Winter

"Winter, wake up."

He opened his eyes, and immediately squinted. He was in a room. A very, very sparkly room. "Where am I?"

A girl stared at him. She had a happy look in her eyes and her hair was in all sorts of colors. "You were the one that fell asleep on my doorstep. Bro, do you have an idea how shocked I was when I opened the door and almost tripped over you?" She shook her head. "My older sister was really annoyed."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. It's her. "You have a sister?"

Kinkajou nodded. "Wow, you really forgot everything, didn't you? My sister is Glory. I'm adopted, you know."

She's adopted. "Wow. That's...nice."

"It is." She scratched her head. "Anyway, why are you here, exactly? Everyone thought you were dead. Not that I'm not happy to see you." She gave him a huge smile. "I'm really, really happy to see you. I would hug you except for the fact you hate people touching you." Her eyes widened. "That sounds wrong."

"Um." He blinked. "I would like to see the tapes. I gave them to you, didn't I?"

"Yep," she said cheerfully. "I was sort of expecting it. Umber literally stole it from me, but I managed to sneak in and stuff them into my jacket when the principal wasn't in the office."

"Kinkajou, am I right?"

She nodded, bowing in a mocking manner. "Yes, Your Majesty." She took something from her pocket. "Lollipop?"

"No, thank you." He frowned. "You keep a lollipop in your jacket? Like, always?"

She nodded, staring at him like, well, duh. Everyone has a lollipop in their jackets, don't they?

He raised both eyebrows. "How many do you eat a day?"

"The least, two, and the most, five. How do you think I'm so happy and hyper?" She gave him a proud grin, leaning on her desk. "It's the secret of leading a happy life."

She took a box out of her third drawer and opened it carefully. She handed him a tape. He took it, along with a Walkman. But he couldn't get Kinkajou's weird lollipop habits out of his mind.

"You might get diabetes, you know." He frowned at her.

She shook her head and looked at him seriously. "Have you ever heard of The Fault in Our Stars?" When he nodded, she patted his shoulder. "You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing. Or something like that."

"Do you smoke?"

"No. I'm talking about the lollipops. Great minds think alike."

He scratched his head, puttig the tape in. "But don't you eat it?"

She shrugged. "Of course. I just put it between my teeth for a few seconds. It makes me feel cool and all-controlling about my life."

He nodded to show that he understood, although he did not.

Kinkajou stared at him for a few seconds. "We're trying to help you. I don't know what happened, but I heard things from Qibli. Qibli is worried about you too, and so is Moon. We're your friends."

Moon. Does she know? Does she know who she is and what she does?

He felt a pain shoot through his heart. Nobody in their right mind would ever, ever love you.

"I have to tell you something," he said abruptly, fiddling with the tapes.

Kinkajou grinned. "Tell me after you listen to the tapes."

She walked over and pressed Play.

~

Qibli

"Qibli," he whispered.

He blinked. "Who are you?" He narrowed his eyes at him. "Do I know you or something?"

The streetlight above them flickered.

"You might not remember." The man grinned. "But your mother does."

He clenched his fists. "My mother? My mother's at home. She doesn't know you. You see, she doesn't know any creepy weirdos that talk to kids at night pretending to know them."

"Thorn? I wasn't talking about her." His whisper was almost like a hiss. He finally stepped out of the shadows, revealing a man. He had dark hair and black eyes that seemed like black holes. "I meant your real mother...Cobra."

His heart almost stopped. "Cobra?" He said, sneering. He hope he wasn't giving anything away. "Are you saying my mother is a snake? That's not cool."

Darkstalker laughed. "Smart. You're not passing out in shock, which is good. Come with me. Your mother wishes to see you."

He slowly backed away. My mother? The one that used to beat me every day? Why would I? Every time I tried to do something nice for her, she would refuse it.

Cobra.

"No. My mother's Thorn, I told you," he said coldly.

Darkstalker shook his head, like that wasn't the answer he was wanting.

The streetlamp flickered and the light totally weny out. Then someone was grabbing him.

He wildly kicked, but he couldn't see— all he could see was Cobra, her fist coming down his face, the blood on the floor—

He screamed.

Then someone covered his mouth with a handkerchief, and he passed out.