All I remember of my parents is a crimson stain slowly spreading beneath their bodies. All I remember of my sister is her scream as her life ended. All I remember of their murderer is an evil laugh and a silver leaf. Every night for two months I had the same nightmare, woke to the same sense of loneliness. My life had become empty, meaningless. Struggling to survive without a means of supporting myself, I'd resorted to stealing.

I don't know how I'd survived that night. Maybe the man who'd killed my family had been surprised to see me. Maybe he just didn't feel like chasing me through the streets. Whatever the case, I had survived, reliving every moment in my thoughts and dreams. I missed my parents, of course, but they had always seemed a little distant. Mostly I missed my sister. She had been my best friend, the one I could always trust. She'd always looked after me.

Now I had no one and nothing. When I'd returned that night, I'd found that my house had been burned to the ground. All I'd managed to save was a necklace that had belonged to my sister. It had an interesting pendant on it, and from that day I always wore the necklace under my shirt. Lost, I spent many days wandering through the town, stealing food when I could. Eventually, I decided it was time to leave. I just couldn't face the place where it had happened anymore.

That was how I found myself in the situation I was in. Moonlight shone through the steel bars on the window, painting the shadows on the floor and walls. I shifted slightly, the cold raising bumps on exposed skin. Feeling a sad kind of peace, I stared at was sure to be my last night sky. The stars seemed brighter and colder; the moon distant. Sounds of night creatures completed the perfect picture, and I felt truly relaxed. What more could they possibly do to me? Footsteps approached my cell, and I turned, curious, when I heard a key scrape in the lock.