It was the summer of 2015. Mom and Dad had gone for a short business trip and Elly and I were dropped off at old Granny's house. It was a one-week sleepover, and for the whole month, we looked forward upon spending time with Granny.

Elly was 7 years old, and I was 11.

"We'll see you soon, Cash, be nice to Grandma and take care of your little sister, okay?" I had pinky-promised Mom and Dad before they kissed us byebye.

We had so much fun with Granny. She told us silly stories, scary stories, played pistols together, and she would indulge us in our little children's hobbies. One day, we baked too many chocolate chip cookies and had to share with the neighbours. Granny said she was feeling under the weather because she had too much sugar, so she let us give them away by ourselves. We packed them equally into four jars, and some for breakfast the next day. Elly and I had a contest to see which one of us would be the first to return home, after each giving two jars of cookies to the nearest neighbours, and I was determined to win.

"Wait! Ground rules first, no leaving the jar by the door, okay? We hand it to the owner of the house," I warned her from cheating.

"Okay, we start at the same time, in 3, 2, 1! Aah ahahahaa!" We left the porch of the house, running in opposite directions. I ran to the first neighbour, and rang their doorbell aggressively, all while knocking on their door. I did the same to the second house, but left after ten seconds of no answer, and proceeded to the third house. For both jars of cookies, they were happily received by boys my age, and we agreed to meet up and play frisbee tomorrow morning.

I ran back to Grandma's to announce my win. Elly wasn't home yet, which meant the victory was mine to claim. I was already thinking of what kind of prize I wanted, and how should the loser be punished. However, I had already gone through six options, and Elly still hadn't come home.

I snapped myself and started to worry. Were most of the neighbours not home? I thought she should still be by the block, at least.

I went out to wait by the porch, but I hadn't seen any little girl running from house to house.

"Elly!" I called, "Evelyn!" but still no answer, "Evelyn Moon! Not funny!" Still nothing.

By the time I had checked past every house in the block and looked behind parked cars too, tears began to pool in my eyes as I remembered my promise to Mom and Dad. Elly, please be okay. I hoped she was only lost, and was only waiting for me to pick her up. I hoped it was nothing bad.

I decided to check on the neighbouring block, calling out to her name again. At that time, I had already made my mind that I wanted no prize for me, and no punishment for Elly. I just wanted my sister to come home safe.

It had been the first house on the corner of the street. I had noticed that among the bigger shoes and boots by the steps of the door, were shoes much smaller. They were Evelyn's pink dancer shoes.

Stranger danger, Evelyn. Didn't Mom and Dad tell you?

Embracing my big brother chest, I rang the bell of the house to retrieve my sister. I had hoped it was only another grandmother who invited Elly for homemade lunch or something.

As the door opened, it revealed my sister and a young man, chocolate stuffed over his face and a grin of pride remained.

"Oh, I must've stayed too long! My brother's here to pick me up. Byebye Jason! Nice playing with you," greeted Elly.

I remembered how uneasy I felt, looking at the young man greeting her back and whispering something in her ear, before placing a kiss on her hand like an act of chivalry.

On our way home to Grandma's, I had asked her what did he say.

"He told me I was pretty," answered Elly.

We never talked about that again ever since. I didn't want my parents knowing I had let Elly into some sense of danger. Sometimes, as we got older, I would ask Elly about what happened back there, but Elly couldn't seem to recall her 7-year-old days.

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I knew what I saw. It was him at the CCTV footage – the same person only a little older. I didn't realize how long had I been crying while I was driving, but I felt like the worst person, if not the worst brother to Elly.

What should've been a thirty minutes' drive felt like a race against time; I made it in fifteen.

"I appreciate you thought of me, Cash. I checked on Lenard, he's not in the city," said Owen, whose door I knocked on ten years ago. He was already by the fork of the road. Dismissing the desire to catch up, I only gave him a grateful pat on the shoulder, and he returned the gesture.

"You were right about this," he explained, "I wasn't watching the news until you told me. When I checked, they were only arriving. I had sent the video to the police. They should be here any moment now."

Upon hearing about his discovery, I was both surprised and relieved, not in a good way. I wasn't sure if waiting was the right thing to do. I knew it was a safe resolution, but my conscience reminded me of what I had done many years ago: you did nothing.

With that reminder, I couldn't just stand by and watch or listen to whatever was going on in the house, even if his victim wasn't anyone whom I regarded important.

Owen stopped me when I motioned forward, "Don't, you won't know what to do."

"Maybe, but she needs us, Owen. Knowing that someone's here for her makes a difference, even if we don't know how to fight," I was already begging him with my eyes at that point.

"The police are already on their way," he argued.

"They're not here now."

It was a battle between urging eyes. I knew that if Owen backed off then, I might not stand a chance to save one person and fight another at the same time.

Owen cussed at the skies. As soon as he let go of my arm, both of us engaged in the façade that we weren't the same fearful person anymore.

Making use of momentum, Owen ran and used his weight to break the door. I tried to search for a weapon, but found no luck. When the door was finally open, we entered a seemingly normal house. The lights were on, the living room was empty, and the door to the bedroom was open.

"We know what you're up to! We called the police!" exclaimed Owen, lifting up a wooden chair and ready to use it to knock someone out. I searched the house for the girl.

She was in the bedroom, on the bed, crying.

All of her clothes had been discarded, her body completely bare. She was hugging her knees, her eyes staring at the floor to avoid meeting mine. Fresh bruises appeared on her pearl skin. My heart broke at the sight of her. What could have happened to Elly if I arrived late that time?

"Hey, it's me. Look, it's me. Remember me?" I moved closer very slowly. When she finally looked, I held my gaze at her eyes only, and I made sure she understood that.

She nodded, letting out even more tears. Not completely present over my own instincts, I didn't notice my thumb was already halfway through to wipe her tears, until she flinched and pulled her face away.

That was insensitive of me.

I pulled my shirt off over my head, and looking away, I handed it to her.

"Cash, I checked the house! Seems like he ran away through – oh," Owen notified before I blocked the door and signalled to give her space to dress.

We both were facing the opposite direction, not sure what to say, until the girl poked my back from behind. I turned around.

"Thank you," she said between weeping breaths, the strange girl from last night, albeit her hair had become dark brown and no longer a shade of platinum blonde, she was undoubtedly the same girl.

"Who are you? And where do you come from?" I asked. Owen had turned around to listen, too.

She stayed silent, not giving us any hint of an answer. I sensed her trust was trembling after everything that had happened, so I gave her mine.

"I'm Cassius. Cassius Moon," I started.

"Owen. Owen Lee."

She managed to find enough courage to lift her gaze and greet our eyes, a sense of distrust still lingered in them, "Lyra. Lyra Seage."

"It's okay, Lyra, the police will take you back home," reassured Owen. Their cars nearby were sending sirens. Lyra, seemingly her first time to hear the sound in a close distance, shuddered in fear.

I offered my hand to her.

After a long contemplation, Lyra slowly put her hand on mine. I held it safely. I wasn't going to let go unless she wanted me to.

Owen, Lyra, and I walked towards the living room, headed for the front door. Lyra was safe with us. All that's left to do was for the police to find and capture her attacker. My mind was beginning to ease, until Lyra halted behind.

"What's wrong, Lyra?" I asked her, but on her other hand, she held afloat a thin and strange thread, dots protruded on the surface of the straight line, like beads on a bracelet. "What's that, Lyra?" I asked her, a little louder this time so she would turn her attention to me.

She did, and she looked at me deep in the eye, "Cassius Moon, Successor of The Eight Planets, Keeper of The Milky Way," she mentioned. I looked at her strangely and confused, but her expression was no less confused nor no less surprised than my reply.

"Guys?" Owen snapped, but I soon realized he wasn't calling to make us resume our way out of the house.

Beneath our feet, yellow dust spiralled around us, hugging our figures and making their way up our body, illuminating in ways I couldn't apprehend, becoming denser and denser, swallowing us whole before I could find the time to choose the words.

My name is Cassius Moon, and I shall discover that the world is much bigger than it seemed, and us people weren't so alone as we felt.