Toby sat on the sidewalk, chewing his fingers and nearly crying. A month ago, the cars passing by had taken the life of his beloved sister, Lyra. She died, leaving Toby alone. Ridley's parents had taken her away to a hospital to be "looked at". She wasn't allowed to see anyone. She even missed Toby's seventeenth birthday. He kicked a rock away and sighed.

"Timey Whimey...Black and Blue...One more word and I'll kill you." he sang to himself, enduring the pangs of depression. Just as he was about to begin singing it again, Toby saw something odd. A black car with black passenger windows—completely sealed off except for the front window. Then, he heard the screaming and knew it quite clearly.

"Riddles!" he screamed, running after the car as if trailed down the road. It took several sharp turns before he lost it.

"Ridley!"

She didn't like the mouth guard. The doctors told her it would make her parents happier if she wore it. Like she cared about them. Ridley wasn't allowed to speak anymore. She could only stay a silenced freak. The Marx family was no longer a proud one. They wanted to hide Ridley as if she was a failed experiment. That didn't stop Toby from ringing their door bell as many times as his raw fingers would let him.

They wanted to ignore Toby too, block him out along with her past. The door opened and Tony spoke before they could even breathe.

"Let me see her now." he snapped, angrily. The mother gaped.

"She's sleepi-"

"Well, wake her up! Wake her up!" he screamed.

"Toby, stop it. Toby."

"Wake her up!" Rushing up to Ridley's room, her mother did just that.

"Where your mouth guard." He heard the woman hiss. Ridley's mother came down and glared at Toby.

"One hour. Any longer and I call the police." She left and at the bottom of the stair case stood Ridley—sixteen and dead-looking. Her energetic red hair was now limp and faded. Her skin, grey and her eyes were deader than a corpse. Around her mouth and chin was a black mouth guard. She looked down at his feet sadly.

"Ridley." he remarked.

"My sister...she's..." Her eyes shot up as if she wanted to say something. Then, Ridley winced yet no one was touching her.

After, she shoved through him and began walking down the sidewalk. Surprised and kind of angry, Toby chased up to her.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" he snapped. Ridley slowly stopped walking. Their silence was almost unbearable. He turned her around and tore off the mouth guard. Her lips were red with blood and ice cold.

"We have the same hearts, Toby Rogers." She spoke like she'd held her breath for those years.

"And that makes us different. Should've left me there. Should've killed me." she mumbled, observing Toby's reddened fingers.

"What are you tal-"

"Kill me, Toby. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me." Shocked, he shook his head and pushed Ridley away.

"You're my friend." The worst part is when there's someone who can disagree with that little sentence.

"I'm no one's friend." she whimpered. Toby clenched his fists.

"How can you say that?!" he screamed, pushing her to the ground.

"Six years! I waited six years for you, Ridley! And you never came around. You left for three years without telling me. It was easy for you though. You're right about one thing. You're not my friend. You made me forget, for one second, that people like me—like you—we don't get friends."

Then, Toby snatched her mouth guard off the ground.

"If you won't, at least someone will be wearing it."

Ridley had never cried so hard as she did that night. While in the hospital, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, acute paranoia, and pure insanity. It wrapped around her mind and pulled so tight she thought she was going to die some times. It absolutely crushed her the day her mother warned her of their trip to Nebraska. She was being sent to an insane asylum. She couldn't tell Toby because he'd try to stop it and get himself hurt. Assuming she'd never return, Ridley told herself Toby would be better off without her in his life. She returned home and dwelled on that. Ridley opened the door and saw her mother—white and furious.

"Where is your mouth guard?" She shook with fury.

"I took it off and it blew away." At first, her mother seemed to calm down and understand. Then, a hand struck her cheek. Ridley gasped at the pain. She snatched Ridley's face up between long fingernails and came dangerously close.

"Don't ever disobey me again. Do you understand?" spat the woman.

Ridley choked out some sort of approval and the woman released her.

"Go to your room, shut the door, and pray I don't send you to an orphanage. I'll make you another mouth guard."

Ridley—afraid of her mother—ran down the hall to her room and slammed the door behind her. Then, instead of dwelling on her real punishment, she cried about Toby. Ridley didn't have any friends due to the fact that they moved so much. The family jumped from asylum to asylum, never making an impression on anyone.

"I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Kill me. Please, kill me." she whispered to herself.