Turning away from the mirror, he went to his kitchen. Pouring himself a drink, he sat at his small table. This was his life. Every day was exactly the same now. There was no room for challenge or growth. There never would be again, not with his friends gone.
Tears fell from his eye. It was never going to get better. The pain would never go away. The living hell that had been his life for years would still be his life until the day he died. He closed his eye tight and tried to remember a time when there had been no pain...
Years ago, in a small cottage...
His mother smiled as she held him. She was in their favorite chair-the one that rocked back and forth. She would hold him as they rocked, with sunlight streaming in through the windows, until he slept. Then she would carry him back to his bed, tucking him in. It had been one of the happiest times of his life.
The memory surprised him. He hadn't thought of his parents in a very long time. The clarity of the memory was astonishing-usually his memories were fuzzy and indistinct. It didn't matter anyway-his parents had been gone for almost his whole life. Three years after he was born, they just...disappeared. He had woken up one day in their pleasant little cottage and they were gone. No note, no way of explanation. He had lived alone for two years in that cottage, as it slowly fell into disrepair. Once, when he had gone outside for some fresh air, he had seen the cottage from the outside. It looked abandoned. The paint was peeling, the roof was sagging, and in many places there was gouges and scratches in the paint from the wild animals that had tried to break in. Those nights had been the worst, hiding alone and afraid in the house, hoping they would not get in.
What he did not know was that many people had wondered just who had lived in that cottage, and what had happened to it. No one cared enough to investigate, except for one curious group of children that had been about his age...
Five years after his birth...
He had been in the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets for something to eat. There had been a sizable amount of supplies left after his parents left. It was running out, however. While he had been looking, he had heard the door slowly creak open. He had immediately frozen, thinking that one of the animals had finally found its way in. Then he had darted to his hiding place-the big closet in what had been his parent' room. He had heard voices...
"Wow, this place looks even worse from the inside."
A second voice, this one female. "I know. It looks just terrible."
A third, male like the first. "Hmmm...it must have looked pretty good when it was first built."
The the first voice spoke up again. It sounded like they were in the kitchen now. "Look. There's still food here."
The third voice. "That's strange. It should have rotted away."
The second. "You're just a regular smarty-pants, aren't you, Zack?"
The one she had called Zack sounded hurt. "So what if I am, Harmony?"
The first voice spoke up again. "Shhh! What if someone's here?"
Harmony said, "There's nobody here. It's abandoned. Use your brain, Will."
Then the door had creaked open again, and a new, fourth voice spoke up. "I knew that I'd find you in here."
Will. "Melody? What are you doing here?"
"I followed you here. I'm curious about this place too."
Zack. "Well, it's not much. We've only got one more room to explore. It's pretty big."
Melody. "I'll help."
Then they had moved into his parent's room. He could see them. They had split up. Three of them had gone to parts of the room farthest away from the closet. But one had made his/her way over there. He scrunched himself into a ball and moved into the darkest corner of the closet. The one over there had squatted down and spoke. From her voice he could tell that it was Harmony. "This is a pretty big closet." She seemed to be talking to herself.
She had reached into the closet. Then she actually moved into the closet. Her hand had brushed against him, causing him to yelp involuntarily. She had screamed and quickly backed out of the closet as he himself came shooting out. The others were frozen in shock as he shot to another corner, shaking in fear.
Will. "What...what is it?"
Melody. "I don't know. I think it's just a wild fox."
Harmony. "No...it can't be. See? He's wearing something. And all that food we found was in cans. Wild foxes don't open cans."
She had approached him then, full of compassion. He didn't really remember what happened next, but eventually he had ended telling them why he was alone. Since he was smaller and weaker than the four of them, Harmony had acted as the mother figure. He was exhausted from all the fear and adrenaline, so after telling his story, he had curled up in her arms and slept. After that, she had carried him, still sleeping, back to her house...
That had been his first encounter with the people that would eventually become his closest friends. He smiled, and thinking of them, fell into a deep sleep...
