*one week later*

I sit in the chest and start to hear ringing from the silence. I jump at the sound of the weapon that hurt my mother.

I jolt awake in bed with warm cheeks and swollen eyes.

"Mama!" I breath heavy as I wait for my mothers reply and I am sucked back into the realization that I have come to every morning since it happened. My parents are gone. Forever.

I look around and see tissues all around my bed and half my sheets to join them, scattered on the floor. The dark room is quiet and still. The blanket I had put on the window was falling off, letting the sun in. I pull my sheets and my knees to my chin and stare straight ahead. Stare at the wall in front of me with all my drawings. I look down to the chest that sits in front of my bed. I can feel my face become contorted with a mix of fear and hatred as I remember what happened.

"I'm sorry dad." I break down into tears and continue to whisper my apologies for the next few minutes. "I could have called for help." I cry even more as I had come to that same conclusion over and over now. It's my fault that they are both dead. I should have stayed quiet when my mother told me to. I should have called for help instead of sitting in the chest crying. APS wouldn't be hurt if I would have gone to get help. He wouldn't have had to protect me. I'm just glad my neighbors were nice enough to take him to an animal care center.

I am jolted out of my sorrowful state with a loud aggressive knock at the door. I throw off my sheet and my bare feet hit the cold ground. My mother usually lights the fire at night because I don't know how. Now I just have to be cold because I'm too helpless, and too dumb to call for help when I need it. I shake the thoughts from my head physically and shut my eyes tight. Shutting them only makes me remember what happened.

I open the door to see the tall Mortella, dressed in a purple silk dress that goes well with her brown hair. Next to her stands a smaller more scared looking person, Heap. Heap is her assistant and I have always felt bad for her because of the way my land lord, Mortella acted.

"Miss Sirenity, so sorry about your mother and father." Mortella sticks out a dramatic pouty lip and heap looks down while catching small glances at me through her eye lashes.

"You can just call me Siren." I hate her calling me by my last name. It was weird. I wasn't married, so why would she call me that. My name is Siren.

"I'm sure you know why I'm here, Siren." She flicks up her eye brows and folds her arms.

I glare at her because of how she says my name with such disgust. "No, why are you here?" My mother always told me to be respectful to adults, but it was hard to be nice to this sith of a woman.

"You have to leave miss Sirenity. You don't have any parents or money, and now, you don't have an apartment."

"Mortella?" My eyes go wide and I feel my tears start to brim over. "I can't just leave!"

"Unless you can find enough credits to pay off your parents debt, you will be leaving."

I don't bother holding back my tears and I speak through gibberish and blurred vision. "What am I going to do about APS?"

Mortella shakes her head and looks at me like I'm a creature throwing a tantrum. "That animal is not my problem." She shrugs and frowns. "Now get your belongings out of the house or I will throw them out."

I can hear my breath from all the fear and I act on impulse and shut the door. "I don't wanna leave Mortella! Please don't throw my parents stuff away!" I sit against the door and fear for my own life, just as I did when my parents died.

"Siren! Open this door now!" Mortella begins to bang on the door and my head flips around and my tears pool around my collar bone. "Siren, I will go get papers for you. For t-the..." Mortella stops talking and and banging on the door. "Siren?"

I hesitate before speaking. "Where am I suppose to go?" I sniffle one last time and get up, putting my forehead to the door. "I can't leave APS."

"Siren, I will go get you papers for an orphanage. You won't be living on the street hon."

Usually I loved when adults called me hon. When Mortella said it though, I hate it. She used it as an insult. "An orphanage?"

"Yes, but it's going to take hours. But I'll do it."

"Ok."

I open the door to see Mortella plastering on a forced smile. She acts as if it hurts to smile.

"Heap here is going to give you a ride." She gestures towards the smaller woman and heap looks down with a red face.

"To where?"

"To go get poor little APC of course." She brings her voice to an unnatural, mocking tone of high pitchness.

"His name is APS." I look down and make my voice deep so she will know I'm mad.

"Well Heap is going to take you to your animal."

I look at heap and she gives me a shy smile.

"Ok, well give me one second. I'll be right out." I shut the door and start to leave and I can hear Mortella groan from outside the door. I go back into my room and crawl under my bed. I grab the silver box my mother gave me and grab my families necklace and dagger. I crawl out from under the bed and hold the necklace up to the sunlight. The silver star shimmers in the sunlight and reflects in my eyes. I tie it around my neck and put the dagger in my belt. My mother always told me that I should have these if I don't feel safe. I hold the necklace close and then put it under my clothing so Mortella will only see the chain. I don't want her to take either of these things for possible debt payoff.

"Come on miss Sirenity!" Mortella again starts banging on the door and I roll my eyes and get up. As I walk to the door I put the dagger more behind my back and take a deep breath before I open up the door.

"Okay I'm ready." I step out the door and Mortella eyes me up and down.

I start to walk away with heap to her speeder. I hop in the green rusty machine and Heap brings it to life, as I hear the front rattling and warming up.

"She's a piece of work, but I love her." Heap smiles proudly and pats the dash of the speeder.

I nod and smile at her because I was honestly afraid of speeders. My parents and I walked almost every where. I grasp the Handel of the door as the speeder starts to zoom away quickly. She continues to talk to me and I nod and smile at her nervously the entire way.

We reach the animal care center and the speeder stops more sudden then I would have liked it to. I look up at the tall building and see different colors of speeders zooming around the sky.

"You can com me when you're done, on there device. I'm sure they have a lot in there."

I nod and get out of Heaps speeder. I reach sliding glass and look at them is wonder. I walk thorough the doors and see a dark lobby with a faint glow around all the the flat surfaces and tables. I grab my necklace and take a deep breath. "Please be okay." I whisper.

"Hello child." I look over at the biggest desk in the room and see a pale woman sitting in the seat behind the glass desk. She has big eyes and purple hair down to her feet. She is wearing all white and it glows brilliantly in the dark environment. "What are you here for?"

"For my pet." I let go of my necklace and step up to the desk. I stand on my toes and look over the flat area to see the woman's face.

"Species and name?" The woman looks at me and smiles warmly.

"Umm, his name is APS and he is a dog." I look over at her typing on the keyboard and she squints at the screen.

"Ah, I have found him. Come with me." The woman stands up and I am surprised at her height.

"Wow, you're tall." I release the breath I wasn't aware I was holding.

The woman laughs and starts to walk down the hallway. The entire hallway is dark with a soft purple glow on the side. We reach some black doors and when they open, I discover that its a lift. We get in and the doors close and we begin to rise.

"Wow." I turn around slowly, looking at the ceiling and walls. The entire thing is glass and I am surrounded by different neon colors of fish and other creatures. "This is amazing."

The woman smiles big at me and I look down shyly. "Do you know what they are called?"

I shake my head, still in a daze from seeing all the amazing life forms all around me.

"Here we are." The woman presses her hand against a print pad and the doors open. All wonder and amazement leave when the doors reveal what lay behind them. A hallway, longer then I can see. White, very clean walls and doors only inches apart from each other. "Your pets name will be on one of those doors. A medical droid will assist you when you press the print pad."

I nod and slowly step out. "How far?"

"Not far. You said his name stated with an a, didn't you?"

"Yes." The doors close and I am left alone on this white, never ending hallway. I walk down the hall and see different animals through the glass. Some are barley functioning, while others are at the window begging for my attention. I finally reach where APS is stored and I look inside. He is laying down on the floor calmly breathing on a soft pad.

"APS." I tap on the window a little, not sure if I want to wake him up or not. I press my entire hand to the print pad and it scans it, but then goes red.

"Identify." A silver medical droid comes up to my face and holds what looks like an eyeball in front of me.

"Oh uh... Siren Sirenity." I move my head back as the droid gets closer with the device.

"Accepted."

The door opens and I run over to my dog and slowly kneel down next to him.

"APS?" I say it calmly because I don't want him to wake up and be scared. This place is pretty scary up here. I run my hands over his stomach and feel his ear. "Why won't he wake up?" I turn around and look at the droids cold, silver face.

"This mammal needs surgery."

"What kind of surgery?" I had only known about my fathers surgery and it cost a lot of credits.

"Brain."

I look down at my dog and the droids monotone, emotionless voice echos in my head. "What if I don't have credits?" I continue to caress around APS's ear.

"You need money for the surgery, or it will not happen. With out the surgery, your pet will die."

"I'll get money I swear. Please don't let him die." I look at the droid for a long time and it never gives me an answer. I just hope that the orphanage Mortella is helping me with will accept dogs. Mortella has never been so nice to me that she would help get information on an orphanage. I could see her not caring if I was living in the streets.

The droid shifts a little and presents a hologram in front of me.

"Are you ready to go little Siren?" Heaps face flickers in the blue light and she smiles through the hologram.

"Yes. Has it been that long?" I look around for a time telling device to know how long I have been here.

"No, but Mortella has just informed me that she found some information on your new home. She tells me that it's very nice."

"The orphanage?"

"Yes Siren. Now are you ready?"

I nod and gesture for the droid to cut the hologram off. Heaps projection leaves as soon as it came. I make my way back into the lift and sit down as it slowly declines. I look around at all the fish and smile. They were the opposite of me right now. So peaceful and calm. Swimming through life. The doors open up the the dark, neon lobby and I see Heap talking to the purple haired woman at the glass desk.

"Come Siren." Heap nods backwards towards her speeder that was parked outside the hospital.

"I hope your pet gets better." The purple haired woman smiles at me and I smile back.

"Thank you." I walk outside and get into Heaps speeder.

"So Siren, is your pet okay?" Heap again brings the speeder to life and we zoom away faster then a normal person should be piloting.

"Yes. I think." I again feel my necklace and look down. "The medical droid says he needs brain surgery."

"Oh." Heap stares ahead in silence and I get even more nervous for my pet.

"Do you think he will be okay?"

She continues to stare ahead in silence.

"Heap?"

"We're almost home Siren. Try not to think about it."

I blink from embarrassment and look down. I have a million more questions for her but I decide to keep it in. I don't like being shut down.

"Ok. I'm going to do some things for Mortella. She says she's around here somewhere." Heap looks around and then shrugs. "Bye now."

Heap speeds away and I am left standing there. Alone. I walk up the steps to my door and hesitate a little when I see the door around the corner. I see my dad there holding me in his arms while the door is being unlocked. I shut my eyes and shake the thought out of my head. No. I walk up to the door and grab the knob and turn it slowly.

I open the door and see a small girl playing with toys on the floor, sitting next to bright green furniture. I suck in my breath and repeat the process of erasing what I was seeing. I open my eyes and she is still there. My eyes grow as wide as Hoth when I see a tall dark woman come into the room.

"Hi sweetie, are you lost?" The woman steps forward but I move back quickly.

"Who are you?" I can hear my voice crack and I try to be strong. I hope I just wake up soon.

"I should be asking you that." She steps  forward and tries to grab me, but I move back more.

"Get out of my house!" I look around and see that nothing that I owned was left. "Where is all my stuff?" I look at the woman in fear and she gives me an equal look of confusion.

"What are you talking about?" The woman lurches forward and grabs me and I start kicking and screaming.

"No! No no no!" I start to squeeze her skin and cry. "Let me go... please!"

"Please, I'm trying to help you, just calm down."

"Raghh." I scream at the top of my lungs when I'm interrupted by the familiar sound of pain to my ears.

"Miss Sirenity! Stop it now!"

I look up and see Mortella with a face red from anger and a tapping shoe. I am dropped to the ground on my feet and I run up and hug Mortella.

"What's happening?" I bury my face in her skirt and she pushes my head away and gives me a look of disgust.

"Don't get your tears on me. Here is the information for the orphanage." She hands me a piece of paper and I stare at the blank page in confusion.

"There is no words. Is it suppose to be that way?" I look up at her with my stinging eyes and gulp.

"Get used to this kind of thing Siren." She smiles at me, but I know she didn't mean it. Her smile looks so satisfied. Like she was proud of herself.

"Where am I suppose to go?" I rip up the paper in front of her and throw the pieces towards her.  They don't travel very far and I can practically feel her eye roll above me.

She kneels down and forces me to look her in the eyes. "That's not my problem. This is the real life sweetie. You. Don't. Live. Here anymore."

I jerk my face away from Mortellas grasp and breath in sharply. "Where is all my parents things?" I suck in a shaky breath and break down. "Where is it?"

"Oh, stop crying. They are in the dump out back."

I look at her and want to scream in her face. "Why?" I whisper it and fiddle with my hands.

"That's just how it is."

I push her out of the way and I can hear her land on her behind and growl at me as I run down the stairs. I hit the bottom on my hands and knees, but get up quickly. I turn around the corner of the building and see what was once my living space and kitchen, scattered around, deep in trash.

"What?" I say it unbelievably and run over. "No no no." I start throwing things around and watch in fear as all the people with out homes Rummage through my families belongings. I stop quickly when I realize I am about to step on a frame. I drop to my knees and observe it for a long time before carefully picking it up and watching the glass slide off the picture. I take it out of the frame and a single tear lands on my fathers happy face. Then once more on mine. Then a bunch more cover the picture. I hug it close to my chest and get more comfortable by sitting down the right way. I bring my knees to my chin and shut my eyes tight. Trying to imagine another life.

What if I just called for help? I wouldn't be here if I wasn't such a scared little kid. Why am I so weak? I grit my teeth. I have never been so sad in my entire life. I open my eyes and look at the picture again. My four year old self holding a smaller APS and my parents smiling with there hands on my shoulders. I ruined this. I ruined what we had.

"Siren?" I look up and see a concerned Heap.

I look back down at the picture and let my hair cover my face.

"I can't really help you Siren, but I can a little. Here."

I look up at Heap offering credits and I take them without hesitation. "Thank you Heap."

She nods and I watch as she walks away occasionally tripping slightly in the trash. I breath in shakily and look at the picture again.

"I miss you mom. I'm sorry dad." I break down again. The only thing I had left to be happy about is credits for APS's surgery. Thank you Heap

-yoitsme108 and freedomgirl321