I feel strange. My head feels like a massive weight is on it, only my forehead though. It's hard to open my eyes. I touch my head and feel a cold damp cloth, what the? This doesn't feel like my bed at home, it doesn't feel like the floor. Where  am I?

I spring up, only to get a shooting pain in the back of my head. I keep my eyes closed, as I feel my world is spinning around faster then a speeder.

"It's okay, calm down." A young familiar accent is heard.

I lay back down and slowly open my eyes. I look to my side and see the recognizable red hair, pale skin, tall, blue eyed person. The man from the store that I helped out when he was out of money.

"You're that guy!" I feel out of place from how overjoyed I am about it.

He raises an eyebrow, but has a small smile creeping up his lips. "Yes." He nods. "Oh yeah, thanks for the change. I had a good buzz that day."

I stare at him and I'm sure to plaster confusion over my face. "Buzz? What's that?" I ask.

"Nothing." He shakes his head. "Never mind, it's not important."

I still feel the damp weight on my forehead and I reach up to touch where I can feel it. My fingers become dewy, like wet grass, when I put them in front of my face to see. I look at the red haired man with question in my eyes.

"You had a fever." It's like he just read my mind. "I'm pretty sure I heard that doing that will calm you down. Temperature wise I mean."

I shift in the cement feeling bed and remember what happened before I woke up under this reddish, ratty quilt. I remember slowly falling asleep and seeing somebody walk towards me. Was it this red head guy with the special accent? I take off the cloth and hand it to him, because it feels weird to keep it on. He takes it and sets it in a white bowl of water next to him. The bowl had little blue flowers painted on it. It looks like a very worn down dish. It doesn't fit him either, it looks really girly and grandma like.

"What happened?" I press my hand to the side of my head in pain. For some reason, it feels like a lighting storm in my brain.

"I found you nearly passed out by the trash can. You were pretty gross." He says with a completely straight look.

I give him a glare, but it's mixed with an equal amount of curiosity because I want him to continue.

"Anyway," He starts again. "You were covered in You're own vomit and I couldn't just leave you like that? What kind of person would I be if I left behind a barf covered little girl?" He shrugs.

I don't know if he's trying to be funny or not. It's honestly very confusing. If he is trying to be funny, he has a very rude way of showing it. I am completely aware that I am not at my prettiest moment. That's doesn't mean he has to point it out though.

"Oh yeah." He perks up again. "You have been out for two weeks."

My eyes go big. "Two weeks?" I mostly ask myself. 

"Yeah." He nods smiling. "You weren't much of a bother though, considering you have been asleep."

"Thank you." I say, the shock not fully gone yet. I have to say thank you though. It doesn't matter how shocked I am. My parents always taught me to use good manners, no matter what situation I was in.

He Just nods simply and shifts in the oddly painted chair he's sitting in.

"My name is Siren." I hold out my hand, sitting up in the bed.

He smiles at my hand like I was joking. Why does everyone treat me like I'm four? "Call me Slider." He shakes my hand, obviously holding in an immense amount of laughter.

Slider? Strange. "Why is that your name? How did you get that?"

"Don't worry about it." He shrugs and his eyes travel elsewhere.

My stomach growls and I put my hand over it, like I can mute the noise with skin contact. It doesn't work and I am just left with the pain of hunger and embarrassment on my face.

Slider holds up a finger, telling me to wait as he bends down and picks something up from under the bed on the floor. He holds out some water and a small piece of bread looking thing covered in a white wrap. It looks sort of what I found in the trash, only ten times better, and actually edible looking. I try not to take it so greedily, but my hunger forces me to practically rip it from his grasp. I say a silent thank you and take the first bite. It tases so good and pure. How did he find this?

I start looking around and notice I'm not in such a nice place. There is nothing on the walls, except for peeling paint. I can't even tell what color it is. A beige mixed with very light red, and all worn down at the same time. There wasn't a lot of possessions around, and the room we are in is very small. Well, the small area we sat in. Most of it looks like careless mess that my mother would have made me clean up. It's what I can only describe as low.

"Where are we?" I ask biting more off of the bread.

"Were on a lower level Of Coruscant. This place is where I live... it's my apartment." Slider studies me like an interesting book.

"What do you mean levels?" I take a big gulp of the water that Slider supplied to me.

"You sure do ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

"Sorry." I look down.

He waves his hand in the air, as if to excuse me. "There is five thousand, two hundred and seventeen levels of Coruscant. You were at the top when I found you."

I give him a confused look.

"Top as in you could see the sky. See other things too. Like all those tall nice buildings and rich bastards." He grits his teeth.

My eyes widen at the curse my parents never would have accepted hearing, but I continue to listen.

"People who have money stay up there." He points to his ceiling. "People like me." He points to himself. "With out money, are lower. As in down here." He gestures towards his small apartment.

"I didn't know that." I say sad and sympathetic.

"I figured that. You're only a kid, Siren. Your parents probably didn't want you to know."

I flinch at his use of the word 'parents' and I begin to feel my eyes sting with tears. I am not happy in this moment and every piece of me just wishes I will wake up soon. Wake up from this horrible nightmare I continue to live.

"Whats wrong with you?" Slider stares intently at me. "Did something happen? Was it something I said?"

My mind flashes back to my parents distraught, dying faces. I start to cry without answering him. I stare straight ahead with the now tiny piece of bread and water resting in both my hands. I see Slider shift over acting like he doesn't deal with this often. He reaches over and pats the top of my head awkwardly, like I was APS or something. I surprise him as I jump up and wrap my arms around his neck, crying even harder. It's easy for him to hug my small body back, and he does, Pulling me closer. He acts like the brother I never had. After being held there and finally getting ahold of myself, I pull away and eat the remainder of the bread.

"Thanks for the food, Slider." I lean back to where I was before.

"Yeah, no problem. You looked like you were about to kick the bucket, so I figured you could use it." He nods slowly. He does that a lot. The nodding and studying thing.

"How did you find food like this from the trash?" I ask completely puzzled. "I can never find anything this good."

"I didn't." He looks equally as puzzled. "I stole it from the market when I was on the upper level earlier. I'm not going to find anything good in the trash can, but I'm also kind of broke for the moment."

I get mad at him when he says he stole it. People like those burglars that killed my parents steal. Those men that beat me up in the dead end are the type of people to steal. People who steal can only be one thing. Bad. They don't deserve anything. They steal and I feel ashamed that I can't get rid of the stolen food and water inside me right now.

"Stealing is bad!" I reprehend him like I would my dog. "I don't care if you're poor, You're a bad person!"

"Yeah? If I didn't steal that food, you would be dead!" He snaps right back at me.

"I don't care! If people didn't steal, my parents would still be alive! I would have a home and not be sitting in a bed of the bottom level of Coruscant! My dog would still be healthy and happy, but no! There are people like you stealing from others! You are probably destroying families with your ways! I hate you! And all the other thieves! You're all evil." I say all of it without regret. The shock on Sliders face is like no other.

He transforms from shock to anger in only a few seconds. "I, am not." He shakes his head like he can't even believe what I said. "I'm just a person trying to make my way in this kriffed up galaxy. Stealing and thieving are the only things that's kept me alive this long. Considering nobody helped me!" He looks more sad now then he does mad, and I feel bad. "Where do you think all your moral talk is going to get you?"

I don't reply to him. I instead fold my arms and look down. It's hard to choose what to think right now.

"That mind set you have is going to get you killed faster than you think. I never asked for this life! I never asked for my parents to be killed, or to be in prisoned because the people I thought were always there for me, apparently weren't." He wipes away some tears that threaten to fall. He seems like the person that never cries. "I have done a lot of bad things... but I ain't never broken a family." He looks down like an angry child and wipes his eyes again.

I feel really guilty now and it feels weird to sit next to him. "I'm sorry Slider." I get up and hug him again. "You're not like the others. I'm really sorry."

He pulls away and takes a deep breath, and hides traces of ever crying. He reaches over on the nightstand and grabs a towel with some clothes and soap on top of it. He hands me the towel and clothes and looks at me caring.

"You're kind of overdue for a shower, Mate." He pats down on his lap like he's wiping off sweat after he hands it to me. Maybe he just feels nervous that he's being rude telling me to clean up. Or maybe talking about his past makes him anxious.

"Ok." I agree. I struggle to get out of the bed. But my feet touch his cold floor. I feel very dizzy and my head is like a ride racing around faster then ever. "Where is your bathroom?" I turn around.

"Over there." He points opposite of me without looking up.

I walk away from the bed completely, and it's weird because I was using it as a stable surface to help me stand. I walk over to the white, paint peeling paint door that he told me was the bathroom. I stop when I see a glisten in the corner of my eye. I look to my left on a beat up couch and see Sliders black jacket. There is at least three blasters and four knifes. That's all I can see anyway. I'm sure if you turned it over, there would be more. How many weapons does one guy need?

I brush it off and continue on to the shower. I really need and want to be covered in water right now.

-yoitsme108 and freedomgirl321