"I don't care," Jared lied -- unconvincingly, he could tell by Elfie's amused gleam.

"Don't you have family?" she confirmed she didn't really buy it.

Jared shrugged, Kai had been his family ever since they'd met in detention, junior high. Alcoholic parents were easy to erase from one's life: they'd never been in it, to begin with. He didn't care what they thought of him, if they were still alive, or if they'd learned he'd died.

"Oh man," Elfie shook her head, visibly emboldened by vodka.

"No need for pity," he established just in case, although she didn't seem touched by his plight.

She nodded, eyes smiling at him. The TV took over from there.

At 3:20 sharp, Elfie looked at him, "You got three more minutes? Then what, you sleep?"

"I just wake up the next day," he said, showing his usual place, by the window.

"Why there?"

"I don't know," Jared was honest. "Never tried to find out."

"You just... don't want to know?" she asked as if it was a normal thing, lack of curiosity.

"Not really."

"Come on, it was an accidental shooting!" she surprised him. "I don't think it warrants this much self-flagellation."

She smiled to soften her tone, slowed down by how drunk she was.

Jared didn't know what to say, she rarely smiled at him other than to tease him. Even then, he wasn't sure she wasn't.

"My ex ran me over with his car," she said, keeping her grin on.

"What?!"

"I like how shocked you are," she said, not really looking at him.

"Intentionally?!" Jared found only one word.

"Yeah. It's why I don't need a job. I'm living out of the settlement money." She gulped some more vodka, "It's the effect I have on men."

"The funny thing is," she kept her flippant attitude, "It helped me that he did it with his car. I had a stack of domestic violence complaints, he was even stalking me to get back together at the time. But when he used his car instead of his fists it became clear to everyone, including the civil court, that he owed me damages. Even as an accidental hit, he still had to pay up. The beauty of car accident laws."

"You let them write it off as accidental?!" Jared continued to be shocked.

"Well, he had money to buy everyone, including me. So yeah," she looked down.

Hardcore, Jared thought. "You just went for what you needed and took it," he smiled to encourage her. "I call that a win."

"More like a fail: I should've put him in jail. Always in the back of my mind, in a box labeled 'Never'. Don't know why I told you," she smiled like she did know, but wasn't going to tell him.

"Yup," he smiled to encourage her, "The Saddest Person in the Room Competition is still on."

He didn't have time to see her react to his joke, he felt himself disappear into nothing.

Next second -- next day to her -- Elfie had more, "Did you ever wonder what happened to Sara?"

Jared had his own box labeled 'Never'.

"Not really, no," he denied, not completely honest. He walked from the window to her, she was wearing different clothes -- like she was going out with other humans, a long summer dress, neon green. But by the way, she hugged that bottle, she was staying in. That and her obviously liking his answer, sprawling on the couch, made him think she didn't like the Sara part of his former life. Flattered, he sat next to her.

"So," he took the remote, "What do you want to watch?"

"Yeah, you're gonna wanna hear cause it's kinda big -- what I know about her," Elfie said, unconvincingly trying for uninterested.

That was it. Now she was interested in the TV, suddenly.

Jared took the bait, "Where is she?"

"You tell me," Elfie shrugged.

"What?! How would I know?!"

At that, Elfie turned to him, eyes on his reaction.

"You mean you never saw Sara again?"

The question broke Jared's mind: of course he didn't see Sara again. He saw policemen in and around the house, the next day, but his last memory of Sara was her screaming, "What did you do?!"

More like a shriek, it made him drop the gun, and she picked it up with a steady hand. When she shot him, her tears told him what he'd always known but refused to believe: it was never a competition. It had always been Kai.

"She also died in this house," Elfie bit a chip.