Warning: This chapter deals with child abuse.

Yuno knew she would die soon if something didn't change. She didn't know how much more she could take. Every day she felt as though she was slowly losing her will to live; how much longer could she hold on? How much longer did she even want to hold on? All her life brought her was suffering.

Mama was locking her in her cage more often than ever before. She let her out to go to school, but sometimes during the weekend she would shut Yuno in and she wouldn't come to check up on her daughter until it was time for class again. If Papa came home, he would yell at his wife to let Yuno out and she would get a brief reprieve, but he was so busy with work…he hardly ever came home anymore. Didn't either of them understand how she felt?

Yuno wasn't sure how long she had been in the cage this time – Mama had turned off the lights and shut the shades, so she didn't know the passage of time. She had been locked in on Thursday afternoon after school, and her school wasn't in session on Friday…it was likely that she had been in the cage for at least three days. Mama came in to bring Yuno a large bottle of water once, and that had been the last she had seen of her. No food… she had tried to eat the tatami mats as she sometimes did if she was desperate, but all it did was make her stomach hurt.

"Your life would be so much easier if that woman was gone…" A voice murmured to her. Yuno was lying down as best she could on her back, staring up at the cage ceiling. There were shadows swirling around in strange shapes above her – from the looks of it, one of the shadows was the source of the voice. Yuno shook her head. "No…no…Mama's just depressed… she's a good person…she just needs help. Papa would be so sad if she was gone."

"Like Papa cares about you or her…" She muttered to herself, deliriously. But to her, it appeared as though it was the shadow once again speaking. "…I'm sure he's just busy…just busy…" Yuno replied to herself and closed her eyes, trying to shut the shadow out.

"Come on Yuno, you've been through this before. You can handle it. I'm sure Mama will let you out soon…" She rolled over onto her side, clenched her arm over her stomach and curled her legs up. Her new position helped to ease the hunger pain somewhat. "Just imagine you're somewhere else. It will be okay."

Yuno tried to imagine happier times. Times when her family had taken vacations together, or when her dad worked less, or when she actually saw her mom smile and laugh. Usually these memories worked; sometimes if she was lucky, she could create an out of body experience for herself to get away from it all. But for some reason today, she just couldn't seem to escape from herself. Was it that shadow keeping her confined? She cracked one eye open to look and then quickly snapped it shut – sure enough, it was still looming above her.

"Please…won't someone help me?" She wondered to herself…then laughed out loud weakly. The tremors caused her to ache all over, but it was just so funny that she couldn't help but laugh. Who would help her? Who even cared about her?

Mercifully, as if someone heard her plea, she lost consciousness shortly after.