We walked out to a set of rickety stairs, and I took a deep breath in as I prepared for a very dangerous walk down them.

"Just hold on to the wall. Go slow," instructed Ruby.

It wasn't so much the fact I had bird feet, but the fact that the stairs could crumble under my weight. However, I headed down, trailing along the wall, taking deep breaths in and out as I did so. As soon as I reached the bottom, I heard the sound of click, click, clicking.

"What is that?" I questioned softly.

"Someone there?" I heard a voice call, the clicking suddenly stopping.

The voice was low, almost sounding careless. I thought for a second, wondering if I should answer, or just walk back up the stairs.

"Um... hello. I'm new here," I called, my voice showing fear.

"Oh. I'm in here," the voice called out to me, the tone not changing.

I slowly walked toward the room, turning right. I looked in as I stood at the entrance, and straight ahead of me was a girl with very sickly-looking skin. She sat on a bed of nails, with a pair of knitting needles in her hands.

"I'm... Karina," I said tentatively.

"I'm Misery," she answered, her voice low and slightly croaky.

I walked slowly up to her. When I looked at her closely, I noticed there were tears in her eyes, that were beginning to stream down her face.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked, suddenly feeling sympathetic.

"I'm fine," she sighed, suddenly tensing as a lightning bolt hit her in the head.

I gasped in fright. I couldn't believe what I'd seen. The poor thing was burned black!

"Ow," was all she said.

"Oh my! Do you need me to call a doctor or anything?" I asked, for I couldn't treat lightning burns since it never usually happened to people that often.

"No. That happens to me all the time," she said, her voice low and monotone.

She then gently took my hand and shook it.

"You have wings too," she commented, showing slight surprise.

"Yes. I'm a kinnari. I am a half bird, half woman of good fortune. I look down on the well being of others and make sure everyone is happy," I explained.

"Okay," she sighed.

I've seen people of her kind before, but couldn't place the name of the figure. Bluish gray skin, long, black hair, and tears streaming down the face. I thought long and hard. Then it hit me. Banshee! I had seen one a few times on my travels.

"You're... very... well... sad. Aren't people of your kind ever happy?" I asked, my eyes showing sadness.

"Well, not really. We always have bad stuff happen to us. It's just the way things are in my family," she answered, just as a knitting needle slipped.

"Oops," she said carelessly.

"I got it," I said, picking up the needle.

"Thanks," she said, smiling ever so slightly.

"Oh! You just smiled! That was what I was hoping to see!" I cried happily.

"Um... okay," she said, starting back on her knitting.

I watched her for a while, and noticed she was looking very tired. But I didn't ask in case she was fed up with me by this point. I said nothing as I watched the banshee work on her project.

"Um... so... what's going on?" she asked, snapping me out of a trance.

"Oh. Nothing. Sorry. I guess I'll go now," I said, slowly turning away.

"Okay then, I'll see you later?" she asked, her voice low and croaky again.

"Sure," I laughed nervously.

I was very scared for her, and couldn't get her off my mind as I made my way back upstairs. Why was she so sad? She recovered quite quickly from the burns, and she was knitting with no problems, so what could it have been? She seemed beyond miserable. I didn't think Misery was the best name, since she had so much misfortune with nature.

"Oh. I was just about to come down. Is something wrong?" asked Ruby as she approached me.

"Misery," was all I said.

"Oh. Don't worry about her. She'll be okay. She's always miserable," Ruby explained.

"I know, but I feel bad for her," I admitted with a frown.

"It's okay. She has been awake for the passed few nights so she could sing with Frank and Len. See, she only sings when she's asleep," Ruby said, laughing slightly.

"Do you think if I let her sleep she'll be a little happier? Obviously she won't be smiling per-say, but do you think she'll brighten up a little more?" I asked curiously.

"Hmmm. Possibly," replied Ruby, and went down the stairs.

I followed, and we headed back into Misery's room. Misery was still knitting, but Ruby stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe you should get some rest now, Misery. I think you deserve it. You don't want to be tired all the time," suggested Ruby.

"Well, I was going to double check my first-aid kits and make sure they're all stocked, but... why not," she said in response, her voice lowering as she neared the end of her sentence.

She headed over to a shelf to put her project away, when suddenly something fell from the wall. It was a picture of someone. It looked like her, except a lot prettier.

"Ow," she said as it bounced off her head.

She then headed back to her bed, lying down. She yawned a long, tired, but almost contented-sounding yawn before closing her eyes, and falling soundly to sleep.

"Wow. She must have been tired," I laughed.

"Yeah. She has been tired lately. I guess that's why her bad luck has been a little more on the hard side these passed few days. It's not usually that bad," replied Ruby, and we headed upstairs, closing Misery's door behind us.