A small Asian girl was pounding on the glass that separated him from her. Her small dark brown eyes were wide with fear and she had tears running red streaks down her face. She had a small birthmark shaped like a lotus on her neck, and had on a white dress stained with blood. All around her were piles of bodies, her parents, her brother, and the rest of her family. She pressed her small palms against the glass, pleading for him to help, but he could not move. Each time that she pressed her hand on the glass, small bloody fingerprints were smeared onto the clear material. She was so involved in her actions, she didn't notice a man dressed in black, carrying a semi-automatic rifle, strolling up behind her. This man was a pair of army pants and a black vest. When he looked up, his face was covered by a white mask, which had droplets of blood on it. The man behind the glass tried to yell to the girl, but something or someone had gagged him, and was just letting him watch this bloody scene. The girl turned, but the guy was prepared. She turned to the glass again, and her tear streaked eyes begged for help. Then, she opened her mouth and let out a blood-curling scream, that barely pierced the glass prison, just as the man's rifle swung and connected with her side. She was literally thrown to the side by the rifle. Right before the man took aim at the small Asian girl she looked directly toward the glass. She mouthed five words. "Why didn't you save me?" Then the man hit her with the butt of his rifle and dragged her small unmoving body away from the room.

Suddenly, Cory woke up. Still trembling from his dream he tried to stretch out his arms, but realized that throughout the whole dream, his muscled had been clenched. His name was Cory Grisauld, he had blue eyes and curly blond hair. Cory Grisauld has had this dream for several days. Some would think that is was just a figment of his imagination, but he knew what it was from. Ten years ago, Cory had been 6 year old, and had this dream for a month long. It had been started after his best friend, Ella and Ella's family had been brutally murdered. Ella was that small Asian girl from his dream, and she was the only one not found when the police investigated. The criminal who did this was never identified and Ella's murder was never solved. Cory felt a small tear escape his bright blue eyes, and he dutifully rubbed his eyes. It was his fault that she died, he had always told himself.

It was August 14th that a small Coloradoan family was found lying dead in the house. It was also that day when Cory forgot to check up on his friend Ella, who was also six. Cory thought that if he had been there, Ella would not have disappeared.

Some people thought that Ella had committed the slaughter of her family and relatives until they found her blood scattered all over the windowsill, her hairs trapped in a dent in the wall that the police believed she was thrown against, and then, the fingerprints of an unregistered man all over her family's bodies.

Cory snapped back into the present, and abruptly sat up and slammed his fist against the wall. "Fuck! Why did you have to die?" he cried to the wall. Almost every time he though about Ella, this was his reaction. And then he remembered a detail about this day, the tenth anniversary of that bloody discovery. Ironically, that day was his birthday. Grudgingly he walked to his dresser and proceeded to get dressed in pair of jeans and a navy blue shirt. He slung his black backpack and loaded on the bus.

It was Friday August 14th, that Cory trudged to the school bus. It's yellow and black shape stood out clearly in dim dawn light. As the bus made its way to the high school, he studied his hands, lost in his own entity. His first class of the day went by smoothly, but it was third period that he looked blankly at a wall, replaying his dream in his head. The teacher stood up and told the class that they had a new student joining them. This wasn't a strange occurrence; after all, it was only the 1st month of school.

"Come in please Kaya," the teacher told the person in the hall, ushering them into the room. A girl next to Cory, who had asked him out before, whispered that she had heard that this girl came from Russia. He pondered this information, while an Asian girl entered to the beckoning of the teacher. She had very dark brown hair, and black eyes. Underneath her eyes were bluish purple bags, which told everyone that the amount of sleep she received was very little. She had on long sleeves and a pair of jeans. Kaya wore glasses, and Cory could see some slight bruising on her left cheek. One of her sleeves drifted up, and Cory noticed the dark blue/black that molted the skin. On top of the bruises was many crooked scars, and a dark burn. Then he recognized something that made him recoil instantly, a lotus flower on her neck, in the same place as Ella's.

"Kaya, can you please introduce yourself?" the teacher tried to tell her.

In a quiet voice that Cory could barely hear she told the class, "Hello, my name is Kaya, I am 16 years old. I have lived in Russia since I was 7 years old. I don't remember anything from before that."

The teacher tried to prod her into saying more, but Kaya must have been quite shy because she answered in only a short sentence or two. The teacher, sensing that this situation was slowly becoming awkward, asked the class to introduce themselves to Kaya. Cory stood up, and walked to Kaya.

"Hello Kaya, my name is Cory Grisauld, it nice to meet you," he told her in a tightly controlled voice.

She visibly flinched, and her small eyes widened. Cory could see that Kaya was having some sort of recollection, some sort of memory or order, but then Kaya composed her emotions and in a monotone said, "Its nice to meet you, Cory." She glanced up, and Cory saw that her dark eyes had hardened into endless black pits, almost as if she had buried her conscience and lost all thought.

Throughout the rest of the class, Cory couldn't help but let his eyes drift over to Kaya's seat; she sat rather awkwardly, as if everything touching her was a needle. She would twitch several times and her expressions would vary from anger to an unreadable mask. Her eyes stayed straight on the board, as if the class vaguely intrigued her, but wasn't worthy of her knowledge.

The teacher asked a question pertaining to how or why the colonists of the Japanese settled in certain places. When nobody could answer, the teacher took an initiative to involve Kaya in the class.

"Kaya, would you mind sharing your opinion of this topic?" the teacher asked.

Kaya looked down, and almost seemed to be avoiding the teacher's gaze. When she looked up her face had come into the mask, and her voice was monotonous. Without cracking another expression, she proceeded to answer the teachers question as if she was reading out of wikipedia or a dictionary. "Is that correct?" Kaya asked the teacher as she gave the answer.

"Kaya, very good, you are dead on, almost quoting the answer in a whole," the teacher replied. To Cory, the teacher almost seemed astounded and taken aback.