A/N: I own nothing to do with The Lost Boys, of course. Thank you so much for the reviews and words of encouragement, you are all so kind. Hope you enjoy this story still, although my apologies if it is very slow-paced. It's just very vital for Ruby's character. And, I promise, more of The Lost Boys and their eventful antics in the next chapter! Thanks so much for reading. :-)

Chapter Five

I wake up gasping and my eyes pop open.

A small rush of wind is leaking in through one of the higher cracks on the ceiling of the cave, the flame of the candle corked in the neck of the dusty alcohol bottle wavering and rustling loudly. It's morning hours now, judging by the soft, orange light emitting through the crack. This knowledge placates me for some unfathomable reason and I feel around blindly, searching with my hands for Susie in the covers.

My hands find nothing and I roll onto my side in a state of panic. Where is she? She was here last night with the boys so where did she go?

The only thing I can find relating to Susie is the stuffed, pink lamb that David gave her last night, resting on the foot of the bed where she placed it when the boys were saying goodnight. My mind starts replaying the happenings of last night like a videotape:

"Catch you on the other side, little sister," Paul said, grinning. Something clinked every time he moved, something metallic, one of the many heavy chain ropes adorning the sleeves of his leather jacket perhaps, and he winked at me before he slinked easily through the crack and out of sight.

Dwayne hesitated, taking longer than the other boys. He stood right near me. He was so tall that he towered over me; it's something I hadn't noticed before. He leant down and kissed the top of my head sloppily, and my breath hitched in my throat. I remember feeling shy all of a sudden. "'Night Dwayne," I said in a wobbly voice. He sauntered silently over to the crack and then he was gone.

Marko walked slowly over to me, Susie toddling alongside him. He was holding her hand and she looked up at me. "You can sleep with Karen," she said, before plopping the stuffed lamb onto the bed.

I remember feeling very miserable when she said that name; Karen. Karen is our mothers name and I couldn't imagine why Susie would want to call her toy that without making her feel lost and lonely without her. Marko smiled his vast smile and then let go of her hand. He strolled silently over to the crack and then he too, was gone.

I wasn't expecting David to say goodnight to me and I didn't want to embarrass myself by standing there and waiting expectantly, so I turned on my heel and went straight over to the bed. It was then that I realized Susie hadn't come to the bed with me. David must have taken her with him – she must be sleeping with them – but how?

I pull the tangles of the bed sheet away from me and hop out of the bed. I step over the numerous white, empty paper containers of Chinese food that are scattered all over the ground, intersected with leftovers of rice and noodles from last night and reach for the alcohol bottle, cupping my free hand over the flame.

When I enter the opening, I realize the smell is more sickening than I anticipated. The stench burns my nostrils and I have to hold my breath so I don't gag. I direct the light above me shakily.

"I don't believe it," I say quietly to myself.

Susie, my little sister, is suspended from the ceiling like the other boys, her hands and face stationary, white and disembodied in contrast to David's black coat and trousers, her face inclined level to his chest. I can tell she's deep into her sleep; her body is limp in his arms and she has her legs twined around his waist. Her hair is splayed out underneath her, dangling down past her ears, a curtain of wild brown curls and tangles.

It seems as if David has really taken her under his wing and in some wretched sense this fills me with both sadness and gratitude. It suddenly dawns on me that I haven't been paying much attention to what must have been happening to my little sister. Is she really now one of them?

The question lingers unanswered in my head, but simply by looking at her, it doesn't need to be asked.

The question that terrifies me and simultaneously thrills me at the same time is the subject of what she is? Will she be the same Susie that I have always known from childhood? The same Susie who I grew up with, the Susie who loved talking to her stuffed toys and who giggled and wriggled like a fish out of water whenever you attacked her by tickling her tiny feet? I suppose in time I will know.

But, looking at David, who is so brazen and cruel and inhumane in every single way, did this change him? Surely he couldn't have always been the monster that he is today? Surely he too was once a kind, gentle person - one who might have actually even loved someone and would have done anything in his power to protect them?

All these questions pierce me with a deeper sense of sadness and I have to quickly turn away. There is a constant tickling in my throat, a cough that is threatening to escape at the pungent stench wafting in the air. The stench from before seems to be magnified and I start to wonder idly if it has something to do with the fact that Susie is the latest addition to their peculiar family.

I couldn't fathom why it smelt so much down here, like an animal carcass rotting in the desert...

I direct the candlelight down low to the ground and creep slowly toward the thin opening, dead leaves and gravel making loud crackling, scratching noises from the weight of my shoes.

"You're dead."

Oh. I stop still, holding my breath, terrified that if I dare exhale a scream or cough will unwillingly escape from my mouth. I knew who said those words. Nobody could possibly ever say it as icy and low and full of warning as him – David. My body tenses in apprehension and I stand still for a long moment, not thinking, not breathing, waiting, almost surrendering for him to come get me, kill me, rip me into pieces, plunge his teeth into my neck... only it didn't come.

I turn around on the spot slowly, cautiously, directing the light above me. He couldn't be – but he just said –

David is still hovering in the air, like the other boys. Susie is still wrapped around him and his hands are still holding the small of her back protectively. His eyes are shut and his face, his face is still this facsimile of David, albeit the benign, peaceful one. He's obviously still sleeping, but then it didn't make any sense; I was so certain he had discovered me standing there, watching them. Why else would he say those words?

Again it baffles me, the change in his face. That mask of hatred and hostility doesn't seem to be there anymore; he looks young, restful. For all I knew, he could have been a few years older than me at the very least but, then again, I didn't know how... old he was in his years. And, in all honesty, I didn't really want to know right now.

I return back to the bed, not daring to look back at them for one last time as I do. I shiver at the cool morning wind that blows in through the crack, holding the blanket tighter to my chest. I wait for a long time in silence, my hands clasped around my knees, but they don't seem to rouse from their sleeping.

If there was something I had grown accustomed to about the boys; it was that they seemed to sleep all through the morning hours and only awoke at six o'clock at night, when the sun was down. It was something that fascinated me and here's the secret: I enjoyed those mornings and afternoons alone with Susie. Being alone with her, it was very reassuring. She seemed the same despite this new lifestyle with the boys, only now, sleeping all day along with them, I wasn't so certain...