Hedgesville, West Virginia
Caspian Residence
Sunday, August 11, 1996
2:22 PM

Upon entering the house, Jennie stood quietly near the stairs as she stared at the carpeted flooring. I don’t get it. Why did we take these guys home with us?

“You okay?”

A face entered her line of vision as Kasei gazed up at her with childish humor. What’s wrong with this kid? He’s creeping me out.

"Yeah," Jennie mumbled.

Pushing past the boy, she headed up the stairs slowly and moved to her bedroom door. She hesitated for a moment then pushed it open.

Inside the room were various boxes sitting on the floor. Stepping up to one of the boxes, she knelt down and opened it to find her belongs inside. “How did these get here?”

"Dad and I got them for you."

Craning her head to the side, Jennie found Riley standing in the doorway with his back leaning against the doorframe. As usual he appeared to be rather genial as well as a bit corporeal with his manner of dress.

"Oh, thanks," Jennie said as her voice became listless.

"I could give you hand," he stated, strolling into her room.

Riley stooped down beside her, peering inside the box she had opened. The contents were clearly novels of fantasy and science fiction as well as a few Japanese comics. “So you collect books?”

“Yep,” Jennie replied.

“You should stop by my shop then,” Riley said casually, “I own a bookstore.”

“I heard you did,” Jennie said as she looked to Riley with curious, interested eyes, “what kind?”

“I have a little bit of everything,” Riley chuckled, “but I mostly deal in rare finds.”

“Neat,” Jennie replied with a smile.

Standing up with an armful of books, Riley headed toward the empty bookcase that sat in the far right corner of the room. He began to place the novels on the shelves while Jennie continued to fumble through the boxes.

"What's this?" Riley asked unexpectedly as she turned to face him.

"What?" she asked.

"This picture," he said, holding up a photograph, "it fell from one of your books."

"Oh," Jennie said, taking the picture and looking at it. Her eyes focused on a young looking boy who appeared to be beaming proudly over a guitar he was holding. His hair was a medium shade of blue with a streak of red in his fringe.

"That’s my real dad."

"Your dad?" Riley asked, peering at her with composure, “he looks pretty young in that photo.”

"I think he was just a kid," Jennie stated.

"What’s up with the blue hair?" Riley questioned.

“Mom and Dad said he was into the punk look,” she said, tossing the photo into one of the boxes, “dying his hair blue, wearing stupid clothes, painting a gay-ass star on his cheek, wearing multiple earrings, being a retard.”

“He’s a loser,” she announced, closing the box up that contained the picture, “he ran off before I was born, so I could care less if he’s alive or rotting in ditch somewhere.”

"Do you know his name?" he asked.

"Uh," Jennie mumbled, looking up for a moment as if in deep thought, "He wasn‘t mentioned much. But I think they called him Court, Corey, Corin, Cor-something… I don‘t know. His name isn‘t on the back of the picture. And I can‘t really ask now."

With the bookcase nearly full of graphic novels, fictions, and some old journals she had been writing over the past few years, the two worked together in placing her other belongings away.

When the last item in the final box was placed on the desk that sat against the wall beside the bookcase, Riley turned and looked at her with an alluring smile.

“Well?” he questioned, motioning for her to look at her room.

“Looks good,” she said, returning his smile with a simple one.

“Good,” he replied, “then I’ll get rid of the boxes. And you should go downstairs and get some dinner.”

"Alright," she said with a nod.

Walking out the door of the bedroom, Riley left with the door still open. Jennie sat quietly on her bed as she stared at the floor until something caught her attention from out of the corner of her eyes. Turning her gaze to her doorway, she found Kasei staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"This is your room?" he asked, peering inside, "I get the room next to you."

"You're staying here?" Jennie questioned as Kasei nodded. He began walking slowly around her room, eyeing everything.

"What's this?" he questioned, picking up a book that sat on Jennie's desk.

“My journal!” she screamed, leaping at him abruptly. Her body lunged at him forcefully as she barely got her hands on the tome when her face slammed abrasively into his chest. The two were sent flailing to the ground.

The sound of Kasei’s head hitting the edge of Jennie’s desk alarmed her as she found herself on top of the boy. Pushing herself up, she peered down at his tanned face and noticed he had been knocked unconscious.

“Sorry,” she muttered, standing up swiftly.

"Hello?" she called out, "Kasei...uh, passed out in my bedroom!"

"What?" Appearing at the top of the stairs, Reikoku looked at Jennie with alarm.

"Your little brother," Jennie said, looking over her shoulder, "he was going to read my journal..."

As she spoke the journal was abruptly ripped from her grasp. Turning on her heels, she found Kasei grinning with the book in his hands. It didn’t take long for her to acknowledge what he did before he was dashing toward her window.

“Bye!” he shouted, pushing the window up and leaping out.

"Wait!" Jennie screamed, rushing to the window to find Kasei landing on the ground with effortlessness. Her eyes watched him disappear out of sight. "What the hell!?"

"I'll get it back," Reikoku said.

"No, it's okay," Jennie whispered, looking to the ground, "It's not like there were any big secrets in it. Just had some old photos and clippings."

"I'll get it back," he said again as he turned to walk off.

"No, it's okay," Jennie replied, grabbing a hold of his arm. She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm sure he'll return it when he finds out there's nothing interesting inside."

Reikoku stared down at her with emotionless eyes as Jennie cringed at the sight. "Did my brother tell you that we’re staying?"

"Yeah," Jennie said, nodding.

"If you need anything, just call for me," he said, "I am your servant."

“I don’t need any…servant,” she said forcefully.

"I came here..."

"Blah, blah," she retorted, pushing Reikoku out of her room, "I don't want someone constantly looking after me. I can handle things on my own."

“But..."

"No!" Jennie shouted sternly. She looked up into his face to find him giving her a placid gaze.

"Where are your things?” she swiftly asked, trying to change the subject, “maybe you should start unpacking."

"Everything is already in my room," Reikoku replied as Jennie gave him a blank gaze, "I just have a knapsack."

"Really?" she asked with confusion, "you only have enough to fit one backpack? What? Did your parents not like you or something?"

"I was raised to live with very little," he stated, "you don't need the world to be happy." He turned and headed toward his room as Jennie leaned against the doorway of her room and sighed.

"He's going to be difficult," she muttered. “And I thought I was miserable.”