The little boy screamed as the fire consumed his arms, cooking his hands and filling the room with a noxious aroma of burning flesh. He tried to pull his arms away with as much strength as he could muster, but the man held them in place, crushing the boy's fragile little arms with his grip strength alone. The flames also roasted the man's hands, but the giant smile on his face showed that he didn't care about the pain and even seemed to enjoy it.

"IT HURTS DADDY, PLEASE STOP, IT HURTS!," the boy cried. The man's smile widened and he thrusted the boy's arms even further into the fireplace, the flames almost reaching his shoulders. Behind them both, a woman sat on a couch, staring at them without an ounce of fear or compassion on her face. She was completely naked, though she didn't show any hint of discomfort. Surrounding her were numerous glasses of wine, and every single one of them were empty. Her eyes were glazed over. "Yes, I know it hurts," said the man, holding back a cackle. "But it's necessary. I'm just toughening you up. You'll thank me later."

"I DON'T WANNA TOUGHEN UP!," the boy sobbed. "YOU WILL!," the man roared, scaring the boy into silence. "Now be quiet and be a good little boy. You're upsetting your mother!" The boy's mother, who didn't look upset at all, slowly reached towards her vagina and began masturbating. Her eyes were absolutely fixed on the little boy.

Finally, the man pulled his son's arms out of the fire and held up the boy's tear stained face to his own. The boy's arms were now black and thin, nothing that a strong healing potion can't fix. "Knock, knock," he said, his eyes practically bulging out with anticipation. He opened his mouth and licked the tears from the boy's face. "I said, knock knock."

"W-who's t-there?," the boy whimpered. The man grinned eagerly. "THE BARBER IS HERE!," he yelled before biting onto the boy's hair and tearing into it with a shake of his head. The boy screamed and cried and struggled, but he could do nothing as the man continued ripping his son's hair from his scalp with his own teeth. Finally, the man stopped and admired his handiwork, strands of hair and specks of blood staining his teeth.

The boy's head was now almost bald, with some strands of hair having survived the horrific onslaught. The entire top of his head was now bleeding heavily. He was sobbing and blubbering uncontrollably. "Shhh, don't cry," the man whispered. He hugged the boy close to his chest, as if he hadn't just held the child's arms in a fireplace and ripped the hair from his head with his own teeth. "Don't cry," he repeated. "Tomorrow, we'll have even more fun! Won't that be exciting?!" Unsurprisingly, that didn't comfort the boy in the least.

"Patrick, it's my turn now," the woman whined, standing up from the couch. She had no issues with flashing her own husband and son. "You've had your fun! I wanna have fun too!" "You're drunk!," Patrick growled, holding the child close to him obsessively. "He's mine! Get your own toy!" "But I wanna sleep with Thomas NOOOWWW!," the woman whined, stamping her feet like a spoiled child. "Fine. Fine!," Patrick groaned, shoving Thomas towards her. The woman gently touched the boy's shoulder, who gagged from the smell emanating from her hand. "Come to bed with me, dear," she cooed. "I'll show you how to have some REAL fun." As she dragged Thomas up the stairs, the boy looked back at his father with pleading eyes.

Patrick grinned at him and took his penis from his trousers, thrusting his hips in the air.

Thomas woke up with a sudden jolt, cold sweat pouring down his face. His teeth were grinding together in pain and his arms felt like they had just been burnt, even though it was only a dream...was it? "Damn it, not again," Thomas muttered. How many times did he have that particular nightmare? Too many times to count. He had hoped drinking the potion he brought last night would have lessened the effects of his dreams, or better yet, erase them altogether, but instead, it only made it feel more vivid and real. He grabbed the empty glass bottle from the table next to his bed and angrily tossed it at the wall, shattering it into dozens of little pieces. About a minute passed. Then, a knock came on his door. "Thomas?," Annie asked from the other side. "Are you okay? I heard something shatter." "It's nothing," Thomas growled. "Go away." "...Thomas, are you sure?," asked Annie. "It sounds like you're hurt."

"I said LEAVE!," Thomas yelled, then quickly calmed himself down. "I'm just...tired. What do you want, Annie?" "...Alex was wondering if you're up yet," Annie said nervously, no doubt frightened by the sudden raising of his voice. "She wants to go out and look for the other orphans early today." Are you fucking serious?, he thought angrily. We've been doing this for fucking years! They're obviously dead by now, and good riddance too! He swore he was going to KILL Alex one of those days. "I'll meet up with you two soon," he said. "Get ready without me." "...alright, then," said Annie, finally leaving. Thomas sighed heavily and laid back down in his head. Fucking finally, he thought. I thought that bitch was never gonna leave.

It had been about three years since Alex and her filthy mutt joined their happy little group, and he was already sick of her. It didn't help that he'd been having the same nightmares over and over again. The worst part was that those dreams weren't even fabrications. They were real events that happened to him as a child, events that he would rather forget but his brain refused to. He was getting more like his father with each passing day. It hadn't gotten to the point where he'd started doling out brutal beatings, but he was pretty damn close. "What I wouldn't give," he whispered, "to wrap my hands around their throats...and squeeze."

Meanwhile, Annie went outside of the house and towards another house that was only a few minutes away. Their old house was getting a little cramped with three people and a dog in it, so Alex had decided to go outside and build her own house. It was pretty good if Annie said so herself. Once she got to the door, Ellie, who was sleeping on the porch, ran up to her and jumped at her excitedly, licking her. Annie giggled. "Hey, Ellie," she greeted the dog. "How are you doing?" Ellie barked happily. The door opened, revealing Alex in her signature white shirt with a flower on the front and blue jeans. "So is Thomas coming too?," she asked.

"Yeah, he is," said Annie, then sighed heavily. "He's changed so much in the past year. I don't even recognize him anymore." "Did...did he ever tell you why?," asked Alex. "You're his girlfriend, after all." Annie sighed again and shook her head. "I don't think he tells me anything anymore. He just shut himself off. Sometimes, I'd catch him giving me the most intense glare I've ever seen. I thought it was my imagination at first, but now…" "...yeah, I also noticed," said Alex, looking down in sadness. "He glares at me too sometimes. Ellie always gets in a barking fit whenever he sees him do that. Annie, do you think he's...sick? In the head?"

Annie shuddered. "I sure hope not," she said. "Anyway, are you ready to keep looking for those other kids?" Alex sighed sadly. "I'm not so sure we'll find them anymore," she admitted. Annie blinked in surprise, then gave a comforting smile and bumped her arm. "Come on, now," she said. "That's not the Alex I know. The Alex I know would never give up."

"Annie, we've been doing this every day for three years now," said Alex. "And we haven't found even one sign of any of them. Maybe we're...already too late." She hung her head in sadness. Annie frowned and gently grabbed Alex's chin, lifting her head up. "Listen to me, Alex," she said in a serious tone. "We don't know for sure what happened to the other orphans. Maybe they died in the woods. Maybe they managed to escape to some form of civilization. Or hell, maybe they're living in wooden cabins with other people like you are right now. The point is, we can't know for sure." She smiled sadly. "But isn't that alone reason enough to keep on trying? If there's a chance, just the smallest chance, that one of them needed our help...wouldn't you want to help them?" Alex smiled back and nodded. "Yeah. You're right, Annie."

After about ten minutes, Thomas finally showed up. Ellie's ears laid back and he growled at the young man, baring his teeth. "It's alright, Ellie," Alex whispered, scratching behind Ellie's ear. "Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of. It's just Thomas." Unsurprisingly, Ellie wasn't calming down in the slightest. Thomas ignored the growling dog and stared at Alex and Annie, who couldn't help but squirm under his gaze. It almost felt like they were insects and he was studying them with a magnifying glass...or trying to burn them. "Why are we just standing here?," he asked. "Come on, there's no time to lose." With that said, the three of them and the dog set out to continue their three year long search party. Ellie led the way, sniffing the air to catch the children's scent, while Alex and Annie kept their eyes peeled. Thomas was once again stuck in his own thoughts, mentally reliving that nightmare repeatedly in his head.

"Thomas? ...Thomas?" "HM!," Thomas grunted with a sudden jolt, feeling himself return back to reality upon hearing his own name being called out. Alex and Annie were staring at him in worry. "Are you okay?," asked Annie. "You've been...staring off into space again." "I'm fine, I'm fine," Thomas muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Why the hell did we stop anyway? Did we finally find something?" "We've already spent the whole day searching," said Alex, pointing at the sun. "Look, it's already sundown. We should get back home before the mobs come." It's been a whole day?, Thomas thought in surprise. Already? "I guess we should call it a day, then," said Annie. "Sorry we didn't find anything, Alex. Again." "It's alright," said Alex, though she couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice. She sounded so meek, so...pathetic. Thomas HATED pathetic people with a burning passion. Without knowing it, his hand slowly reached towards Alex's neck from behind. A warning growl from Ellie stopped him.

"...yeah, we should head back," he agreed. Once they got back to their respective houses, Thomas sat on his bed silently while Annie stood in the corner, carefully watching him. "...Thomas," she said quietly. "Please tell me what's wrong." "...what makes you think there's anything wrong?," asked Thomas. He wasn't being sarcastic either. He genuinely had no idea what Annie was talking about. He felt completely fine! "Thomas, you've been acting totally different for the past year," said Annie, beginning to cry. "You need to tell me wh-"

"I said there's nothing wrong with me, for fuck's sake!," Thomas roared, getting up from his bed. "Is there something wrong with your fucking ears?! Now get the hell out! I'm not in the mood for you right now!" Annie stood completely still, staring at her now violent boyfriend in fear. "T-Thomas…" Thomas suddenly picked up a piece of glass from the bottle that he smashed earlier and raised it over his head threateningly. "I...said...go," he growled.

Annie quickly ran out the door and headed towards Alex's house without even looking back. Thomas slammed the door shut behind her, then stomped back over to his bed and sat down on it. He looked down at the glass shard in his hand and realized he was gripping it so hard that it was cutting into the palm of his hand. He quickly let go of it and covered his face with his hands. "I gotta kill them all before they drive me crazy," he grumbled. "So why don't you, my boy?," asked a bloodcurdling, chilling voice. Thomas slowly looked up from his hands to see who else was in the room. He paused and stared at what he saw, then uproariously laughed. "Mom? Dad?," he asked, calming down. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Why, to see you, of course!," said Patrick, leaning against the wall. Standing next to him was a completely naked woman with messy, gray hair and glazed eyes. "Aren't you happy to see us, young man?," asked the woman. "Of course I am," said Thomas. "But...why are you two here? Actually, HOW are you two here?" "Oh, that's not important," said Patrick, waving his hand nonchalantly. "All that matters is how YOU'RE doing. So how's life away from home, sonny boy? Enjoying yourself?" "Hardly," growled Thomas, rubbing his head tiredly. "Every day, it feels like my head is splitting open, like I'm going crazy. I keep having these fucking nightmares." "Language, dear," the woman tutted. "I didn't raise you to spout such crass language." No, you raised me to be your little fuck puppet, Thomas thought. "Oh do shut up, my dear lady," Patrick chuckled. "Little Tommy's just growing up. And don't worry about those nightmares, son. Why, I've had plenty of nightmares about the Great Beast and I turned out just fine!"

The "Great Beast" that Patrick mentioned was the subject of most, if not all, of his nightmares. Yes, Patrick had nightmares just like Thomas was right now, only they were far, far worse. Every night, Patrick would wake up screaming about the Great Beast, how it glared into his soul with its white, soulless eyes, how it devoured the corpse of a child right in front of him, how its very existence was beyond the comprehension of man. They were the only times Thomas had ever seen his father truly afraid. "And I see you're living with two adorable little girls!," Patrick continued. "Personally, I'd have killed them already and strewn their entrails all over the forest." Thomas' mother stiffened and glared outside the window, most likely plotting the deaths of the two sluts who dared to lay a finger on her son. He was hers! HERS!

"Believe me, I want to do that so badly," Thomas groaned, gripping his head in a slightly psychotic manner. Patrick fixed Thomas with a chilling stare. "So why don't you?," he asked. "Huh?," said Thomas, looking up at him. "You heard me," said Patrick. "Why don't you just kill them already, like you've been fantasizing about all the time?" "Yes, listen to your father," said the woman, sitting next to her son. Her eyes shifted towards the slight bulge under Thomas' pants and she slowly reached towards it, but Thomas quickly slapped her hand away. "Kill them, and their little pooch," she continued. "You don't want to put up with them forever, do you? Just get rid of them and come back to me...er, us. I meant us." Thomas began mulling over his parents' words. Suddenly, it was like a lightbulb flashed in his mind. Why didn't he kill those two cunts and their dog already? Why has he been holding himself back for so long?

"Just think it over, son," said Patrick. "Trust me, feeling the stinking blood of another on your hands, seeing their life fade from their eyes...it's a great way to vent your frustrations. It sure worked for me!" Without warning, Patrick reared back his head and let out a spine chilling laugh, then began chanting his favorite little nursery rhyme. "One! There was one little sheep! Two! There were two little sheep! Three! There were three little sheep! Four! There were four little sheep! FIVE! THERE WERE FIVE LITTLE MOTHERFUCKING SHEEP!"

Thomas opened his eyes and found himself in a completely empty room. He looked around, but his parents were no longer here. They were just gone. Vanished. And yet, their presence felt so real. There was no way that Thomas could've imagined them...right?

He looked down and saw that the glass shard was now back in his hand. Strange...he didn't remember picking it back up. He gripped the sharp object tightly, a grin slowly spreading across his face. It wasn't as terrifying as his father's, but he was getting there.

But although Thomas was already far too gone, he wasn't ready to kill Alex and Annie just yet. He wasn't ready to cross that line. He needed a warm up. He needed… Ellie's barking face suddenly filled his mind. The dog. Yes, that was the perfect candidate. Nobody was going to miss a dog, right? With his mind now set, Thomas stepped out of the house with the piece of glass in his hand, ready to spill his first drop of blood. He couldn't wait to start.

Meanwhile, in Alex's house, Alex was lying awake in bed while Ellie was curled up on top of her, fast asleep. Lucky dog, she thought. She wished she could fall asleep that easily. But unfortunately, her mind was too full. All she could think about were the missing children, the ones who ran off when the mobs attacked them so long ago, as well as Thomas' strange and abnormal behavior. She was honestly afraid of him now. Alex had no idea what went on in his head, and quite frankly, she didn't really want to know. She just hoped that Annie would be okay, even though the red haired girl was sleeping under the same roof as him.

Suddenly, the door to her house slammed open, scaring the living daylights out of her as well as startling Ellie into waking up and barking. "Annie?!," she cried, recognizing her at the doorway. "What are you doing here? Did you...run all the way here?" Now that she looked closely, Annie looked absolutely terrified. Sweat was pouring down her face and she was taking in deep breaths of air like she had just run a marathon. "We have to get out of here," she whispered. "What?," asked Alex, barely able to hear her. "Annie, what are you talking about? What's going on?" "We have to get out of here," Annie repeated. "Come on, there's no time to waste!" "Annie, I am not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on!," Alex said sternly. "And where's Thomas? Is he still back at your house?" For some reason, Annie flinched when Thomas was mentioned. "He's crazy," she said. "He's lost his mind."

Alex quickly got out of bed and walked over to Annie, placing her hands firmly on the scared girl's shoulders. "Annie, you need to tell me what happened," she said. "What's going on with Thomas? Why would you think he's going crazy?" Annie gulped audibly, then started to explain what was going on. "So after me and Thomas got home, Thomas just went straight to his bed and sat on it, not saying a word. I asked him what was wrong, and he snapped and threatened to attack me with a shard of broken glass." Alex gasped at what she heard. "That actually happened?," she asked. "But...that's not like Thomas at all."

"It gets worse," said Annie. "I was about to run straight to your house, but my consciousness stopped me. I didn't want to leave him alone when he could potentially hurt himself, so I came back. But when I got back home, I heard Thomas talking with someone. I had no idea that there were other people in our house, so I got suspicious and stopped just outside the window." "...what did you see?," asked Alex. "Who was he talking to?"

Annie sighed shakily and shook her head. "That's just it," she said. "Thomas wasn't talking to anybody. He was all alone in that house. But it looked like he was actually listening to someone and engaging in some sort of conversation, even though there was nobody else with him. I think...I think Thomas is starting to see and hear things that aren't real."

"...I can't believe this," Alex whispered. "Yeah, me neither," Annie sighed. "That's why we can't stay here any longer. We have to get as far away from him as possible before he comes here and finds out we're-" "Not that!," cried Alex, glaring at Annie. "I meant I can't believe that you're willing to abandon him like that!" Annie stared at Alex in shock. "A-abandon?," she asked. "Alex, what are you talking about? We need to leave before-" "You just told me that Thomas was having mental issues!," Alex scolded. "That's not something to be afraid of! That's something we need to help him with! He needs our love and support, Annie!"

"Alex…" Annie sighed heavily. "You weren't there, alright? You weren't there when Thomas threatened me with a piece of glass, then started talking to an empty room. It scared the shit out of me! It really sounded like he wanted to kill us!" "That's a load of bull and you know it," Alex denied. "Maybe Thomas has been acting a little...off…" Understatement of the century. "...but deep down, he's still our friend. We just need to get him some help, that's all."

"Alex, listen to me," Annie pleaded. "You still care about Thomas, and that's okay. Good, even! But let's face it, he's a totally different person now. I don't feel safe around him anymore. It's like he's a complete stranger. And I just have this constant feeling of dread about him, like he's about to snap at any moment and hurt us. You should know what I'm feeling, Alex! You've been around him for three whole years!" Alex silently looked down at her feet, her hair covering her eyes in shadows. "...I was abandoned twice in my life," she whispered. "The first time was when I was just a little kid. I was left outside of an orphanage, with no memory of who I am or where I came from. All I remembered was feeling alone...and unwanted. Then, it happened again, three years ago. If it wasn't for you, Thomas, and Ellie, I would've died in the woods a long time ago. I won't let anyone go through the same thing I did! I won't abandon the other orphans who got dumped in the woods with me, and I won't abandon Thomas!"

"...Alex…" Annie stopped, not knowing what else to say. "He's your boyfriend, Annie," said Alex, gazing at her tearfully. "You both have to be there for each other…"

Suddenly, the door slammed open again, This time, it was Thomas, standing in the doorway menacingly. He glared at them, holding a glass shard in one hand. While Annie stood completely still, petrified with fear, Alex cautiously walked towards Thomas. "Thomas…," she said gently. "Please, it's us. Put down that shard and let's just sit down and talk about th-" Without warning, Thomas violently backhanded her, knocking her to the floor. Alex slowly sat up, a large bruise forming on her cheek. "T-Thomas?," she stuttered. Thomas had never hit her before. "Where's that dog?," Thomas growled. "Where's that fucking dog?!"

Ellie suddenly made himself known, pouncing towards Thomas and clamping his jaws around the teenager's leg. Thomas screamed in pain and tried to shake Ellie off, but the dog was relentless, chewing, clawing, and biting at his opponent. How dare he?! How dare that human hurt the person who cared for him and took him on nice long walks and fed him as much steak as he wanted?! How dare he harm the one that the Alpha entrusted him to protect?! HOW DARE HE?! Suddenly, Ellie felt something hard and sharp plunge into his side.

"Ellie!," Alex cried, staring in horror as Thomas pulled the dog off of him and continued stabbing the shard of glass into the pooch's body, again and again and again. A disgusting squelch could be heard as the glass entered the dog's body, leaving an additional bloody hole as well as squirting a stream of blood onto Thomas' face and chest. Alex quickly got up and tried to stop Thomas, but Annie suddenly jumped onto her and pinned her to the floor. "Annie, what the hell are you doing?!," she screeched. "Let go of me! I have to save Ellie! Let go!" "If you try to do that, Thomas will kill you too!," Annie argued, ignoring her friend's cries and pleas. "I'm sorry," she whispered tearfully, "but this is for your own good."

Alex and Annie could do nothing but watch as Thomas pinned the wounded dog to the ground with one hand and repeatedly stabbed him with a glass shard in his other hand. After what felt like forever, Thomas finally stopped and stood up to admire his handiwork. Ellie was still alive, but just barely. He was bleeding out severely, his eyes were glazed over, and his little chest was rising up and down rapidly. Then, Thomas glared at the two girls and pointed the glass shard at them threateningly, unbothered by the blood that now covered the entire front of his body. "From now on, things are gonna be different around here," he declared. "The two of you will do exactly what I say from this point on. If you ever talk back to me, I will HURT you. If any of you do something that I don't like, I will HURT you. And if any of you try to escape, I will HURT you." He pointed back at the door that he just went through. "I'll be waiting just outside this door for the rest of the night, in case either of you tries to make a run for it. If I catch you so much as sticking a single toe out of this room...just use your fucking imaginations."

With that said, Thomas stepped out of the house and slammed the door shut behind him. However, his footsteps did not recede and his shadow remained inside the small crack underneath the door. Still, that did not deter Alex from pushing Annie off of her and running towards Ellie, now that Thomas was no longer in the house with them. "Ellie?!," she cried, kneeling next to the dog's bleeding body. "Ellie, are you okay? Please be okay!"

Ellie let out a small whimper in response. Using all of the strength that he had remaining, the dog slowly reached his head up and licked away some of Alex's tears from her face. Then, he collapsed back onto the ground, completely motionless. A second later...poof! Ellie vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a puddle of blood and an empty red collar.

Alex could only stare at the bloodied collar hovering an inch above the ground, while Annie was standing behind her in awkward silence. "...I told you we should've run away," she finally whispered. There was no response from Alex. Annie slowly reached towards Alex and touched her shoulder, but Alex roughly shook it off. Annie sighed sadly. "I know you're mad at me for stopping you from saving Ellie," she said cautiously, "but I had no choice. If you tried to intervene back then, Thomas would've turned on you instead and gutted you with that piece of glass. I was trying to save your life." Alex still didn't respond. Annie sighed again. "Let's just go to sleep," she said. "Hopefully, when we wake up the next morning, this will all just be some terrible nightmare." And from that day forward, things were never the same again.

Because unfortunately for them, what happened on that night was not a nightmare. As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, Thomas only got worse and worse. He grew more violent, more delusional, and more sadistic as time passed. He was becoming more and more like his father. And during all of that time, Alex and Annie were unable to escape his wrath. They tried numerous escape attempts, but each and every one of them ended up failing. Thomas had always been the fastest and strongest out of all of them, and him now being unhinged and psychotic just made him that much more dangerous. It didn't help that he was actually much smarter than people gave him credit for, which means he could usually see right through their attempts to escape. The girls couldn't exactly just point in the opposite direction, go "hey, what's that?," and run away when he wasn't looking at them.

No matter how far they ran, no matter how sure they were of escape, Thomas would always catch up to them. And he would drag them back kicking and screaming - literally, in most cases - before giving them the most horrible beatings they could imagine.

The only thing that got Alex through the night was that she wasn't suffering alone. At least she had Annie to mourn with, to grieve with, to stick by her side. But even that turned out to be short-lived. One day, Thomas gave them particularly nasty beatings before locking them in an underground room that he dug out earlier. Annie was sobbing and shaking like a leaf, but when Alex went to comfort her, she suddenly turned on her and slapped her so hard that she was seeing stars. Alex laid on the ground and stared up at Annie, who was glaring at her with such intense hatred. "This is all your fault!," she ranted. "None of this has happened until YOU came around! I should've left you to die in the woods when I had the chance!"

And from that point on, Annie and Thomas became as thick as thieves. Thomas noticed how badly Annie was now treating Alex...and he liked it. Even though he still beat her on some occasions, they were nowhere near as frequent now. But Alex ended up getting the short end of the stick. Now she had to worry about receiving beatings from both Thomas AND Annie. It was like she had become their personal punching bag to vent their frustrations out on.

Also, for some odd reason, Thomas forced Alex to grow her hair out. It used to be a pixie cut like it was back in the orphanage, but now it was long and wavy. Apparently, Thomas was not a big fan of girls with short hair. "It's fucking unnatural," he explained one time. "It's like they're trying to pretend to be boys." Yeah, because that didn't sound homophobic at all.

One morning, Alex was outside walking through the woods. By that point, she had given up entirely on escaping, so Thomas was "lenient" enough to allow her some time to herself. She was allowed to walk outside once every week for an hour at most. If she spent any longer than that, she would be punished with a beating from Thomas, a beating from Annie, and no food or water for the rest of the day. Walking had become Alex's favorite activity. Whenever she went out walking, it was one of the few times when she'd ever finally been at peace. She didn't have to constantly look over her shoulder in fear. She didn't have to worry about either Thomas or Annie beating her up - until she got back home, that is. During her walks, there were numerous opportunities for her to run away, but she didn't dare do that. Just because Thomas had decided to give her this one thing didn't mean he blindly trusted her. Like always, he would hunt her down if she ever did try to escape, and the consequences would be very severe…

Alex shook the morbid thoughts out of her head and continued walking while enjoying the scenery. She was determined to make the most of this moment before heading back home. Suddenly, she tripped over something and landed on her face painfully. "Ow…," she murmured, slowly getting back. She looked down to see what had caused her to trip. It was a small block of dirt just lying on the ground, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

Alex glared at the dirt block. She didn't care how childish she was acting. That block was going to pay! She raised her foot and was about to crush it into little pieces, but something stopped her. As she stared down at the block of dirt, a strange, warm feeling washed all over her. At first, she was slightly overwhelmed by the sudden emotion, since all she could remember feeling in the past few years were fear and sadness. This was something she hadn't felt in a very long time: serenity, happiness, and most of all, love. Yet it made no sense to Alex, and rightfully so. How could a single, unassuming dirt block invoke such positive emotions in her? She gently picked it up and closely inspected it. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about it. In fact, it looked like any other dirt block you could ever come across. But something about it was drawing her in. She had no idea what it was, but she found herself wanting more of it. Then, a sudden realization came to her. That dirt block made her lose track of time!

"I gotta get back!," she cried. Without thinking, she stuffed the dirt block into her pocket and ran all the way home. Fortunately, she made it with only a few seconds to spare. Thomas gave her a nasty glare when she came home, but this time, there were no beatings waiting for her. Alex was more than willing to count that as a victory on her part.

It wasn't until nighttime, when she was changing into her pajamas, that she realized she accidentally took the dirt block with her. She took it out of her jeans, inspected it closely, then placed it on her dresser. She sat on her bed and stared at it for a long time.

I gotta be losing my mind, she thought. Still, Alex decided to give it a try. "Um...hello," she said. Of course, the dirt block didn't respond. "So...I guess I should tell you how my day went." So Alex talked to the dirt block for about an hour, explaining her entire day up to now. When she finally settled in for bed, it felt like a heavy burden was taken off her shoulders. This feels nice, she thought. Maybe I should do this every night. And that's exactly what she did. Every night, she would talk to the dirt block about anything, and even made a habit of carrying it wherever she went. Of course, she didn't tell Thomas or Annie about her new secret, otherwise they'd laugh at her, then destroy the dirt block in front of her just to spite her.

Over time, Alex started seeing the dirt block less as an inanimate object for her to vent to, and more as an unyielding companion for her to cling onto while drowning in a black ocean of turmoil and grief. She actually started "listening" to the dirt block, as if it was able to talk back to her like a real person, because in her mind, Billy WAS a real person.

And yes, she named it Billy. Fight her, bro.

Alex and Billy eventually formed a friendship that was far stronger than any other relationship between a person and an inanimate object. Unlike Thomas, Billy would never turn violent on a dime and hit her. Unlike Annie, Billy would never turn his back on her and betray her like she did. In Alex's mind, Billy wasn't just the perfect friend - he was a brother.

And right now, Alex needed him more than ever.

Alex had to bite back a scream as she felt another lash on her back, followed by the sound of tearing skin. She had been beaten before, but never like this.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!," Thomas yelled, even though Alex didn't make a peep. "I'm teaching you a lesson right now! Count yourself lucky I'm even putting in the effort!" Needless to say, Alex didn't feel so lucky. She heard a loud, whistling noise in the air and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself. CRACK! The wooden stick in Thomas' hands came down again and again relentlessly. Each smack of the stick meant another tear on Alex's wounded back. The poor girl wanted to shout. She wanted to scream, holler, and let out all the pain she was holding in.

But she was not that stupid. For a guy who yells a lot, Thomas didn't like loud noises from other people. They made him angry. Well, angrier than he usually is.

CRACK! How long has it been? It had to have been hours, right? Alex glanced at the clock on the wall and felt like crying. Five minutes? Was it only for that long?

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! She felt something other than searing pain, some sort of warm, thick liquid running down her back and soaking her bedsheets. A foul, coppery scent filled her nostrils. "Look at you, you're fucking bleeding," said Thomas, his voice filled with both amusement and contempt. "Why the hell don't you fight back, huh? Are you some kind of masochist?" The abusive teenager chuckled at his poor joke and continued raining violent blows on Alex's back with his stick. It was a wonder it hadn't snapped in half by now.

Already, the coppery stench made Alex want to throw up. Each blow made her teeth rattle and her back screaming in pain. Finally, after what felt like forever, Thomas stepped back and dropped the stick, which made a loud clang on the wooden floor. Alex could hear him breathing heavily. "Clean yourself up," he muttered before leaving the house and slamming the door behind him. It's over, Alex mentally cheered. It's finally over!

Then, she began sobbing into her pillow, ignoring the blood leaking from the wounds on her back. She knew the truth. It wasn't over. Far from it. Maybe it was over for today, but what about tomorrow? The day after that? And the day after that? Was this really her fate? To be someone's literal whipping girl for the rest of her life? She didn't know how much more she could possibly take. Suddenly, she felt something tugging inside of her. It was as if something… or someone...was calling out to her. Ignoring the pain, she dragged herself across the bloodstained bed, reached into a nearby chest, and pulled out a dirt block.

"Hello, Billy," she whispered, too weak to speak any louder. She was glad that neither Thomas nor Annie had discovered the dirt block yet, otherwise they would have laughed themselves hoarse before crushing it under their feet in front of her. She brought Billy to her chest and hugged it lightly, making sure not to squeeze too tightly or he'll crumble. "I love you, Billy," she whispered, tears running down her face. "...I love you too," Billy whispered back. "Huh?!," Alex cried, staring at the dirt block in her hands. She waited for another response, but there was none. The wounded girl decided that it was just her imagination.

But first thing's first. She was going to clean herself up like Thomas said, then she was going to clean her bed. She wasn't about to give up on life just yet.

After all, Endercon is only a few weeks away...