Reveal

I didn't really want to do much when I came in. I just walked in slowly, taking it all in. It all looked so new, yet I'd seen it before. Steev's chair, the sofa and the tiny, old fashioned T.V.

I felt Racheal stroke my hair. "Come on, go have a bath, get cleaned up."

"Yeah, you really stink."

"Tinana, go back to school. We've found your sister now. Don't start teasing her after everything she's been through." she said the last bit in a whisper but I could still hear it.

Not really caring, I went to have the first proper bath I'd had in two years. I was in there for a long time, actually quite enjoying it. After I was finished, I quickly got dressed and went straight to Steevs room. They were both already there.

"You said if I came back, you would tell me about my family."

"I did."

"You did?" Steev obviously wasn't aware of this.

Racheal looked at him, longingly. "Come on Steev, you owe it to her."

He looked somewhat sad but also a little scared. "All right."

He got up and went to the cupboard above the stairs, under the ladder that led to the attic. From there he got out a small sort of box, which he then put on the bed.

"In here," he said, tapping the lid of the box "is all that I could save from our planet."

Our?

He opened the box.

I peered inside. The box was full of old toys, DVDs, books and cds. The first thing I picked up was a brown teddy with a blue top.

"You used to play with that baer all afternoon.

I stroked the bears far and somehow remembered. "Eddy bear." shaking my head, I put the teddy back down and went back into the box. I found a dvd that looked like it might be the only one with humans in it. The rest were all what looked like big, walking kanines. They had some in film and some animated but none of them had humans except this one. I picked it up and recognised it as the Anastasia we used to watch. I could remember staying up listening to one of its songs over and over, every night, trying to remember where I'd heard it before. I started humming that song. Steev smiled. I'd hardly ever seen him smile.

I spent the rest of the afternoon going through the box as vague memories started to come back. At the very bottom of the box were two pieces of jewellery: a tiny ring. It would've been too small for anyone's fingers but mine. The shape at the front was of a dog's head, the same shape as the birthmark on the back of my neck; and a necklace with a similar shape, except it was a dog's full body, on an extremely fine chain that was long enough to fit over my head.

"Do you feel better now?"

I smiled but I still had questions.

"My family, my parents—did they—are they still alive?"

"Do you want my honest answer?"

I nodded, though that didn't sound very reassuring.

"I don't know. I just know that they were never found, by either side."

I guess that was something. Maybe they found some way to escape.

"Now, off you go, get some rest. Dinner in a bit."

So I went off to get some sleep. My room wasn't that big but it made me feel small. The bed was in the middle, splitting the room into two halves. One one side was the dore and wardrobe; the other, a bedside table with a radeo on it and an old bookcase.

When I went to sleep, I dreamed about the last day I spent here. I ran away because everyone was teasing me. I'd been picked on for my pointy ears ever since I started school and now they were teasing me about the death of my grandad. His death also seemed to make Steev and Tiana worse to live with. I couldn't take it anymore, so I climbed out of the window and ran. I didn;t take anything with me. I didn't think about packing. I just ran and kept running. I didn't stop running, not even when I was so out of breath I thought I might faint. No shoes, no socks, yet I couldn't stop myself running. I needed to actually run into something to do that, so I did. I started taking deep breaths. I looked at the sign I'd run into and realised how fast, how far and for how long I'd been running. I was in London. From Newark to London, that's how far I'd run. I'd heard stories about London. All the people on the streets. Thieves, robbers, all the nasty people and something to do with younger children being hurt by older people. No one would tell me exactly how. I was always told to be careful in big cities but I wasn't afraid. I couldn't think of anything other than how stupid I'd been, running away in the middle of the night. Nothing packed, no money, nothing to eat or drink or even to wear other than my PJ's. I thought about running back but no, I couldn't. I couldn't face that life anymore. Plus I didn't really know how to get back. So I just walked farther into the city, until I found my bench which I almost automatically lay down on and fell asleep on.

I woke up in real life. Tiana was standing by my door. I jumped when I realised she was there. She jolted her head towards the door. "Dinner time. It's chicken pie."

I rubbed my eyes and went to get some dinner.