If I had to put a finger on when this all began, it had to be that moment of complete despair.

"You're so useless."

I know

"You should just die."

Yeah... I should... I should just...

The giggling voice faded away as the world distorted, and a whisper of something forgotten echoed in the wake of someone calling my name. I was saved that day, saved from a monstrosity, saved from despair, saved by a girl just my age who was everything I wasn't. She was clumsy in a bubbly, joyful way, spinning and laughing, bringing people together just with her presence. I couldn't see how she thought I could be cool, with my stupid, dorky glasses and that nervous stutter I got every time someone asked me a question. But she believed in me anyway, somehow, for some reason, I'm still not sure why.

She became my best friend. My hero. She was... Is. My hope. Something I'd forgotten in those long dreary days spent in the hospital. I wanted nothing more than to become the person she thought I could be, and spend my days by her side.

And then I lost her.

So I made a deal with the devil, swearing I would become someone who could protect her.

Over and over again. Somewhere along the line I think I lost myself. I lost my glasses, the stutter faded away to a dull monotone as I found myself caring less and less about those around me. They'd all just die sooner or later anyway, why should I care about them? The only person that mattered was her. I remember her telling me one time I was cool. I remember too many others where she said I scared her. I kept telling myself that the only time that would matter would be when I finally succeeded.

That time never came. I failed. A hundred, thousand, perhps a million times over, I lost count eons ago.- And each one was a failure.

If I had to put my finger on when everything changed, it had to be that moment of complete despair.

I had given up. I was only making things worse. Perhaps I should have just disappeared, long ago. I'd seen each and every one of my friends fall into that inevitable abyss, and now it was simply my turn. I had forgotten something along the way, along with who I was, or at least, who I used to be. I had forgotten something important.

Once again, she refused to let me disappear, and dragged me back from that black edge with the call of my name and the touch of her hand on mine.

And then I lost her again.

She made a deal with the devil to become someone who could protect us from despair.

She disappeared, and this time, I couldn't keep going. I couldn't get back up and try again as I had so many times before. It was over. The story was done. A distorted and twisted ending to the cruel tragedy that had become my life. Well at the least that bloody devil seemed to get a kick out of it, he still hadn't shut up. He was still mocking us.

And then he fell silent as she gently proved us wrong. She reappeared, not as the girl I knew, but as the hope that would defy our inevitable despair. She wrote herself out of existence to become our guardian, and tied a bright red promise with her ribbon that we would be together again. That we would all be together again.

And then everyone forgot her. Well, everyone except me and a certain little boy. It seems he still remembers his big sister. I guess it's only natural for her to look after him, too. Perhaps saying that "I didn't forget" isn't quite right, perhaps, better would be, "I remembered." I remembered quite a few things. Like the value of a dorky pair of red glasses, or a girly pair of ribbons.

I suppose this is where my story ends. The sun on my back, taking my last steps, and the sweet whispering voice of the girl everyone else forgot in my ears. The voice of Hope herself.

"Do your best."