Thank you for all of your kind words and moral support.

Seriously guys, it's awesome.

RedDeathLvr, perhaps she will. Also, don't fear. I intend to make this chapter longer.

thegeyerguesthoouse, it is nice to get some lengthy feedback, thanks. It is also nice to know that my work contains believable dialogue. Well we're not quite sure about Nadir's... condition. Yet.

And so it continues.

"Mama?" The boy rubbed his tired eyes as she opened the door just a crack. "When will I get to play with the other children outside?" He picked up the tattered a ragged cloth toy, clutching it in his tiny hands.

"You can't Erik! You never will be, so stop these silly dreams and eat your dinner. The doctor will be here soon." His mother slammed the door. From the other side he could hear click after click after click as each lock was secured into place.

It confused him as to why she always locked the doors. Maybe it was to stop the bad people getting in. He had heard about the bad people, some of the children who played in the fields would talk about them. Like pirates and knights and witches and monsters.

Everyday he would sit, cross-legged on the floor. After finding a spot that was comfortable, he'd pull back a little strip of wood and peek through the hole in the wall. The other children were having fun.

In his own way, he supposed he did- just watching them. Often when they played games like hide and seek he would look across the fields and think of a hiding place. Then, if no one looked there he would smile to himself. In his own head, he'd won.

Mother would always bring these strange men into the house. Sometimes, they would climb up the stairs and come to his room. They always stared at him funny, like they were shocked. Hadn't they ever seen a little boy before?

Some of them would come very close, touch his face and his hands. Many prodded and poked him. Then he would hear them from downstairs saying things like 'it's beyond repair.' or 'I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do.'

Then mother would cry. Mother cried allot. At first, he thought that was just what people did every now and again. Lots of the children outside would cry if they tripped or if the other children said nasty things about them. Yet Mother was different, she would cry every night.

So he would cuddle up in a little ball on his blanket, careful not to move so he wouldn't cut himself like he often did in his room, and fall asleep. Aggy was the only person he could talk to, his toy. Sometimes Aggy would talk back, but only when he was sleeping.

But then one day, the men came. Men all dressed in black who held crosses in their hands. Some of them had big, tall, funny hats. He saw them coming through the little hole in the wall.

"Come on Erik. Come out and see the nice gentlemen." His Mother cooed him from his room in a sweet and gentle voice. But she only used that voice when the men came to prod and poke him. So he shook his head.

He could see already that Mother was getting angry. Her hair had gotten all wiry recently, her usually soft skin was dry and she was getting thinner everyday. He was worried she might be getting sick. So he did as she said, eventually and slowly stepped out of his room.

She nudged his back as he tried to quickly step down the long staircase. It was hard, he had to leap because he had such little legs. It wasn't often that he went down them either.

She grabbed his hand, a little too tightly, yanking him into the dining room. There were candles lit in a circle around the table, wax dripping off them and onto the floor. They had been lit for a long time. There was also a big, white circle around connecting all the candles.

Erik had seen the children who played outside using it to draw little numbers in squares and jump on them. Maybe this was a game. A game that Mother and the men with the black clothes and funny hats wanted to play. But it looked different to the games that the children through the hole played.

When he stood on his tip toes, he could see a little of the surface of the table. There were bits of rope and crosses on them. As well as big, thick, leather-bound books that Mother would often throw into his room to stop him crying when he was younger. Maybe they were here to read him a story?!

All of the men were stood around in a circle, their hands nearly touching. Mother picked him up under his arms and hoisted him onto the table. A few of the men stepped forward, giving him the same look that everyone did and then started to take off his shoes.

Then they took off his socks, his shirt, his trousers, everything. Until he was left shivering, cold and confused on the table. Rain started to pour outside, tapping harshly against the windows. Erik looked over to his mother confused, who looked down at the floor and then left the room.

One of the men with the funny hats grabbed his wrist. He took the rope on the table and wrapped it around and it hurt.

"Ouch!" Cried the young boy. "Ow please stop! It hurts!" But no one seemed to be listening, in fact they pushed him down onto the table and tied the second down. Then, they tied down his ankles.

"Why can't I move?!" Cried Erik as he struggled against the restraints. The men all went back into their circle. A man, all dressed in black and with the tallest hat stepped forwards. He held a cross in his hand, an open book in the other and started speaking nonsensical words over and over again.

Erik started to get scared, he struggle and struggled. Crying out for his Mother who never came, she never did and never would. They tossed cold water over him, forced him to drink it, talking of purification. But in this position he could barley swallow it.

Instead he choked and coughed and struggled to breathe as they began to shout and speak louder. Smoke filled the room. It clouded his vision and made it almost impossible to breath. They all shouted the same thing. Speaking in languages he couldn't understand.

The storm raged on. It mixed with their voices and Erik's contorted and agonising screams as they poured more freezing water over his small and tired body. He wanted Aggy. Aggy could make them all go away. He just wanted to be back in his room.

The candles went out. They were finally finished. Erik's cold body shivered and they untied him, carrying him backup the stairs to his attic, tossing him onto the floor cutting his body on the nails that stuck out of the poorly kept pieces of wood that held the house together.

With as much strength as he could muster, he dragged himself to his blanket. There was a leak in the roof. Water dripped down onto his blanket, onto Aggy. There was a pool of it. The darkness obstructed his vision, but there was something strange in the water. It was a face that wasn't quite... human.

So he dragged his wet, bruised and tired, naked body to the loose piece of wood near the hole and pulled it away. Moonlight shone right onto the little pool of water. He looked into the water.

His eyes widened, heart beat quickened and all the questions were answered. As he fell into a heap and fainted. Fainted at the sight of his own disgusting and contorted face.

The next morning, he woke with a saddened expression. For now he knew the truth, he knew what he was, why people looked at him funny. He was a monster. He looked around the attic- the door was open. But mother would always lock it...

He wrapped the blanket around him, it was still damp. After picking up Aggy he edged carefully to the door, it was quiet. Even outside no children played or stirred. The storm had passed but there was still no sign of life.

He walked carefully down the steps. This time he wasn't being rushed. Yet there was a feeling in his gut that he should. So putting one tiny foot in front of the other, he stumbled down the stairs.

But he forgot his rhythm and tripped. He tumbled down the stairs, hitting his head, back, leg, arm, back, head, foot, arm ,head, back, leg. Until it stopped. His vision was all blurry, but he could still make out the figure of his mother. He crawled towards her slowly.

"Mama. Mama?" He called out, putting his arms out in front of him until he found her arm. It was icy to the touch.

As his vision came back to settle, he looked up. Her skin was pale. Lips were blue. There was a dribble of red from the corner of her mouth, in little flecks down her dress. In her hand, barely being held in her finger tips was a bottle.

Erik took a look at it, reading along the side of it was four letters, 'L.Y.E.'. He held back tears in his eyes. No, she couldn't be, she couldn't! He shook her arm, nudged her, screamed her name. There was no response. She was dead.

Cynthia gripped his hand. Erik handed her a handkerchief to dry her tearful eyes. "There's no need to cry." He tried to calm her, soothe her. But it was to no avail.

"There is every need!" She whined, sniffling. "You were treated so poorly, because of your face. Your Mother... your poor Mother..." Pain crossed her features as she stared down at the ground. "I treated you just as bad, I hurt you..."

He pressed his hand against her cheek and lifted her head, gazing into her eyes.

"You did no such thing. You are nothing like my mother, you are so much kinder." But tears still fell from her.

"I'm sorry!" She bellowed tearfully, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "I'm sorry!" He rubbed her back to soothe her until she fell asleep in a fit of crying.

As gently as he could, he placed her into his bed. Removing her shoes and tucking her in. He surrounded her in comfort and supported her tired head with pillows. Then looked to the table that sat beside and picked up the finely made, cloth monkey.

He placed a little kiss upon it and then tucked it into her arms.

"It's time to protect someone else...Aggy."

Yep, so the usual. Review and stuff.

I'll update soon.

Peace.