Kyle was absolutely taken aback. His voluminous eyes stared at her in utter shock. He even felt a little lightheaded, and although the truth about what was going on was distorted, it was slowly but surely coming together. Though he had seen a plethora of movies and read about girls disguising as boys to hide secrets, he never once expected it would happen with the awkward kid that he hadn't even known for a single day.

"Kyle, listen," she sighed, inching closer to him. "I need you to help me bring my father to justice. He's the douche that murdered my mom. The one that's all over the news."

Kyle was at a loss for words. All he could manage was a hardly audible "Why?".

"I'll explain..."

It was a frigid Saturday evening in Seattle. She sat on her front porch with her brown and white guinea pig in her lap, stroking his fur every so often. Her ringleted reddish hair was tied into a bun and she wore a checkered black and white sweater along with dark blue sweatpants. The first petals of winter snow began to fall, and the unforgiving cold froze her tears as they ran down her cheeks. She covered her ears in an attempt to drown out the noises of the screeching voices coming from the inside of her house, but to no avail. The argument started about how her mother, Pamela wished to divorce her father, Larry. Everything began to escalate and a small argument became a fist fight between both her parents and her elder brother. A mild skirmish quickly became a scream fest, and she had absolutely no control over it.

This went on for months. Every fight was about a different matter but they all turned out the same, with her mother bruised and her father intoxicated. Her father's anger slowly turned to her. Over time, he found more and more reasons to abuse his family, but he was never truly satisfied. That was until the night it happened.

Her arms were covered in bruises and bandages as she lie in bed, only clothed with a tank top and shorts. Her mother had gone to bed early, claiming she didn't feel well. For once, Penny felt that the tension in her family was beginning to die down. She smiled at the thought of actually being happy. Maybe her parents had finally agreed to disagree and they could all go back to just living normal lives. Maybe her dad could get a job and she wouldn't have to live off of frozen waffles and Cheerios anymore.

That's when she heard it. It sounded almost like a door slamming. Alarmed, she got up to investigate. She put on a pair of worn-out green slippers and walked along the wooden floor to her parent's room. The first thing she smelled was alcohol. There stood her father with his AK47 and her mother with a bloody pillow over her face. Her brother, too, came to see what the commotion was and seemed far less stunned than Penny. Instead of screaming, she fell silent and looked at her father. Not wanting her as a witness, he pointed the gun at her. Her stomach dropped and she looked into the barrel of the weapon. She swallowed hard. She didn't have the best life, but she surely did not want to die.

Her mother moaned in pain, astonishing everyone in the room. Larry suddenly had an idea. He handed Penny the gun.

"Kill her," he said. He felt that if Penny had a part in the murder, she could not testify against him. "and I won't send you to hell."

Penny's eyes began to water as her mother cried and gasped for air. She pointed the weapon at the woman and closed her eyes. Her arms shook and she tried to mentally talk herself into not doing it. She could just turn the gun on her father, but everyone in the room knew she could never in a million years do such a thing. So how was she to murder her own mother?

Moments passed and still, Penny could not bring herself to pull the trigger.

"Just do it already!" Drew snapped. Penny's stomach churned even more knowing that her brother was on Larry's side.

She took one last deep breath before slowly pulling her finger against the trigger. The crack of the gun echoed through the room as Pamela took her final breath.

Penny looked up at her father as she dropped the gun on the floor.

"Why?" she choked out. "Daddy, why?"

He never answered her question. Instead, he turned toward the door. His back faced Penny as he stood in the doorway. The phone on her mother's bedside table began to ring. It sounded two, and then three times. Larry picked the phone up.

"Hello?" he said hesitantly.

"Hi, this is Mary from next door. William and I heard some strange noises coming from your house and just wanted to know if you were okay."

He quickly slammed the phone down and gave his AK to Drew.

"Kill the neighbors," he said. "Penny and I will be in the car."

He forcefully grabbed Penny's arm. She knew she didn't have a choice.

"W-wait," she said, prying her father's arm off of her. She ran into her room and grabbed a few belongings in a bag along with her guinea pig. Before leaving the house, she went back into her parents' room where her mother lied motionless. She had no idea what drove her father to kill her, but she had no power over it. Well, technically, she had killed her own mother, right? She shook her head at the thought and walked over to Pamela's body. She had never seen a dead person before. The individual in that bed was just so pale and bloody that it was nearly unidentifiable.

Penny suddenly heard gunshots from next door, making her flinch. She clutched the small animal to her and turned around, heading to the car. She didn't know where she was going to end up, but she could never go back. The image of her mother's deceased body haunted her repeatedly, and still, she couldn't bring herself to accept what happened or what was to come.

Penny sat beside Kyle on his bed with her messy brown wig on (In case his mother came in, etc). She was clothed in a pair of Kyle's Terrance and Phillip pajama bottoms and a tank top, which exposed her bruised and bandaged arms, shoulders, and neck. Kyle wore simple matching blue pajamas: a long sleeved shirt and stretchy pants. There was silence and tension between the two, as Penny found it hard to speak now that she felt she was reliving her experience upon telling Kyle. She began to doubt whether telling him was the right thing or not. At least so soon, anyway. She could feel that she was making him nervous, just being in his presence.

"You know, Kyle, if being around me is making you uncomfortable-"

"No, no, it's not that," he said. "I know it...wasn't your fault but...it's just kind of weird."

"I understand," she responded. "Because I killed my mom, it's natural for you to feel odd, I get it. But look, dude, I need serious help. It's only a matter of time before my dad and brother and go on a reckless killing spree, I know it."

"Look, Penny, I know you've been through a lot but...this is just a lot for me to take," Kyle said. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'll let you stay at my house tomorrow night too. I just need to sleep on this, okay?"

"Thanks, bro," she smiled. Finally, someone that didn't judge every word that came out of her mouth.

He turned the lights out and crawled into bed right next to Penny, turning away from her and closing his eyes.

Sadly, Kyle's slumber didn't last very long, as he awoke to Penny crying hysterically on the corner of his bed. With a moan, he stood up and turned on the lights.

He wanted to tell her to shut the hell up but instead uttered, "Dude, what's wrong?"

She didn't respond and he certainly didn't want his parents waking up. He waved his hand in front of her face but she continued to cry. It was as if she was in a trance.

He snapped his fingers, hoping to get her attention, but to no avail. It was almost as frustrating as a crying newborn. How could this new "friendship" get any worse?

He grabbed her by the arm and her crying died down slightly. He led her to the kitchen, hoping to get her a glass of water or anything, really. He grabbed a cup and poured it. It wasn't until he looked over that she had stopped crying and fallen back to sleep, mumbling quietly on the kitchen floor. He had dealt with a similar situation with Ike once, but he couldn't help but feel a little pissed. If she was going to beg for his help and friendship, the least she could do was not be a burden at 3AM, right? He dragged her back to his room, leaving her on the floor and crawling back into bed.

"Jesus Christ..." he groaned as he again closed his eyes.

The sun peeked generously through his window as he woke up again. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, where Penny was dressed with her wig off and was singing quietly to herself as she brushed her hair.

"When you're rife with devastation, there's a simple explanation: you're a failure of creation who is just destined to fall. And no matter how you see it, know deep down you cannot flee it, but you must keep up your spirits so you sing this silly song..." She looked over at Kyle and gave a friendly smile. "Oh, good morning. How did you sleep, Kyle?"

"Uh..." He said, realizing she had no memory of the previous night. "I slept alright."

He grabbed his clothes and took them to the bathroom where he began to get ready for school. It was only a matter of time before his new "friend" drove him insane.