Dinah knocked on the door of Anny's house. Everyone was anxious. What would answer the door? And would the thing be friendly or hostile?

The door opened quickly to reveal a woman in her early fifties, with white blond hair streaked with gray. She looked at the group and said in a worried tone: "Welcome! You must be the people that the hospital sent over to take care of our, um…problem. Anny's right this way. Please, hurry."

With that, the woman quickly ushered the group through the living room, through a hall and finally into a bedroom. Some dream catchers hung from the walls, each adorned with feathers and sparkling beads. Oriental objects occupied a whole bakers' rack, including dolls, coins, and incense burners shaped like dragons. In the middle of the room was a girl hunched over, her back turned to the door.

"Sweetie…Anny, they're here. Please cooperate, be good to your sister, and don't do anything dangerous, please." said the woman, closing the door to the room.

"Yeah, right. Be nice to that little brat? Not a chance!" with that, the girl turned around, showing everyone her face.

She was quite pale, and extremely skinny. Dinah could definitely make out the girl's collarbone. The girl's clothes, which appeared to be child's size, hung off of her frame, giving her that look as if she hadn't eaten for days. Her face was narrow, and her chin came to a point. Her emerald eyes gleamed like a cat's, filled with mischief and mockery.

Shera took a look at the girl's face and turned pale. She then immediately dashed for the door, took off down the hall, through the living room, and finally back outside, while her friends looked on in astonishment.

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Shera sat outside on a big tree stump in the backyard with her knees pulled up to her chest, her skin pale, and visibly shaking. Dinah jogged up to her friend, extremely concerned.

"What happened to you?!" Dinah asked, giving Shera the I-don't-know-why-you-did-it-but-you-better-give-me-an-answer-look.

"If…if I tell you, will you promise not to tell the others?" Shera questioned in a voice that said she was on the verge of tears.

"Of course I promise! I know what it's like, to keep things hidden for so long that you just can't take it anymore. It helps to talk about them."

"Okay…here goes. When I was nine, my life pretty much fell apart. My parents died in a car wreck, my oldest sister vanished, and my other sister died of Anorexia. It was hard, living with all of that grief. That was six years ago. I did everything I could to forget my past. I moved states. I changed my name. I finally thought that my past was gone. But now look. It's happening all over again, and just like before, I can't stop it!" The tears were flowing rapidly now, soaking both Dinah and Shera. "The only thing that I kept from my past…was this…" with that, Shera reached up to her neck and unfastened a thin chain. Shera pulled it away from her shawl, showing Dinah the blue-green ring which was identical to the one Vincent found at the Mausoleum. Dinah looked at it, seeing a few words engraved on it: love forever, Vince.

"It was my sister's engagement ring. Vince was her fiancé. She was going to get married once her health issues were straightened out. But that never happened either…"

Dinah's eyes suddenly grew wide. "You mean that Anny is your sister?!?!"

Shera nodded. "It was all my fault. She hated having me around. When I was born, she was no longer the child of the family. When I was little, I would follow her around, thinking that everything she did was wonderful, that whatever she did was perfect. But instead of being flattered by my constant attention, she turned me away, trying to gain attention her own way."

"You mean…starving herself?" Dinah asked.

"Yeah…and it was all my fault. All of it…" Shera broke into loud, passionate sobs, unable to hold back the pain and grief of six years. Dinah could do no more for her friend then hold her hand and let her cry out all of her grief.

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How do U like so far? Thought I'd give it that little twist.

R&R!!!!!