Only lit by the light of the moon, the young girl brushed through her blonde hair, a hundred strokes on each side. Just like her mum taught her. She braided her hair, one braid on each side, and sighed, as she heard the crying. She cried day and night, some fits worse than others, but the pain was always there.

"Viola," I girl coughed out miserably. "Come to my room!"

"Coming, Ellen." She dashed to Ellen's bed, and kneeled down. She dabbed the sweat off of Ellen's forehead, and tucked her damp purple hair behind her ear. "Eat your porridge. You need strength."

"Okay." She took a few sips of the watery oats, before coughing again. "When are they coming back?"

"I've told you, next week. We still have six days to get out."

"I want to go back to my old house. In the forest."

"As long as you're with me, and as long as you're my friend, and as long as I care about you, you're not going back. That house was what made you sicker than before. You need someone to take care of you-"

"After I x-ed my parents."

Viola scrunched her face up, and continued feeding Ellen porridge. "I still don't like that word, but it's better than kill, I suppose." She dumped the porridge out the window, and kissed Ellen on the forehead. "Call me if you need me."

"Love you."

"Love you too." Viola took both of Ellen's hands, and recited a prayer she made each of them say each night. "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take. Amen." Viola kissed Ellen again, and walked to her room.

Viola knew that Ellen's sickness couldn't be spread from Viola kissing her goodnight. Ellen had the same thing that her mother had, and died from. Viola didn't know what it was called, but Daddy said that a cell made it's way from her mother's brain from her lung, and tried to grow a new lung. Of course, as Viola grew older, she knew that this was not true, and her mother simply died of a brain tumour. Ellen, however, said her sickness wasn't like that. The cells in Ellen's bones multiplied too quickly. She called it ALL, because she said all that she could do was wait for her bones to take over all her body.

"Never speak to me again."

Viola's blood ran cold and her muscles tensed. All of her joints locked, yet she sprang up, and ran as silent as a mouse to Ellen's room.

"Come on Howard. 'snt that bad!"

"WE'RE NEVER ALLOWED BACK IN DISNEYLAND PARIS!"

"Okay, so, I might have messed up."

Viola threw herself over Ellen, who barely stirred, just wheezed. The only thing that could wake her up was sunlight.

"You called out Princess Jasmine-"

"Prince Jasmine, Howard."

"- for being a man."

Viola started weeping as she heard the footsteps grow nearer and nearer. The door creaked open . . .

"But she was Howard! You could totally tell she was a drag queen!" The sound of dropping luggage emanated around the room, and rang in everyone's ears. "Hello?"

Viola fumbled for the knife Ellen kept under her pillow. Ellen had always said, if Viola ever needed to kill another human, she should kill them with that knife. Ellen had explained that because she had killed a witch and wizard with it, it could forever kill a mere human. After Viola got a hold of the knife, she shot up like a dolphin performing tricks, and her eyes were just as mad. "Not one step closer. I- I'll shoot. Or, uh, stab you."

"Bring it on," shouted the moustached one, but the girly-boy held him back.

"You're not really gonna fight a girl, are you 'oward? I mean . . . you won't win! She's got a knife!"

Viola got off the bed, shaking. Vince stepped back, closed the door, and kneeled down. He crawled to her, but she was shaking too hard to notice. Finally, she dropped the knife, put her head in her hands, and started sobbing. "I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry. We will leave, right now, I- I-"

"We? Who's we?"

Viola shot up again, and stumbled backward to the bed. Ellen moaned as Viola hit it. "No- No one."

"Is this your sister?"

"That's it," said the moustached one. "I'm calling the police. Let them sort it out."

"No!" Viola dabbed the sweat off of Ellen's forehead with a tissue. "I wanted to. But we couldn't. Because Ellen's parents didn't love her because of her sickness, she moved into a house in the woods. Mummy died from the same sickness, so I wanted to take care of Ellen. So I ran away from Dad. I took care of Ellen ever since she was almost eight. Daddy didn't like Ellen. He wouldn't let me stay with her if the police took us. Please, we'll leave!"

"What's her sickness?"

"She wouldn't tell me. No one would tell me. I was five when Mummy died from it, and ten when I started taking care of Ellen."

"Oh," said the girly-boy. "Did your father say anything about it?"

"He said that a cell made it's way from Mummy's lung onto her brain. And then it got confused, and started making another lung. But I think it's something like a tumour?"

"That's brain cancer . . ." mumbled the mustached one.

"Where do you live," asked the girly-boy.

"Nowhere. Wherever I can find a bed for Ellen. We found the shop, and the back door was unlocked, and there was a schedule, and you guys weren't supposed to be back 'til next week."

"What's your name?"

"Viola."

"My name's Vince. You know, you're very lucky, Viola. When I was young, even younger than you were, I lived in India. But I didn't have a house, like you guys don't have a house. Except they're aren't many houses in India. I lived in a hut made out of bus tickets. I was raised by a bunch of animals, like in The Jungle Book. When I was found, someone wanted to call the cops, but I made them not. The animals told me stories about mean families, like Cinderella. I didn't want to go into that, and I know you don't want to either. I know how hard this is, Viola. Why don't you and her stay the night here? You can sleep in bed with Ellen."

"I don't want to."

"And I don't want you to go back out on the streets. So you're staying here."

"But I-"

"No buts. In the bed Viola. I lived like you guys are from the time I was born from the time I was twelve."

"I'm thirteen."

"Oh. How old's Ellen?"

"She's ten."

"Wow. She can't go out, it's much to cold."

"But I-"

"If it's for the best of Ellen, won't you stay here?"

Viola looked, heartbroken, at the wheezing Ellen. "For Ellen, I'll stay here. Thank you . . . Vince."