I felt dazed and weak from the blow, so I barely noticed as Kairi burst into tears and raced up the long staircase to the second floor. Feebly, I turned my head in that general direction to see Riku call out her name again and Sora running up the stairs after her…

Falling backwards, I noticed that darkness was descending in the room… Wow, it's nightfall already, I thought lazily and thousands of stars twinkled above my head. If only I could reach one…

"Mierielle…"

The stars are talking to me…?

"Mierielle!"

They're getting louder... Hello, can you hear me?

"Hey, are you even conscious?"

The stars grew brighter, dazzling my tired eyes; the shadows of the night lengthened, causing the rest of the world to fade…

"I'm getting help…"

What?The stars were dimming and their voice was leaving me... Don't go!

Silence…

Help me! I'm alone in the gloom now...all alone...

By now the once brilliantly bright spots of light were just mere pinpricks in the darkness… Where had they gone?

Don't leave me! I screamed into the blackness. "Don't leave me!"

The final sheets of obscurity spiraled down to rest on top of me, and I had disintegrated away once more…

- - -

"Wake up!"

"Wake up, Mierielle!"

I opened my eyes slowly to find a large mass of deep blue right in my face. Screaming, I fought to get away from it and ended up rolling off to the other side of the room, where I crashed into a small statue of a man that broke as soon as it hit the floorboards; its head went spinning and hit Riku in the foot.

"Sora! What did you do that for?" he barked at the cowering figure that was on the floor behind him. With a slight look of repulsion, Riku made his way over and knelt down beside me. "Are you okay?"

A slash of sympathy cut across my heart, and I felt overwhelming pity for Sora as he rose from the ground, cheeks ablaze. Even though he had half scared me out of my mind, I guess he hadbeen trying to help.

"I'm fine," I retorted, ignoring the hand that Riku offered me. Attempting my best to ignore the rather hurt expression on his face, I stood and wiped away the few remnants of tears from my eyes. "What happened?"

Sora began to speak but he was cut off by Riku as soon as he opened his mouth. "Well, to keep a long story short, Kairi didn't exactly react well to the fact that your mother had an affair with her father. Also—"

"C'mon, Riku," said Sora coldly, striding over to stand next to me. "You don't have to say the obvious. I bet Mierielle's a lot smarter than you give her credit for."

My eyebrows rose, but I kept my mouth shut. This was getting interesting…

"I never said that she wasn't smart," he replied icily, and even though he was speaking to Sora, his eyes remained fixed on me.

Shaking his head so that his spikes gleamed, the boy next to me insisted, "That's not the point; no one would be happy if their dad had an affair with another girl's mom…especially a girl from another world." He smiled wryly and said, "Who would? Anyway, I think the reason Kairi's really jealous is because Mierielle can remember everything about her old world, while Kairi can't. Maybe it makes her feel inferior, you know?"

I raised my eyebrow at this detailed explanation, especially since it was coming from Sora of all people. It had been more of the thing I would have expected Riku to say. Quietly, I said, "You've been thinking a lot about this, haven't you…"

Riku just stood there in pondering silence, his forehead screwed up in thought, no longer watching me. The walls I had built around me in order to keep my feelings from emerging began to crumble as an unanticipated thought slipped into my mind: I wish he was still staring at me…

I blinked and snapped out of it. "I guess I can only pass out so many times before insanity starts to kick in…"

That random comment broke the brooding stillness and Riku genuinely laughed, sending an unfamiliar chill up my spine, or at least one I hadn't felt in a long time. Sora grinned uncertainly and asked curiously, "What made you think of that?"

Riku stopped laughing and I froze.

"Well? Go on."

In a state of extreme hunger and worry, I burst out the first thing that came to mind, "I'm so hungry!"

That's when I went overboard.

"I haven't eaten since early this morning and now it's four in the afternoon and I've got no food in my house and no money and my dad's gone and I smashed a picture of my mom and there was blood all over the floor and I didn't get enough sleep and my dad doesn't trust me enough to let me go down to the beach, which is my favorite place and…" At their concerned expressions, the steadily piling emotions that had been threatening to fall all day crashed down around me, and I exploded into tears, much unlike the silent crying of before. Through the deluge, I made out a moment's hesitation between the two, and I took advantage of it.

Ignoring their yells of "Come back!" and "Wait," I fled.

Before I knew it, I had slammed the large front door in Riku's face, sprinted past the tattered countryside, and continued to race down the brick road, never looking back.

I don't think I'd ever run that fast in my entire life.

- - -

Hours later, as I was sulking in my new bedroom, staring hatefully out at the beautiful ocean, my father returned.

When I heard my name being called up the stairwell, I could barely summon enough energy to stand and descend to the kitchen where he awaited. After seeing what filled up the room, I was glad I did.

Numerous shopping bags were piled in his arms, hiding his face, and many more were spread across the ground. Bewildered, I sat in the last empty chair and said mouth-wateringly, "What's for dinner?"

I couldn't see what his reaction to this question was, but my dad managed to mumble, "Help."

Quickly, he and I unloaded the many bags and ended up stocking the cabinets and refrigerator full. After I set the table and provided placemats, we sat on either side of it, both of us hoping that somehow our plates would fill up without any work to be done.

"Well?" I asked.

With a sigh, he stood and grumbled, "Let's have something simple tonight, alright? Not a lot of work, please…"

The hunger inside of me had reached its point, and I snapped, "It's not like you've been home all day starving to death."

"Please, Mierielle. I thought you'd be strong enough to withstand a day without food."

I gaped at him and shook my head angrily, wondering how on earth he had turned the blame on me. When he set a sandwich down in front of me, I ate it up before he even had a chance to sit down.

"That's how hungry I was," I said icily, and I stalked quickly up to my room.