Chapter 1

While working on a sucking system of her new vacuümmachine, Rie hears very familiar sounds, upstairs inside the walls: Soft but clear clinging of screws finding their way through the pipes of the toilet.
It couldn't be true! How could it be!
She didn't even saw the little rat sneak in stealing the darn things!
With a loud bang she smashes her tools on the table and rushes her way out of the basement, her footsteps stamping dangerously on the stairs.

,AYE! You better hide!" She bellowes furiously. He wasn't going to get away with it this time! He got away with it every time and this time he was dead for sure.
She had to climb all up to the second floor to arrive her goal and she kicked the bathroomdoor open.
A little 5 year old boy, with large brown eyes, turns his head to her at her appearance. In his left hand he holds 3 screws, with the right hand he just threw 2 other screws in the toilet, flushing it immediately.
,Aye! What do you think you are doing!" Rie cries out, almost exploding with anger.

At this point Aye put both his hands on his back, put up his puppy-eyes, squeeking,I'm not flushing screws! I didn't do it! No! I didn't!"
,You… snotty…" Towering above him, shaking with anger Rie steps closer to the little squirrel, also known as her little brother. ,…little…piece…of…shit…"

Panicking, Aye starts to wave his little arms around, launching screws around the bathroom. ,I don't have 'em! I didn't do it!" Screaming for dear life.
,Are you aware of how many screws you already flushed, you pickle!" Rie breaths, tightning her fists while moving closer.
Knowing he has to fear for his life now, Aye decides to use his last resque. He opens his mouth to inhale lots of air.
Rie sees it too. ,No, you're not gonna cry for mommy! NOW I GOT YOU!"
And she leaps forward, clinging her arms around Aye. Ofcourse Aye doesn't let himself get cought that easy and he starts to wiggle around, attempting to free himself. ,Lemme go! Lemm go!"
,No! You're dead! I am gonna torture you in my basement, a day for every screw. AND BELIEVE ME, you little worm, that is gonna be quite some years!"
,I didn't do it!" Aye cries out, tears rolling over his cheeks now.
Rie smirks. ,I'm talking about hundreds of screws here. Ow, you are in such trouble!"
,I don't wanna be tor…tor….I don't wanna be hurt!" Now almost choking in panick and tears, Aye starts to tremble, while Rei calm with anger walks out of the bathroom with him, going down the stairs.
,I will put an electric device around your neck, so I can turn you into my slave! And when you don't obey me, I will electrocute you!" Rie promises him, a little evil laughter following after it. ,I'm a genius, I'm so smart it almost suprises me!"
,You're not smart!" Aye sobs. ,You're mean! Mean people are bad!"
Rie looks at her little brother, eyes with fire. ,Mean! Me! You're the one to talk! You commited a crime more then once! Stealing is enough to put you into prison!"
She wished she wouldn't have said that. Somehow the fact of going to prison when you steal the dear screws of your ingenius sister upsets him more then the torturing with electricity thingy, because Aye immediately starts crying so hard not even an hurricane could have made more noise.
Tears flooding out of his eyes, snot dripping out of his noise, his little head even seems to grow and explode because of the panicking.
,Keep it down!" Rie drops her little brother on the floor. ,Keep it down you stupid boy! Shh!"
,WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! DONWANNAGOTOPRISOOOOOOOON!" Almost running out of air, he starts to roll around over the floor.
Considering to kick him to shut up, Rie wants to lift up her foot, staring anxiously at her little nervbreaking brother, when her mother opens the door of the hallway, looking in with a stunned look.
,Rie, what's goin…..Aye! AYE, WHAT HAPPENED!" Bending over, caving Aye in her arms, who immediately relaxes, sobbing softly in her warm hug.
,Rie! What in the world happened!" Her mother asks, looking really shocked. Her large eyes, just as brown as Aye's are, are staring at her daughter. ,What did you do to him? What did you tell him? How does he get so upset!"
Staring to the floor, not speaking a word, Rie feels really uncomfortable.
,I…Momma…I don't wanna go….to prison…" Aye sobs, his cheeks still red and wet of the tears.
,You don't have to go to prison. You're a good boy!" Mother comforts her little boy.
,He's not!" Rie breaths, clenching her fists.
Her eyes still focussing on the floor, not daring to look up.
,Rie…" Her mother eyes look supsious. ,What did you do to Aye?"
Now Rie looks up,I didn't do ANYTHING! He did it to himself!"
,What in the world are you saying!"
,He flushed my screws down the toilet again!" Rie bellows.
,He is just a little kid! You can't be so strict to him!" Mother cries out, very upset, hugging Aye who starts to cry harder because of the raised voices.
,THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Rie feels tears whelming up. ,HE KNOWS FUCKING WELL HE HAS TO KEEP HIS HANDS OF MY SCREWS!"
,And watch your language, young lady!" Mother says, very furious now. ,I don't like your attitude at all! You should know better then treating your little brother like that!"
,HE STOLE MY STUFF!"
,He is only 5!"
,HE DESERVES PUNISHMENT!"
,I think he already got enough punishment from you!" Though her voice is soft, it's the most dangerous thing Rie ever heard.
,Now, I don't want to see you anymore today." Mother says. ,You should know better then treating your family like this. Go to your room, Rie."
Now the tears are running down Rie's face. ,You're…. You're always picking his side… You never, NEVER agree with me…"
Mother doesn't listen, but walks through the door into the livingroom, hushing comforting words to little upset Aye.

Feeling worthless and neglected, Rie turns around and starts walking down the stairs to her basement. Tears running over her face once again.
Nobody cares about her. Al they care about in this house is her stupid brother.
Always that stupid annoying Aye! Aye with his large chocolate colored eyes.
Aye with his innocent smile.
Rie opens the door to the basement, which is parted in 2 rooms. Her inventingspace and her bedroom. She goes to her bedroom and let herself fall down on the soft bed.
She hugs a pillow, burries her face in it, tears going their own way.
Why doesn't anybody care a damn about her? Nobody likes her!
Not even in school! She doesn't have any friends!

And when she thinks about it, it doesn't surprise her. She is a bitch. She is a stupid egocentric bitch.
When she is at school, she hides in the sciencelab so she doesn't have to spend minutes in the cafetaria, where she sits alone at a table. Nobody sits with her. Not even in classes. Always alone, drowning in her books trying to ignore the absence, the absence that is killing her from inside out.
But is it too much to ask to receive some respect and love?
The only thing she does is trying to invent stuff by using old radio and vacuümcleaner parts. If she isn't invented stuff in her room, she is hiding at the irondump, looking for usefull parts. Nobody knows she goes there, really.
She doubts it if anybody knows her, not even the neighbours recgoneise her.
Tears are in control of her body now, making her shock with ever depressed thought that crosses her mind.
Nobody likes me.
It's all Aye's fault.
I don't have friends.
Nobody likes me.
Nobody…
Nobody will ever like me.
Nobody will ever pay attention to me.
I will die alone.
I'm alone.

,I don't want to be alone…. I don't want…." Rie sobs softly.
,Honey… you're not alone…"
With shock Rie shoots up, staring at her father standing in the doorway.
Without thinking she leaps out of bed, runs to the wall and crawls out of the little window, which is leveling with the driveway outside.
,Rie, don't run away!" Her father calls after her.
But Rie already left her room, running across the drive way to the street.
She can't face her father! She knows what he will say, what he will do.
He will hug her and comfort her. Tell her she is a great daughter.
And he will tell he she can't be so strict towards Aye anymore, that he believes in her. She is a bright and pretty girl.
She can't believe him. He doesn't know she has no friends.
He doesn't know she isn't loved by anyone.
And she knows he doesn't love her either. He can't! He possibly can't!
Dark thoughts are drowning her vision. Tears are troubling her view.
She keeps walking trying to dry her eyes. And when she finally manages to do so, she finds out she ended up at the mall.
Surprised she ended up here of all places, she starts to walk around. She hardly ever comes here, because she doesn't give a damn about clothes and shopping.
After walking around the mall awhile, calming herself down, avoiding peoples faces, she finds a hardwarestore. As she always has some change in her pockets, she walks inside to buy herself some new screws.
It takes her a while to find them, but finally she got her hands on them. Shaking the box up and down, listening to the clinging she walks to the counter.
She pays for the box of screws, manages to get of 5 cent of the price and walks outside, keeping the box of screws close to her ear. The clinging sound of screws outside the toiletpipes relax her somehow.
Her mood becomes more sunnier and a little bit absendminded she walks around the mall for a few minutes.
A boy around her age gets her attention. He is sitting on a bench, all by himself, looking like he could cry any moment now. His skyblue eyes staring motionless to nothing in front of him, his dark blond hair tickling his forhead and cheeks.
He wears a very worn out tshirt, with a black basketball shirt over it, also looking really worn-out. His short jeans are all raffled of and his sneakers are ready for the trash! What happened to him?
Maybe it's because she can relate to his feeling, maybe it's because you can't help but feel sorry for him, maybe it's because she feels good again, but she finds herself walking towards him and sitting down next to him.
He doesn't even look up, doesn't give a slightest sign he knows she is there.
She studies his face from the corners of her eyes for a while. He looks so sad.
It's like he is a little kid, who lost his mommy. Or a puppy who is left alone in the room to wait for his master to return from shopping.
He barely blinks, continues to stare into the distance.
Why does she pay attention to him? She doesn't know. But she feels like she must.
So she holds up the box with screws up his ear and shakes it. Soft clinging sounds come from it.
He doesn't look up.
Frowning her eyebrows, she shakes the box again.
No reaction.
She taps her foot, not to give up now she started. She moves the box in front of his eyes and shakes with it again.
Finally he reacts. His eyes focus on the little box and then after a while, he turns his face to the owner of the box, looking really dazed, like he doesn't expect someone to be there.
,Hi there." Rie decides, looking back at him. ,Brighten up will ya? You're totally depressing me and I just got in a good mood."
That wasn't a very tactfull move and she knows. She is terrible in being tactfull.
He looks at her, staring more likely, not believing his eyes.
Not being able to get a word out of his mouth, staring at her spell-bound, the boy sits motionless next to her.
Feeling very uncomfortable and really sorry about approaching somebody she doesn't know, she stands up. ,See you around, I guess"
And without further talking, she turns around and runs away, leaving the boy behind on the bench, who can only stare at her in aw. She doesn't stop running until she reaches the window of her basement, let herself slip through it into her bedroom.
,Rule to myself, never talk to strangers. They are scary as hell." She shivers and hides herself in her inventingroom, continueing the the work she was busy with until her little rodent of a brother interupted her.