~Laughing Jack~

I chased after that boy for a while, but eventually I lost him. Fast little brat. I didn't find him until long after sunset. After midnight, I believe.

He was lying face down in the grass, asleep. I carefully picked him up, trying not to wake him. He stirred in his sleep a little, but didn't wake.

"Sandra..." He mumbled in his sleep as I started towards the mansion. If what he told me was right, I don't want to injure him because he might be somebody else's. He was near to the mansion, so he was probably staying there.

I didn't reach the mansion until the sun was beginning to rise.

"Where is he!" I heard somebody screaming as I entered. A girl was pinned to the ground by Eyeless Jack, who was trying in vain to calm her. She froze when she saw me and Joshua. She hid her face and began sobbing, relaxing and cooperating as EJ pulled her up off the ground.

"I-is he ok-kay?" She looked up at me, her face wet with tears. She was trembling, but I wasn't sure if it was out of worry or pain. Her nose and the bandage around her head was bleeding slightly.

"He's fine! You must be Sandra, good to meetcha!" I smiled and stepped towards her, but she took a step back.

"He won't want to see me." She twiddled her thumbs as she spoke, then turned and headed upstairs.

What a good sister she is.

~Third Person POV~

To any of the people watching tv in the living area, they are used to fighting and loud noises. I aren't startled by gunfire and yelling, but they were startled when they heard EJ 'd all been told that Sandra would attempt to escape when she woke up, but they didn't think she would get past EJ again so easily.

As she ran the stairs and was tackled by EJ, they all noticed a drizzle of blood dripping from his fingers and a small cut through his sweatshirt. I the girl's hand was a small scalpel, probably another stolen accessory. She cut towards his throat, aiming to kill, but hesitant to harm. The conflicted girl took to long to act, though, and the weapon was thrown across the room. She thrashed around wildly, her bandage beginning to soak again as she struggled to get free. She was weaker this time, though, and EJ knew her to well. She was pinned before she could scream.

"Let me go! I must go find him!"

"Calm yourself Sandra! He's fine, we'll find him!"

"He's been gone and nobody's gone for him! Tell me then, if you were going to search for him-" the front door opened "- where is he!"

She saw who was at the door and froze, ceasing her struggling immediately. With her brother found, she broke down into sobs.

~Sam's POV~

After knowing that Josh was okay, I returned to the infirmary with EJ following close behind. He had a hand on my back, whether to catch me to collapse me or keep me close so I couldn't run, I don't know.

"You've got to stop this, Sam, you will never heal if you keep injuring yourself."

"Okay." I honestly didn't care about getting better. If Josh wanted me to be better, I will try my best, but I've never been one to just sit and wait. "Do you think he'll forgive me?"

"For killing his family? I don't know, nor do I care. But, probably not."

I choked back a sob as we came to the infirmary. Again. I was so sick of the smell of disinfectant and...human flesh? It was a strange mixture of smells, but that's all you can expect from these strange people. If you could even call them human.

I laid down on the table again, soon slipping into a deep sleep. But the nightmares made me feel even more exhausted than when I laid down.

I was at the lake again. Instead of being in the water, though, I was on the bank, looking at my reflection. My reflection didn't look quite right, though. Her eyes were closed and her hair was cut short while mine was to my waist. She was standing, while I was kneeling. Suddenly, her eyes opened, and everything went black for me. But I still remember the sight of her eyes, red and bright like fire.

She'd grinned at me, a grin that sent shivers up and down my back. Her teeth were filled with flesh and blood stained her teeth. When she laughed, it echoed in the woods. I feared her, but was terrified more when I felt her push me into the lake. My eyes opened and I stared up at her, her eyes closing as she stared down at me from the bank. I felt arms wrap around me as I was pulled deeper and deeper into the water.

"Sister?"

I couldn't tell if the voice was real or not as my brother's voice echoed around me. My eyes flung open as somebody shook me gently.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as my boy stared down at me. Suddenly, he burst into tears. He buried his face into my neck as he sobbed.

"I don't u-understand sister! Please, tell me why you did it!"

I looked at him with shock for a moment, then slowly gave him a sad smile. "Would you like to hear a story, Josh?"

He nodded, and I began.

~Memory~

(A word first, though. This font is a memory, while this one is present day. Sorry if you get confused.)

In a small house in the city, a young girl lived with her family. She was young and cold and hungry. Her mother was a drunk, her father did drugs. The girl wasn't happy. She was angry with the world for bringing her into it.

One day, her mother, in a rage, shot her father. The mother then shot herself, leaving the girl behind. The child, though so young, had heard stories about parentless children and ran away. She never looked back.

A few days after her parents died, the girl had made her way out into the country, trying to stay away from the people. She was starving and cold, so she broke into a house. She ate some food, chugged some water, and was about to leave when somebody entered the kitchen with a shotgun.

The girl was terrified. She still remembered what a gun like that did to her parents. She begged and pleaded with the man. The man lowered the gun immediately, but she still feared him. He had his young wife call somebody, and the girl trusted him even less after that.

The girl, to her surprise, was taken in by the couple soon after she was released from the hospital. They were glad to have her, and she helped around the house to make sure they wouldn't change their minds. Proper manners, cleaning up after them, helping out with the garden and the chickens.

After a year of living with them and long ago being adopted, the couple began to argue. The girl could see them growing apart, just as her parents did, so she tried to fix them. She didn't want to lose another family. She convinced them to have a baby, telling them that she wanted a sibling. She was hoping the child would work as a glue though. About a year later the fighting began again. She was in the room with the baby and they both began crying. She sang to the young boy a lullaby she sang to herself many years before.

"Little boy, lying in your bed,

Dream of fairytale's I'll put in your head.

Your dreams won't have a painful ending

Because I'll continue my pretending.

That everything's fine,

They may not believe me

They'd think I was lying.

I won't tell anyone they hurt me,

When you're a child, no cries

Shh! We'll just be strong!

You're my little angel,

You can do no harm.

Just you be strong.

You'll open your wings and fly,

Your river of tears will run dry.

Live, my boy, and show them all,

That you will not be beaten down.

That you will not fall.

And I will keep that smile from turning to a frown.

Little boy, staring in the mirror,

I will not let their shame make you shiver.

In sadness now,

I'm thinking how

The parents we trust with our lives

Could always steal the many knives.

They could end up guilty

But you, little boy, will never feel as I do...filthy.

They will never believe you

They will never believe me now

We could've been happy

But I won't let them hurt you, my child."

The girl listened to the yelling and screaming for another week until one day she was in the kitchen while they argued.

The father raised his hand to hit the mother, but the girl jumped in between them just in time. With her cheek burning, she found a way to advert their hatred of each other to her. She earned herself beating after beating after that. When they were angry at each other, she'd turn their attention from each other.

One night, with a bloody nose and a bruised eye, the girl promised the boy something.

"My boy, I promise you- I swear to you- I will always protect you, because it was my fault you were brought into this world. I swear, my little boy."

"I promised, and I will keep the oath."

One night, when the boy was about four or five, the mother went into a fit of rage after drinking. She entered the kitchen where the father was with the young girl. The mother took out a shotgun and aimed it at her husband with tears in her eyes.

The girl ran at her, a single bullet being shot off. The girl threw the weapon out the open door before her mother could shoot again. In the middle of the commotion, the mother threw the girl across the room. The mother collapsed, though, onto the floor.

I cried as we drove to a small thicket of trees far from the house with her in the back. Nobody would miss her except us. She had no family like me, probably why she'd convinced father to let me stay. She knew how I felt.

We buried her there, her body rolled in the carpet from their bedroom. Father didn't blame me for her death, knowing I didn't mean to. And, I had saved his life. But then, not long later, we moved and he beat me worse than before. Over the years he let up a little, but when I was younger he would sometimes leave me bloody and unconscious on the kitchen floor.

"So, my boy, do you forgive me? Do you hate me even more? Do you blame me for destroying your family, or do you still love me?"

He gave me a shaky smile. "I never blamed you for anything, and there's nothing to forgive. As far as I'm concerned, you've always been my family, not them."