ever went through together. Even though this would destroy the last three years of my life, it was better then having a broken heart. Greg stood there, squeezing me gentley in his arms. Gaven had never been very gentle with me before. I thought about my brothers and my mom, and all of Gaven's brothers and sister. My stomach growled and Greg pulled me apart from his chest and looked at me sternly. Then, he pulled me close and whispered in my ear, "I saw you drop the rest of your bagel. Go make yourself another half." He said as he let me go, holding on to my hand as I went until I was out of reach. There was something about that moment that made me know I would never forget it.

I wish I could be with Greg the way I was with Gaven, only Greg and I would have worked out better. And I wouldn't be heart broken. The only thing I had to remember Gaven by were four scars he left on the back of my left knee from him digging his non existent finger nails into. I ran my fingers across the scars as I sat down to eat another half of a bagel. Pa looked at me and smiled to see that I was eating. "Papa!" Samantha screamed as she ran in the room, "I don't know what to wear to school today!" It was just then when I realized she was only wearing her underwear. I covered my mouth so my smile wouldn't show as Pa asked me to go with Samantha and help her get dressed. I nodded my head and followed Samantha into her room. We picked out her white  knee top socks and her red apple dress, and black buckle shoes to wear.

"We need to do something with my hair Maddie." She said, rolling her eyes at me like I was stupid for thinkning that first. "Okay!" I yipped back as I pulled her hair into two pony tails on the sides of her head. She smiled at herself and then walked out of the bathroom, yelling thanks when she got upstairs. "You're welcome!" I hollered back as I took the brush and began to do my own hair. I had never put my hair up, so I took the whole bundle of my hair and twisted it to a bun and then put about seven bobby pins in the back to keep it up. When I came out, all eyes fell on me. No one said anything, but they all opened their mouths to try and say something. "Is...Something wrong?" I said as I began to put my head down. "No!" Greg yelled before I could take it down. "You, you look beautiful." He said, smiling at me and taking my hand.

"C'mon guys! It's time to walk to school!" He yelled as everyone fled twords us, grabbing lunch bags as we past the counted. The walk to school was great, it was so beautiful. There was a long stream that led us to the school and back, but it was one of the most beautful things I had ever seen. There were pink wild flowers growing all around it. Greg saw me looking, as I did every day, and bent over and picked me one of the flowers. He smiled at me and tuked it in my hair. I blushed and covered my smile until he pulled my hand away to see it. I hated my smile, but every time I'd try to hide it, Greg would pull my hand away and look at my smile as long as he could. My whole life people had complimented on how horrible my teeth looked and how my front teeth were big. So, naturally I hid it to keep the bad comments away.

When we finally got to school Greg led me to my chair and then pulled it out for me and gestured for me to sit down. When I sat down he scooted in my chair and then sat down beside me at the table. Everyone eyeballed him, whispering things in each others' ears. I didn't know what they were saying, and this bothered me alot. Are they talking about me? Is it my teeth? My hair? I wondered for the first five minutes of class before the teach yelled for my attention. "What Mrs. Rams?" I asked, feeling stupid. "What is fifteen times three." She said, getting impatient. "Uh. Fifteen times three would be..." I grabbed out a piece of paper and wrpte down the numbers. Fifteen plus fifteen equals thirty, thirty plus fifteen more equals... "Forty five!" I yelled. Mrs. Rams nodded her head and moved on to asking other students that weren't paying attention questions.

I sighed and looked down feeling embaressed. Greg moved his hand over to mine and place it over, holding my hand for comfort. I smiled, and didn't cover it. The smile that grew on his face was to die for. I never knew my smile could make someone so happy. By the end of class I had learned absolutely nothing, Greg and I were passing looks at each other all day and refused to listen to whatever important announcment the teacher was making at this time.

After a while of sitting there, nibbling on my bagel Aaron snuck up behind me and stuck me in the lower back with Ma's sewing pin. "Ow! Aaron!" I screamed, hoping Greg would come beat him up or something. Sure enough, when I looked back over at Greg he was angirly marching up the stairs heading after Aaron. "Aaron! You leave her alone you hear me!" Aaron hung his head down and walked away into his room. I rolled my eyes as he shut his door and Greg sat down on his knees infront of me. He rested his elbows on my legs and looked at me with his puppy dog eyes. I laughed and shoved him off my legs before anything too deep happened. He smiled and wiped his shirt off as he stood up and looked back at me. He was trying his best to laugh along with me, but you could tell I had ruined a big moment for him.

I looked down at my bagel and traced the outside of it until Greg returned to the garden to help Ma. As Greg was walking away I noticed a note lying on the floor infront of me. I leaned over from my chair and picked it up. It was adressed to me. I slowly opened the note and saw the whole paper was covered with fancy cursive letters that I could not read. I scanned the paper, top to bottem, trying to find some words I reconized. But there were non. Until at the very bottem of the letter I could make out three words, I love you. I pulled the note away from my face and folded it back. I got up and walked down the stairs to the garden and held it out to Greg. Horrified, he yanked it away and shoved it in his back pocket. He kept his eye on me as if I had just read something top secret of his.

I turned around and walked back to the house, dropping the bagel on my way so the birds could eat it. I looked around, hoping no one wold notice. But Greg did. He didn't say anything, he just looked down and continued trimming the rose bush. I let out a sigh of reliefe and headed back up the stairs. Just when I got in the door Henry began to scream as loud as he possibly could. "God damn you baby! Shut up!" I yelled, covering my ears. Pa glared at me and then froze, "What?" I said before I could hear the hissing sound behind me. I turned my head just to see the head of a rattlesnake slitthering behind me. Shit! I thought as the hissing got louder and seemed to be getting closer.

I closed my eyes and try not to move at all, please let me live! I thought to myself as the hissing stopped. I felt hands grab my shoulders and I turned around, ready to punch whatever was grabbing me. Greg shoved me away and stepped back as I swung my fist at him, "It's just me." He said with a scared look on his face. I looked up and then let myself fall into Greg's arms. It felt safe there, but safe reminded me of Gaven...

I closed my eyes and rested my head on the back of the head board on my bed as I dreamed of Ferris and I playing hide and go seek again. It had been nearly a month since I last saw Gaven and I had no idea where he was or if he was alive. It was just a month ago I walked out of the hospital parking lot, Gaven watching me walk away from out his window. He had tears in his eyes and running down his cheeks then. I dream of his smile and his beautiful eyes, and how we use to play together. I loved Gaven, but I couldn't take the abuse. And leaving him killed me inside. It still hurts to think of him or how he is now. What if he's dead because he doesn't know how to take care of himself without me? I thought.

I dug my nails into my lower wrist until it went numb with pain. I had cuts running up and down my wrist on both arms, I cut myself with hot metal that Pa made in his garage. Pa wasn't really my dad, or even related to me. After I left Gaven he found me sleeping in the woods while he was hunting he took me home and made me part of his family. I have two sisters and three brothers, and a Ma. The oldest is Carolina, she's fifteen. Then Greg, who is also fifteen but a few moths younger. Samantha, who's thirteen. Aaron, eleven. And then, the youngest would be Henry. He's only a year old. They all have firey red golden hair and emerald green eyes that were beautiful. I loved them all dearly, even though I had only known them for a short time.

Samatha was my favortie, mainly because she wasn't a brat like Carolina was. And the boys were too rough and Henry is too noisy and cries to much. Someone knocked on my door as I stood up to change clothes, "What!" I yelled as the door flung open. Aaron was standing there with a bowl of cereal in his hand and a spoon in his mouth. He pulled it out and rolled his eyes at me, "Hey. Loser. You need to come to the kitchen and make some break fast." With that, he turned around and shook his butt at me before walking all the way out of the door. "Aaron!" I yelled as he ran away down the hall. Aaron was an annoying rbat that thought he ruled the house. He was the smartest. He was only eleven and was finished with school. I wasn't even finished with middle school! Of course, how could I be? They just got me enrolled in middle school this month.

It was weird being older then every one in your grade. And beign a foot taller and three years older. No one talked to me, I was feared. Except from one boy. His name was Collier Jame. He was my best friend, but nothing like Gaven. No body is like Gaven . . . After sitting on my bed for a while more I got up and walked to the kitchen to make something to eat. I opened the top left cabinet and pulled out a bagel. Not even having to ask, Greg reached in the fridge and handed me the sour cream and a knife. He smiled and nodded at me before going back outide to work on the garden with Ma and Carolina. It was pretty. Small, but pretty. The day I came here I helped Greg plant the red rose bush in the corner, it was beautiful!

Greg was one of the best guys you'll ever meet in your life. He was handsom, nice, caring, and sensible. I sunk my teeth into the bagel and tore off a piece with my front teeth as I pulled up a chair to watch Greg work on the garden. He was trimming the rose bush we planted on the third day of me being here. He planted it for me to show that I was welcome in their family and he accepted me. Ever since then Greg and I have had a deep connection inside of us. If I catch him gazing at me he'll blush and quickly turn his head away.

Everything was quiet when I had finally realized Gaven was fast asleep. I looked down at my wrist which was throbbing in pain, but when I looked, I wish I hadn't. There was a big purple circle all the way around my wrist, Gaven had left another bruise. I closed my eyes as my body began to ache. I looked down at the bruise, *bruises*, that covered my body. The harder I tried not to cry, the worse the pain behind my eyes got. So finally I let my tears out, I had been crying alot lately and it needed to stop. Was this really the first time I had reconized the abuse evidenc that covered my body head to toe? I sobbed but then stopped breathing, praying that he hadn't heard me as Gaven shifted onto his side in his sleep. After almost a minute of holding my breath I let it out and felt reliefe run through my body.

If he had heard me cry he would have asked why, and I would have had to tell him. I shuddered at this thought, he'd probably cry. That night I didn't get the least bit tired, I sat, wide awake the whole entire night. Just watching Gaven. Why am I doing this? Why don't you do something about it! Stand up for yourself! Slowly, I stood up and walked away. Leaves crunching under my feet with every step I took. I heard Gaven stand up in the back ground. "Madelene? Where are you going?" He called after me, but I didn't answer. I wanted to walk forever and never look behind me. Soon Gaven came to my side. I guess his hand wasn't all that bad now was it? I didn't hear him whinning about it now. "Maddie, talk to me." He whinned again. "Shut up Gaven." I said in the most bold, stern voice I have ever used with him.

Gaven hung his neck and contiuned to walk by me until almost three hours later. We had come to a super rich town with food and hospitals and everything. I motioned to Gaven to follow me into the hospital where they made him a room and bandaged his hand. Gaven hadn't spoke a single word to me since I had told him to shut up hours ago. When the nurse closed the door he looked at his hand and then at me, "Why'd you try to leave me?" He said in a sypthetic voice. Behind my eyes stung and my throat was sore and it was hard to swallow. "You abuse me..." I whispered in a pathetic voice. Gaven looked at me, scared and seriouse. "I don't...I never wanted to hurt you." With this I ripped off my shirt to my under shirt and pointed at the bruises that covered my arms all the way up and down.

"Really! Then what is this Gaven! What is it!" I screamed as his eyes filled with tears and his voice got still. "I'm so sorry Madlene....Please don't leave me..." I swalloed hard and looked away from Gaven, "I think we need-" "No! Please Madelene I love you! Please believe me Maddie! Don't leave me!" He screamed like a baby being dropped off for it's first day of school. I shook my head and tried to ignor his pittifulness. "No Gaven. We need to break up. End of story." The room got quiet and for the first time it was Gaven crying alone. He burried his face in his hands and sniffled. I didn't dare look up from the ground, certainlly not at Gaven. I took a few deep breaths and then left the room.

When the door slammed behind me I didn't feel like the same person. I felt like I was still standing in that room with Gaven, not walking away from him. I wrapped my arms around myself and closed my eyes, breathing slowly through my nose. It was for the best... I thought. My heart felt shattered inside. I wondered what Gaven was doing in that room...Did he miss me? Did he really love me? I turned around and grabbed the handle of the door, not ready to let Gaven go. But before I opened the door I stopped and looked at my hand. I let go of the handle and then walked to the waiting room where I found many people with inguries at. I sat down and watched everyone walk by me. The world seemed slow and full of sorrow. I finally stood up and grabbed the scissors from the counter and walked into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror for a moment and then grabbed my hair that now hung about two inches bellow my butt.

I held up the scissors and began to chop off my hair. It was dark, golden brown and wavy. Beatiful as everyone called it, but now it was to the bottem of my chin and uneven. I opened the toilet and threw the scissors inside, not caring what happened next.

"It breaks my heart when I see you cry..." He said as I guess he felt one of my tears fall on his chest. He tilted up my chin and looked me in the eyes, "Don't cry. I love you." "I love you too." Gaven was all I had now days. He gave me everything, even more then Adam. Adam never looked at me the special way Gaven did. When Gaven looked at me his eyes sparkled and were solem. "You know what I wished for my birthday last month when you made me a surprise birthday party and that blue cake?" "What?" "I wished that I would always have you. Not for anything else. Just you. You are my dream come true, my dream I had always wished for on shooting stars." I smiled and kissed Gaven, a long kiss too. When I pulled away he looked at me and smiled. "Gaven. Why do you love me?" "Because you are beautiful. You're funny and nice, you're a dream come true. You're my angle. I could say so many things but I love you says it all."

I would have said something back but there was nothing left to say. It was night and Ryly had parked the car to sleep for the night. Gaven got a good hold of me and then scooted us both down so we were laying in the back seats front to front. Gaven kissed my forehead at least three times and then kissed my cheek and lips. "I love you Madelene." "I love you too." That night I fell asleep to the beat of Gaven's heart pounding inside his chest. In the morning the sound of someone banging on the window woke me up. It was a little girl in a pink dress, she had her blonde hair pulled back in two pony tails and had a sucker in her other hand. For once Gaven was awake and not drooling, but looking at the girl. He looked at me, confused and reached to open the door. "Wait! Don't!" "Why? I mean seriously, it's a little girl." I shook my head, "No. It doesn't feel right." So for the next thirty minutes the girl stood there, knocking on the window mouthing something to us.

"That's it!" Gaven yelled as he opened the door and stepped out, "What!" The little girl stood there and then turned into some sort of demon. I screamed and grabbed for Gaven who was reaching his hand back for mine. "Gaven!" I screamed as the demon pulled him away. It occured to me that I had legs an I could, indeed walk. So I got up out of the car and ran after the demon that was dragging Gaven by the leg. I jumped and barley grabbed Gaven's hand before the demon turned around and hissed at me. I screamed as it ran across the top of Gaven and pried my fingers away from him. I took my fist and thumped the demon ontop of the head and it disapeared. Panting, Gaven wrapped his arms around my torso and plunged his head into my chest. I held his head tight and kissed the top of his head, "It'll be okay Gaven." I said in a shaky voice.

He nodded his head and then looked up at me. "Don't let me go." He said as if it was meant for only me to hear. Because after that his eyes locked on to something behind me and I felt the multiple hands grab my shoulders. He yelled and began beating the hands that were tightly gripped on my shoulders. I heard Gaven yell a curse word before he was attacked by demons. They had his legs and arms but he broke one of his arms free and reached out for me. One of the demons that was dragging me away leaned out and bit Gaven's hand right imbetween his thumb and index finger. I heard the cries of pain from him as he was blocked from my view by a large man in a black cloak. I could hear Ryly cussing at the demons some where behind me. "So. You think you can take him away from my demons?" I shook my head at the man as he knelt down to me, "No! No! Please! Let them go! Don't hurt them!" "I won't, I won't. But, you have to make me a deal." "Anything! Just leave them be!" I screamed back in fear, accidentally spitting in his face.

"You give me you soul and I will cause them no harm." "Deal!" "Good, now since you said I couldn't harm them. You have to kill lover boy by the end of next week." He snapped his fingers and disapeared along with the rest of his demons. I turned around and saw Gaven, frozen, looking at me. He had his right hand over his left where he got bit. After a moment of silence he wailed with pain and fell to the ground from his knees. I ran over to him and knelt down to him, "Gaven, look at me please." "Just kill me Madelene!" He groaned as he rocked himself back and forth, "No! I love you I can't do it!" Gaven stuck his left hand infront of my hand and screamed, almost sounding like a little girl. "It hurts Madelene!" Now, he sounded just like a little boy that had fallen and scrapped his knee. He had his childish voice again and was crying like a baby. I didn't want to insult him because this could be far more painful then I thought.

Gaven hadn't cried of physcial pain since the second grade, so I imagin it hurt pretty bad. Ryly ran over to the car and then ran back with a pack of first-aid crap. She was running when suddenly someting ran by and swooped her up, leaving the box behind. You could hear Ryly scream in pain in the distance. I just stood there, unsure of what to do. Quickly, I ran for the box and drug it over to Gaven. There was gause in there so I took the gause and got ready to wrap it around Gaven's hand. When I looked at it there was green ooze leaking from it and it looked horribly infected already. Gaven's cries sounded like a three year old being cut in half. I covered my mouth and plugged my nose, blocking out the foul smell. "Oh God!" I said as I reached in the box for some clear liquid in a bottle. I opened it and poured it on Gaven's hand. Gaven's eyes got red and his face turned white. He arched his back up and let out the most blood kurdling scream I had ever heard in my life.

Tears filled in my eyes as I tried to ignor his cries and screams. I started to cry as he seemed to be in more and more pain. "Madelene!" He would scream as if I was his only hope in life. This reminded me of the time Madison was falling from a twenty foot tall tree, I caught him and some how and he was fine. But I couldn't catch Gaven, he wasn't falling. He was dying.

Ryly looked at me and then sighed and lit another cigarette, "Don't deny it." "Shut up! I don't love Gaven!" Ryly opened her mouth and then covered it and looked at the ground. I knew what had happened, I turned around the saw Gaven who had a sad expression but was trying to hide by looking angry. He walked my way and gripped my wrist, cutting off the circulation in it. "Come on. Let's go." As we walked past the car I pointed to it, hoping we would drive to where ever it was we were going. Gaven looked at me and gave me a dirty look and then squeezed my wrist harder. "Hey kid. Get in the damn car." Gaven moaned and then ripped the car door open. He slammed his door and crossed his arms when he sat down. When I sat down he tried hard to not look at me. After a long time of just staring at him I finally looked away, out my window.

Ryly stopped the car and told Gaven to get out. Confused, Gaven muttered something and got out. He leaned up against the door and Ryly turned around to look at me. "You really hurt him. I know he means the Earth and Heaven to you." I snarled and crossed my arms. "No." "Fine. Whatever." Ryly knocked on her window letting Gaven know he could get back in and that was it. I wasn't going to admit I was in love. I've been there, done that. Just once, but it hurt enough to know I didn't want it to happen again. Adam was his name. He killed all the feelings I use to have for love. After him, I never wanted to love another person. Adam told me we would get married some day, he even had me write his last nam eon my papers. Madelene Kari(Car-ee) is what I wrote. Adam did everything to show me that he loved me. He'd cry when I cried, he said I was beautiful every single day, and he made it seem like it'd last forever. Until summer came, that's when we grew apart. I never saw him, I never talked to him. And then, I found out he was dating my best friend. Reiko(Ree-ko Ad-mar-ace) Admarais.

Reiko, I grew up with her. She knew all my secrets and she knew how much I loved Adam. But she still stole him from me. One day, I got a letter from Adam saying he never loved me and Reiko was his dream come true. A week before summer started he cried at school because he thought Gaven and I had something special that him and I could never have together. He always saw Gaven and I together, we always saw Gaven touching me and tickling me and making me laugh. I did like Gaven, Adam was right about that. But I didn't love him at the time. I tried my best to hate Gaven. He broke Reiko's heart. Twice too, once in sixth grade and once in fourth. He never really loved her, he wanted me all along. He has liked me ever since I beat him up in sixth grade at the first football game when he spilled Sprite all over my shirt. I got him on the ground and sat on his chest ad punched away at his chest and arms. He had a bruise the size of a baseball for three good months.

Deep inside I knew I loved Gaven, I just refused to admit it. And there I was, the luckiest girl in the world. Also the most stuborn. I had someone that loved me, someone that when I cried would  hold me tight and told it was going to be alright. That would  kissed me on the forehead to be shown respect and love. I was one of the lucky girls that could look in a boy's eyes and see them yelling, I love you! Not many girls got that at my age. Unless he was just saying those things to get in her pants. But Gaven, I knew he meant it. "Gaven..." "What." "I...I love you. I do, I do." Gaven turned to me with his tear filled, blue, green, beautiful eyes and choked out his senetnce, "They why'd you say you didn't!"

"I didn't want to be in love again! After Adam I couldn't afford to be hurt!" "I would nver hurt you, and you know that Madelene! I love you with all my heart and nothing is ever going to change that!" I smiled, "I know. I know now..." Gaven scooted me to the middle seat and wrapped me in his arms, holding me and kissing the top of my head. I felt safe, as I always did in his arms.

I closed my eyes and rested on his chest, he took deep, long breaths. After a while he moved me off and held out his hand to me, "C'mon, we have got to get going." I nodded and took his hand. When he opened the door Ryly was sitting on a bench with a white stick thing in her mouth. She removed it from her lips and blew out smoke. "It's a cigarette sweet heart." She said with a smile as she pressed te tip of it on the bench and threw it aside. "Hang on, I'm going to use a restroom while I still can!" Gaven said as he dropped my han and headed back inside. Ryly smiled and me and crossed her arms. "You're in love aren't you two." I violently shook my head and stomped my foot. "No! No man is even worth that aggrivation." I said, rolling my eyes.

In the morning I could hear silenced footsteps scruing about the house, if I hadn't taken a moment to think about where I was I would have paniced. Gaven was still asleep, drooling again. I laughed to myself and wiped the drool off his face with my jacket sleeve. I had done this so many times I couldn't look back on it and count. I put my head on his chest and waited for someone to walk by me to tell me good morning or something. I heard footsteps coming and I squeezed my eyes shut to make it look like I was sleeping. Someone was standing infront of us. "Don't hurt her!" I heard Ryly say in a hushed voice. I opened my eye just enough that I could see the old lady with a small sewing needle coming for my arm. Without even looking at me she stuck it in my arm multiple times.

After a while she would dip the needle in the bowl she held infront of her. When she was done she wiped her forehead off and looked at my arm. "Now for the boy." She said, heading for Gaven's arm. I flashed my eyes wide open and she stopped dead in her tracks. "Touch him. I'll kill you." The sterness and coldness in my voice was enough to scare away just about anybody. I could feel Gaven shifting as he streched out his legs beside me. We're on a couch? Well, when'd we get here? I thought. Gaven moved so his stomach was pressed against my back and he took his right arm and wrapped it around me. Pulling me in close for saftey. My eyes haven't left the old woman's just yet, before she turned away and disapeared somewhere in the house. I looked at Ryly, who was covering her mouth as if she had been caught doing something horribly wrong.

She looked down and walked to the end of the hallway, opening the black door and walking inside the room. My arm started to sting as I moved my head to look at it. It was on my low shoulder, and it hurt horribly. It was a blue swirly mark with dots surrounding it. I took my hand and tried to rub it off but it just made it hurt worse and didn't remove the mark at all. Gaven's cold nose pressed into my neck and he began to say something to me, since his lips were practicly on my neck I could feel them move. I laughed and asked him to start over, "We have to get away from here...it's not safe..." I looked around for a moment and then responded. "What do you mean?" "Hush! Keep your voice down, they'll hear you...They're dangerous Madelene. Trust me, I know who Ryly is." Without arguing I nodded my head and he kissed my neck. Gaven put one hand under me and began to turn my body, facing him. He smiled with his eyes shut and then pressed me against his chest.

"I love you." Gaven rubbed his nose into mine and waited for me to reply. After a moment of silence his eyes opened and he frowned at me. I began laughing as he wrinkled his nose and made angry faces at me. "So what! You don't love me back?" I almost died of laughter before I could spit out my answer, "Yes! I do! I just love not answering you! Because you get angry! And it's hillariouse!" I sputtered. Gaven rolled his eyes and leaned in for a kiss that I naturally gave him. Gaven made my day, every day. It didn't matter if he said he loved me or called me beatiful or simply just smiled. In school we would pass notes about loving one another. I have every note he has ever written me back at home in the wall. There is a hollow spot that only I know about. I keep my personal things there. And in that space there is a medium sized white, glass box that my father had given me for my first birthday. Tha's where all the notes Gaven has given me where.

I closed my eyes and thought of home, home. Home! The boys! Were they alright? Had mother gotten back home to feed them! I sat up in alarm and struggled to remain breathing as my heart began racing faster than ever. Gaven sat up after me and placed one arm around my shoulder and the other on my right arm that was closet to him. "C'mon Maddie, breathe!" I could feel my chest tightening as Gaven's face began to get blurry. He must have noticed something had gone wrong because he went into his startled mode. He began yelling my name and trying to open my eyes and keep me sitting up. "Madelene!" He choked out, I heard his voice crack and didn't have the energy to make fun of him for it. I let out a small laugh as everything went black and I felt my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up I was in an unfamiliar house. "Gaven..." I whispered, each time making my voice louder. I heard water running and a closed door with light coming from the inside. The door knob struggled to open but soon, Gaven stood at the door way with a smile on his face. "You're awake!" He said as he made his way over to the bed I was laying on. "Yeah...Where am I?" Gaven shrugged and then rolled his eyes, "Eh, you know. Just Thomas' house." Thomas...Thomas... "Who's Thomas?" Gaven's jaw dropped wide open as he looked at me like I had gone mad. "Thomas. Thomas and Lucy. My oldest brother and sister?" "Oh! Ha. Them. Sorry." Gaven rested his hand on his heart for reliefe and then blew out the air he had been holding in since I woke up. He smiled and brushed away the hair on my face with his finger tips. "Suffered from extreme ink poisoning and ya still look lovely!" He joked. "...I was poisoned?" Gaven nodded, "Yeah. That old lady tatooed your arm and used something called 'pen ink.'" I raised my eyebrows, I didn't even know what a tatoo was...

Not even ten minutes later I sprung back up into a sitting position and began to think about him again. He was in my dreams almost every night. I hated him and wished he would finally go away. I felt Gaven's hand grab my shoulder and pull me down, forcing me back up against his shoulder and neck. "Lean on me babe!" Either he knew I was cold, or he was cold. He does this alot. I smiled and thought about our old school and how they had these stupid pep rallies outside in forty degree weather. The last one Gaven and I went to it was twenty degrees outside. After my eyes started to water and my nose got red he shoved his forehead into the side of mine. "What's wrong?" "I'm cold..." "Why?" "Because it's fucking cold!" The sound of kids cheering for the football team made me sick. It was too loud.

"Lean on me babe. Lean on me." I tilted my neck slightly so it was just about two inches away from his shoulder. "Babe! Lean more, you're not leaning on me yet! Babe!" I finally rolled my eyes and bent my head into his shoulder until I was sure my neck would snap. There wasn't enough room on the bleachers to do much anything. "Why don't you just have her sit in your lap." James said from the other side of Gaven. "Because dude, we'd get in trouble." "So?" "I don't want to be kicked off the football team man!" James rolled his eyes and smacked in Gaven's direction. I would have laughed, but my face was so cold I couldn't move a muscle in it. The crowd grew louder and everyone stood up. Through the cracks of the people I could see someone on the bleachers handing out ice cream.

Ice cream? On a twenty degree day? Gaven's face lit up as he reached his hand in the air. "Why would you want one of those when you're half freezing to death?" I asked him. "Because I love ice cream." I smiled at him and then placed my head back on his shoulder. I was looking down, trying to keep the cold off my face. I could feel and half way see Gaven moving his head to mine, he placed his forehead on the edge of mine and kissed the top of my forehead. I smiled without raising my head and then snuggled closer to him.

Ryly smiled at me and then looked back at the road. We were in a very poor town now. She must be a billionair here. Who am I kidding? She's a billionair anywhere! Gaven still had his head in my lap and was drooling on my thie. I smiled for some reason and looked at his innocent face that still had tear marks on it. Finally, Ryly pulled over into an empty space and opened the car door. "Time to get out!" "Where are we?" Ryly laughed and shook her head, "We have to walk down here, the house is down this hill." I frowned, not looking forward to the walk down the deep, dark hill.

I opened the car door back up and kissed Gaven on the top of the head, he looked up with his mouth open and his eyes half way shut. "Gaven, we're here. C'mon! We're going to go see your nephew." Gaven glared at the car seat in anger and then slowly climbed out of the car. "I don't see anything." Gaven said as he grabbed my hand before I slipped on the wet grass. "You have to wait kid." Ryly rolled her eyes and kept walking. A smile seemed to slowly be painted on Ryly's face as you could make out the faint vision of a small, wood house that was lined with what seemed dead flowers. "Look! Look! There it is! That's where my little boy lives!" She soon sprang into a full on sprint twords the house and jumped infront of the door.

She thumped her fist against the door three times, "Thump! Thump! Thump!" By the time Gaven and I had reached the house Ryly's smile was fading. "Guys? It's me. Ryly." Footsteps fumbled around the house quickly before a pair of hands appeared from the door and pulled us inside. Gaven, who had nearly had a heart attack, was panting more then ever and had his right hand across his chest, covering his heart. "What was that!" He yelled as he clasp his other hand around my leg. We were sitting in a dark red chair that was only made for one to sit in. Ryly stood with an old lady, talking. On my right there was a dark hallway that had one door at the end. The door was black and no light was coming from under neath the door. "Is he awake?" I heard Ryly say to the old woman. But I turned my head, trying not to ease drop.

Then, I found myself wondering what was hidden behind this large, mysterious, black door. Was it her son? Or was it something else? I shook my head and cleared the thought. "What's wrong?" Gaven asked, "Nothing. I'm cold, hungry as hell." He half frowned and then wrapped his arm around me allowing me to rest my head imbetween his shoulder and neck. He was warm, warm enough to be catching a fever. "Are you feeling well?" I asked with a bit of hesitation. "Eh. I've felt a little sick today. But it's probably just all the excitment we've been through recently. You know." He shrugged and then gave me his puppy dog eyes that demanded me to lay my head back down.

It had been a long day and I was still tired, so I closed my eyes and fell asleep. In the middle of the night I lifted my head which caused Gaven to wake. "Lean on me babe! Babe! Lean on me! Babe!" He said just about a million times before I actually moved back. He was too tired to say anything except that. He turned and kissed my fore head and then said something almost unreconizable. "What?" "I love you..." "I love you too." Gaven placed his hand on his heart and began to tap his chest. "All my heart." I smiled, "All my heart too." Gaven's eyes were shut before he had finished his sentence and was already back asleep.

Gaven quickly grabbed my hand and jerked me out of the bathroom, slamming the door and holding it shut behind him. "Gaven! What was that for! You almost smashed her fingers!" Gaven rolled his eyes, "Seems pretty good for the girl that seduces my brother." I looked at Gaven, and then at the door as if Ryly was standing right there. "What?" "That chick, she's dating my brother. They've been dating since the second grade when we moved." "So how do you know she seduces him!" "I saw it!" Ryly knocked behind the door and pleaded for Gaven to open it, "Guys! Please open the door I'm scared!"

Gaven let go of the door and sent Ryly tripping into the bathtub. Before I could grab Gaven's hand, he gave her the finger. Ryly's jaw dropped as she finally realized he knew something. "Hey twit! You saw didn't you?" Gaven clenched his fist and then swung at her face. Blood was smeared all over my upper lip and on Gaven's fist. "You're a..." I glared at Gaven as he closed his mouth, refusing to finish his sentence. I didn't know what Gaven saw, or what Ryly did. But I was pretty sure I didn't want to know. Gaven stormed outside and left the door open behind him. After a moment of looking back and forth between Ryly and the door I headed after Gaven.

"Gaven! Gaven! Wait up!" Gaven stopped, but didn't turn around. "What did she do!" Gaven rolled his eyes up at the sky and then looked at the ground. "She took it..." I got ready to ask what he meant but soon realized. "...EW!" I shrieked as he covered his eyes and looked at me with disgust. "I know." "You aren't even suppose to do that until you're older!" Honestly, no one thought this was disgusting. Maybe the younger kids, no. Not even them. But the way we had been raised, we had known it very well to be wrong. You weren't allowed to do this until you were 25 and had been married for at least a year. Everyone did it anyways, just to go against the rules.

"But....everyone does it anyways." Gaven shook his head, "Thomas didn't. Thomas was very determined to keep his promise. Our whole family is." "Oh...My family doesn't care. Dean has a little girl back at Nikki's house." "How old is she?" I shrugged, "I'm not really sure. I think five." Gaven threw back his head, "Wow! Only thirteen?" I nodded my head, "I know right? Her name is Roselenne." "Cute name." We stood there, it was an awkward silence. "Hey guys! Come on. Get in the car, I have to go pick up my son!" Gaven and I turned around to see Ryly getting in some sort of small grey thing with wheels. "Get in!" Gaven ad I ran, but when we got in the 'car' Gaven had a confused look on his face. "You...have a son? You cheated o my brother?" Ryly shook her head, "What! No! It's his kid." Gaven's jaw clenched and he violently started punching the seat infront of him.

"Woh! Kid! Settle the heck down God!" Gaven had little tears in his eyes, he wipped his eyes and then let his head rest in my lap. I stroked his hair and then fell asleep to the buzzing sound of the car. When I woke up we must had drove two hundred miles! It was pitch black outside and Gaven was drooling in my lap. "Hey, we're almost there."

It was cold, and lonely, even though I had Gaven right by my side, his arms still wrapped around me tight. I didn't want to fall asleep, but as it got colder, I became more tired. I finally let my eyes shut for a decent night of sleep and woke up not even an hour later to a loud bell ringing. It was the amily's alarm clock I was guessing. I stood up and climbed up the ladder that escaped the trap door, before fully coming out of the trap door I looked around, making sure no one camped over last night.

I slowly crept out and walked around, looking for thebeeping bell noise. I heard someone moan and then saw an arm reach out of a bed and hit the alarm. They have alarms here? They are clearly much richer then our land. A moment later the blanket was thrown off the bed and a teen aged girl was sprawled on the bed. I wonder if she knows her family is dead. Her make-up was smeared across her face and she had mascara all under her eyes, from my guess she had been crying.

"Excuse me?" I said quietly as the girl's eyes darted over to me. She got ready to scream but then stopped and froze, looking at my face as if I was some disformed child. "Who are you? Why are you in my house." "Uh...Your parents. They let me stay last night. Did you see what...happened?" She nodded her head. Her make-up looked like she had been gangbanged by Crayola. She snuffled and then sat up, "So. What happened to your neck?" "What...What are you talking about?" She squinted her eyes and stood up, walking over to me. She took her finger and poked my neck. "That. Did you feel it?" I shook my head, she slapped my neck. I felt nothing.

She grabbed my hand and then pulled me to what seemed to be a bathroom. I mean, it looked like a bathroom. Of course I had never had on, let alone been inside of one. There was smoke coming from a little silver contraption that had a wire connected to it. "Oh crap! I left my straightener on!" The girl yelled as she yanked the cord from he wall and blew on the "straightener."  "Is this a bathroom...?" I asked, I felt stupid. She gave me a concerning look and then nodded her head. "Yeah. And this is a toilet, a hair straightener. And a sink. We have some more stuff in that closet. Your hair is jet straight, you wouldn't need to use that." Jet straight? What does that mean? I tilted my head back and gave her a pointless, "Ha. Yeah it is."

She rolled her eyes and opened a cabnet. She pulled out a roll that had some sort of white paper that was sticky wrapped around it. "Here, this is gause. I'll put it around your neck so it won't get infected." I shoved her hand back and looked in the mirror. There was a huge cut. "Why can't I feel it?" "It might have gotten some of your nerves, causing you no pain." But what if I wanted to feel the pain? I didn't like how I couldn't feel it. It made me feel unsafe. I heard footsteps coming to the bathroom, I could see Gaven in the mirror. "Hi Gaven. This is one of their kids." He didn't respond, he only looked down and nodded.

"Haha. Don't be shy! Come here, your sister has got a bad cut on her neck." Gaven looked at the girl like she was crazy, "What? She isn't my sister damn it! She's my girlfriend." I gave Gaven a sharp look for his rudeness, not that he cared. "Well, excuse me mister. God." She kicked the cabnet and glared at Gaven and then murmured something unpleasant. "What's your name?" I asked. She didn't look up, only continued to mess with my neck. "Ryly. My little sisters were twins, the one that was wearing the white night gown was Henrietta and the one with the green was Henriette." "Oh." I said, "What are you doing to my neck?" "Stiching it. With a needle and some thread. I was in medical school."

"What's medical school?" Gaven stepped into the convorsation and decided he would answer my question, "It's where they learn how to take care of people. My mother grew up here and she went to medical school. And...Is this a bathroom?" Ryly laughed and nodded her head, "Yes silly! Where did you guys live? It must've been pretty poor huh?" "Chelle. With The Watchers?" Ryly looked at me with death in her eyes. "My father killed a little boy there. Him and his father decided to hunt in our field." I almost asked her who before I realized it had to be Ferris and my dad. "That...That was...My older brother and my dad." Ryly covered her mouth, "I am so sorry..." I shook my head and swallowed, "It's fine. Really." She nodded and then began wrapping gause around my neck. Then, she stopped and cut it off.

She reached under the cabinet and pulled out a smaller brown piece of something, "Here, this is a bandage. It's like gause, only better." She peeled off some wrappers that covered it and then stuck the sticky surface of it to my neck. Pressing it on with no force. "So. Do you have Watchers on your case?" "Yes. Gaven's older brother called them on me after we started dating. Three years ago, they beat me every time they can. Gaven's oldest brother and sister Lucy and Thomas are Watchers. They're twins. After his mother was murdered Thomas and Lucy had to be Watchers." Ryly frowned, "Wait. Lucy and Thomas Teeteour?" Gaven nodded his head, "Why, you know 'em?" He muffled through his shirt. "Yeah man! We use to hang all the time when we were real little! Dude! I dated Thomas once! Then after first grade you guys moved away."

I closed my eyes and fell asleep to the feel of Gaven's heart pounding. In the morning one of The Watchers was beating on the door, but not opening it. I finally shoved Gaven off of me and walked up to the door, opening it slowly. It motioned it hands for me to come with it, but I didn't budge. I looked at the number, ten? I smiled and ran over to wake Gaven up. "Gaven! Gaven! Your borther and sister are going to save us!" He hoped up and darted out the door.

When we went to the entrance of the buildig we were in we saw number elee. They both pulled back their hoods and gave us hugs. "I've missed you so much Gaven! How's the family?" "Great." Gaven said with a smile as his sister remained hugging him. Thomas slowly opened the entrance door, "Now remember little bro, we never helped you out okay?" Gaven nodded his head and then Thomas looked at me to make sure I kneew this rule applied to me aswell.

"Run!" Lucy whispered as we both ran for our lives down the wooded rail, I didn't know where we were going or if we'd be alive when we got out but I was willing to take the risk of dying. After a long time of running we finally sat down and caught our breaths. "Maddie, where are we gonna go?" I shrugged, too tired to answer Gaven with a full answer. "I don't know yet, we'll just keep running until we find something fimiliar." Gaven nodded and put his hand on his heart to feel how fast his heart was going.

I watched him for a moment and then did the same. After a moment or two I stood up and held out my hand, offering to help him get up. He stared at it for a moment, as I drew back my hand he reached up and grabbed my waist and pulled himself up. Our noses touched, and neither of us moved. We stoo there, just staring into one anothes' eyes. He tightened his grip on my waist until I could feel his finger nails digging into my skin, Gaven had no fingernails. I knew I woud get bruises from this, I get bruises from everything! But I didn't care, he did this all the time.

He pulled my chest against his and started to sway back and forth with me in his arms, "I'll never let you go." He whispered into my ear as he pulled his head back to look at me, he smiled and then moved his head forward to kiss me. I closed my eyes and burried my face back in his chest, he was warm. He let go and grabbed my hand, ready to go on. We walked for what seemed hours until we saw a little town. "This um...Pingle right?" I looked around and listened to the way the people talked, "I think so."  "Great. This is where my aunt lives!" He got real excited and jerked me through the gates that enterted the town.

He looked around desperatly until he saw a sign that said, Coner Dr. "There's her street Mad!" He sounded as excited as a little boy that was getting to go to the fair. He tightened his grip on my hand and pulled me up on his back. I laughed as he ran down the road looking like a wild child, "There it is! There's her house Maddie!" He knocked on the door and set me down next to him, taking my hand again. The door opened and a woman stood there, "Yes?" Gaven's face got less excited by the moment, "Uh...Does Marcie Udeen live here?" The woman looked down and swallowed, "I'm sorry young man but, Marcie died just this following week on Wednesday. Could I help you?" Gaven skuffed his feet on the patio and shook his head, without another word Gaven turned around and walked me back to the top of the street.

I stepped out infront of Gaven and lifted his head up, "It's okay Gaven. Everything is going to be alright." He didn't look at me, "Why would she die? She was only twenty Madelene!" A man that was walking by stopped and looked at us. "Uh, um. Where are your kids' parents? You guys shouldn't be wondering around here, it's dangerous." I looked at the man, confused while Gaven lifted his eyes and tried to explain, "We don't know where our parents are. We came  to my aunt's house but I guess she died on Wednesday."

"Was yur aunt um uh, Marcie Udeen?" "Yeah. Why?" The man's eye grew wide and he grabbed our arms, "You children are in grave danger, you must come with me." He looked around, startled, like someone was watching. As he dragged us along the road I asked, "Does this town have Watchers?" "Uh, um. No ma'am we don't." A big bell rung three times and the man picked up his pace, "Come on children! We have three minutes before it comes back!" Terrified of whatever "it" was Gaven and I began practicly running with the man.

He stopped and ripped open the door to a little stone house. There was two little girls and their mother sitting by a fire, all wrapped up in a little blanket. "Don! Who are they?"  "Jenny, I found them wondering the streets, they have lost their parents and I wanted to keep them safe!" The woman that was named Jenny, nodded her head and stood up, "How many minutes left?" "One, maybe two." Jenny bit her lips and wriggled her nose. Before anything else was said I interupted the silence, "Who is it?" Don and Jenny looked at me in disbeliefe and then at one another.

"The killer! He comes every night and kills someone! Tonight it would have been you two if my husband hadn't found you!" Gaven waved his hand in the air and then squinted his eyes at Jenny, "Why is he killing all these people?"  "We don't know," I could hear the bell ringing like crazy, the killer must be entering the town. Jenny screamed as well as the little girls as they all ran to the basement for cover. Don locked the doors and shut the window blinds, locking them too. He ran over to the big hidden door that led downstairs and motioned for us to come too. He pushed us down the small enternace and then slammed the door shut, locking it too. You could hear screams outside, the little girls had tears in their eyes and were huddled with their mother.

Don sat down and wrapped his arms around Jenny. They all shut their eyes and began praying, i looked at Gaven, we both missed our families when they were all together. Gaven sighed and wrapped his arms around me, I was tearing up. I had never seen a family in such fear. I heard a big boom upstairs and watched as the family looked up and huddled closer and closer together. Gaven looked up too and grabbed me, scooting me over in a corner with him. One of the little girls let out a squeal and everything got quiet upstairs. Jenny's eyes flooded with fear as she covered the girl's mouth and looked up. He was trying to open the trap door.

The little girls' mouths were both covered to make ure they wouldn't scream. All the sudden a small beam of light entered the room, the trap door was being opened. I wanted to scream, but didn't. My throat tightened and Gaven covered my mouth, shoving me behind him further in the corner. A grunt came from above as the trap door opened fully, the little girls screamed as the man slit Jnny and Don's throat. After this he killed the little girls, Gaven was infront of me, but we weren't visible unless one of us said something or made a noise.

The man turned around and crawled back up out of the basement. Gaven and I sat there, staring at the dead bodis of a what seemed perfect, loving family. Tears filled my eyes and soon released all onto my clothes. Gaven held me tight, I was pretty sure he cried too.