"I don't think they'll wake up anytime soon," a man around his twenties says with a smile lingering on his face. His eyes are an abyss of darkness. I've never seen eyes so…empty. His shaggy, greasy hair is up to his shoulders, and he's wearing a wrinkled, loose suit. If he wasn't holding a knife covered with blood, I would have thought he was going on a business trip or something.

"Serves them right for not paying their debts," his accomplice replies, laughing. This one has dark red hair, and I couldn't see much of his face because of his sunglasses.

"Who wears sunglasses at night?" I wonder silently, careful not to make any sound. I'm hiding in an empty laundry basket in the closet. My daddy put me in here and stacked clothes on top of my head so that I wouldn't be seen before he went to open the door for the person, or people, that knocked. There was a crack big enough to let me see what was going on, but I have a feeling I'll regret watching.

"Hey Reo, do you remember if they had a daughter or not? I vaguely remember her, but I'm not too sure," the first man says, looking around. He opens the cabinets, grabbing anything of value and breaking the others. I wince as a vase that's been sitting there ever since I was born came crashing down.

I don't think he's going to find much; my family had barely enough money to keep us fed. My daddy was a high school teacher, and my mommy was his student. I loved listening to my daddy tell me their love story. My daddy was 25, and my mommy was 17. Although my mommy was almost 18, their teacher-student relationship was not approved of. My mommy was kicked out of her house, and my daddy lost his job. They wouldn't let anything get in the way of their love, so they eloped to the small town of Nagoya. My mommy discovered she was pregnant a few weeks later, and after a couple of months, I was born! My mommy got a job at a flower shop, and my daddy started working as an elementary school teacher.

"I'm pretty sure they do, Persona. Look at this," the Reo guy says, pointing to a picture of my family on the wall. His comment snaps me out of my reverie, and I jump back into reality. I hear the sirens faintly at first, but as each second ticked by, it got louder.

"Shit! Reo, we'll find her next time, we have to get out of here now," Persona mumbles, lowering his voice. They take anything they can hold and run out a few minutes before the police burst in.

"Oh crap, I think we're too late!" an officer says looking down at my mommy and daddy lying in a pool of red.

"We have to go after them! I think they went this way!" another responds pointing outside.

I desperately try to croak out a sound, but almost nothing comes out. I reach out to open the door wider.

"Wait! I think I hear something!" the first officer says, opening the closet door. He finds me shivering inside the laundry basket, and carefully lifts me out.

"Shh, it's going to be alright kiddo," he tells me, smoothing out my hair. I feel the heavy tears roll down my cheeks, and no matter how much I want to scream and cry, I can't. I've never heard silence this loud. I try crawling to my mommy and daddy. He sees what I'm trying to do, and puts me onto the ground. I franctically rush to my parents, lifting their eyelids to find nothing but empty blackness. I try poking them, but they don't move.

"No! No! Don't leave me! You can't!" I try to scream.

"Hey! Calm down!" the officer ushers, trying to stop me from doing anything irrational.

"How old are you?" he asks, lifting an eyebrow.

"Eight," I reply between sniffles. Mommy and Daddy are just sleeping right? Is this a dream? Will it be okay when I wake up?

"Hey! We caught him!" the other officer victoriously cries, holding a handcuffed Reo.

"There's another one! Persona! This one's Reo! There's another one!" I cry out.

"She's delusional," Reo says, smirking. "I was the only one here. She's just going crazy."

"No! There's another one!" I yell at him furiously. I know I'm right. I saw them with my own two eyes.

"It's okay, kiddo. We'll catch the other one too, just calm down" the officer holding me says.

"It's not okay!" I scream. "I want my mommy and daddy!"

The officer sighs. "I think you need some rest. I'll call an ambulance to come right now." In a couple of minutes, one arrives and takes my parents sleeping bodies away.

"Shh, if you shout too much, you'll wake up your mommy and daddy. Let them sleep for now. It's going to be okay..Do you have any other family members we could put you with for now?" the officer asks me.

"No," I reply. "My parents are my only family."

"Let's go to the hospital now, okay? We can go to the police station in the morning; It's too late now anyways," He says gently. I notice the benevolent glint in his deep purple eyes. "I'll bring my niece there to accompany you. She's your age too. She can help you calm down."

As I walk outside, I look up at the sky. It was a starless night, with nothing but eternal darkness. I get into his car and we go to a house first. I think it should be called a mansion instead of a house. It was probably a hundred times bigger than my home. A girl with the same violet eyes as the officer comes out and sits next to me in the backseat. She isn't smiling, but she isn't frowning either. Her hair is cut to a boy's length, but it looks pretty on her. She looks at me and seems to be analyzing me. I look down at myself and see that I have red stains on my clothes. Mommy's going to get mad at me… Before we leave, a beautiful woman comes rushing out of the house with a jacket in her hand.

"Hotaru! Put on a jacket, it's freezing outside! You don't want to catch a cold now, do you?" she says. "Wait, I have one for you too! Mikan, right? Nice to meet you! Sorry I can't talk for long; I'm cooking something at the moment!"

I faintly smile at her, remembering my own mommy. I look outside the window, only to see that it's started to rain outside. Why is the sky crying?

"Hello?" the officer, or Hotaru's uncle, asks, waving his hand in front of my face. "Why don't you introduce yourself to Hotaru?"

"Mikan Yukihira," I say to her, faking a smile. "It's nice to meet you." I return to watching the raindrops race down the car window.

Hi!

Cerisee is again, back and better than ever! Haha, please excuse any spelling and grammar mistakes I might have made. Actually, point them out please! I really hope to become a better writer, so don't be afraid to give me constructive criticism, suggestions, and any ideas you might have!

*Pssst! Shoutout to Black Rookie for being so so so helpful! And to Loadedxxamo for reviewing after such a long time! I completely forgot about this story! I've been so busy with school—honestly. I'm super duper sorry for not updating for almost a year!

*Another psst! Haha, if you were wondering, I did change my penname! I felt like PFMN was too long, and I liked it as a story title better.

Hope you liked it so far! Next chapter is coming soon!

With lots of love as always,

Cerisee :)