Zephyr ran around the corner of a building, eye stinging with tears. People quickly moved out of the way of the running teenager. Ran into an alley and put her back against the wall. She put her

hands over her face. The sight of her with scratches was burned into her mind. Four disgusting marks running down her face. The pulled her hands away from her face and saw her left hand was

covered in blood that was left from the slightly open wound. The squeezed her eyes shut and she felt tears start coming down faster. She ran to keep her sisters from seeing her cry, she refused

to let anyone see her cry, it was weakness. She remembered the first time she cried in front of her foster father.

Little Zephyr was scared. She wanted her mother and father, but she knew that they were coming back. She stood in front of her new father and mother. The two people glared down at the three girls in

front of them. Zephyr was 6, Xian was 5 and Yetsy was 3 ans hiding behind Xian. "Well, runts, what's the matter! Can't you talk?" the man yelled down at the girls, making the step back away from them.

The man laughed when he saw this. Xian hid behind Zephyr, with Yetsy till behind her. The man looked down at the oldest girl and saw she had small tears rolling down her cheeks. "Tears? Tears are

weakness! If you cry you're WEAK! Just like you're parents!" The yelled then slapped the little girl across her face, sending her to the ground. Her two young sisters yelp and stepped back farther, trying to

keep their own tears back.

Zephyr pushed that memory from her mind and stared at the opposite wall as she slid down and sat on the ground with her arms resting on her knees. She sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes,

wincing when she touched the cuts. By now the wounds had stopped bleed and Zeph cleaned the blood from her face the best she could. Her orange eyes closed as she leaned her back against the wall of

the alley. She thought about her sisters and her parents. "I have to be strong for them," she said opening her eyes and glaring at the sky that said that it was about noon. She stood up and started to

walk out of the alley. She pulled her hood up to hide her face from everyone. She put her hands in the pockets of the jacket and started making her way toward the park where she had left her sisters.

Once she made it to the park. She on the edge of the fountain, legs crossed, and looked to the swings. She found both Xian and Yetsy, swinging happily. She smiled and pulled her hood farther down to hide

her face in the shadows it made. "at least they're happy," she said looking down. Soon enough Yetsy saw that Zephyr had returned. She jumped off her swing while it was in the air and landed on her feet,

before took off sprinting at her eldest sister. "ZEPHRY!" Yetsy yelled as she ran to her sister. Zephyr watched as her sister ran at her and looked to see Xian slowing her swing to a stop before getting off

and walking toward the two. Zephyr turned her attention back to Yetsy just in time to catch herself as her little sister jumped on her, wrapping her arms around the eldest's neck. "Zephy! You're okay now,

right?" the 12 year old asked looking up into orange eyes. "Yeah I'm cool now just needed to think a bit is all," Zephyr said then looked up to find Xian standing there smiling down at them. Zephyr smiled

back as Yetsy release her from her hug. "Care to join us in some fun?" Xian said as she gestured to the swings. Zephyr stood up and put her hands back into her jacket pocket. "Yeah sure why not?"

Zephyr said as she started to walk to the swings with Xian beside her. "YAY! Zephyr's learning to have fun!" the two older girls heard Yetsy yell and watched as the littlest of them ran off in front of them

to the swings. "Remember when you used to be really fun?" Xian whispered to Zephyr. Zephyr sighed and nodded. "That was a long time ago," she whispered back.

Zephyr had grown up more then any 15 year should have to. She really grew up when she was 9, when she finally accepted that their parents weren't coming back. She took on the responsibility of taking

care of her two little sisters. Xian watched as her oldest sister mentally got older each day, she saw changes in Zephyr's personality. She was once the happy go lucky kind of girl, didn't have a care in the

world, now she was cold and protective. She thought that if the younger ones got hurt it was her fault. Xian and Yetsy tried to tell Zeph that it was never her fault, but their own. Zephyr wouldn't have she

would take a majority of the beatings their foster parents would give them, just to protect them.

Zephyr sat on the swing to the left of Yetsy while Xian took the right swing. She watched as the two of them started swinging. The sight of the smiling and laughing brought a smile to her own face. She

soon joined in on the swinging, but the laughing was pushing it a bit for her, as for her smile it only bigger and the little sisters' laughs got louder.

Hours later the girls were once again sitting against the fountain. Night was falling quickly over the city of East Valley, and Xian thought it was a perfect time to tell scary stories. Zephyr simply sat with her

back against the fountain, her finger tips in the water of said fountain. Yetsy was glancing around the park, trying to see if the monsters in the story were really around them, making Zephyr chuckle and

lean her head back against the wall of the fountain and look up at the night sky and all the stars as she listened to Xian's story. Xian was sitting on her knees in front of the two, trying to scare both of

them, but only succeeding in scaring Yetsy. Suddenly the three saw the red and blue lights of a police car. Xian stopped her story, Zephyr turned her head to the car, and Yetsy grabbed Zeph's arm. The car

stopped and three girls stood up. A tall policeman exited the car. "Hey you three, do ya'll need help?" he asked. The girls looked at each other and gulped.