Tracy wrapped stale bread in a cloth and gathered a worn blanket. "He must be feeling cold all alone… this is my chance," she giggled softly.
The moonlit night guided her steps as a chill breeze brushed her cheeks.
Blaze sat cross-legged at the edge, staring into the abyss. The thought of jumping tempted him, yet he knew nothing waited below—only silence. And maybe that was enough. For a moment, it seemed the abyss smiled back at him.
"You must be getting cold," a voice said behind him.
Blaze didn't turn. He kept staring as she placed the blanket over his shoulders.
"Are you hungry? It isn't much, but I brought you bread."
"Are you trying to tame me?" Blaze whispered, his voice echoing against the wind.
The bread slipped from her hand. He was trembling—not from cold or fear, but from emotions he didn't know how to show.
She embraced him. At first, Blaze sat stiff, then his shaking hands reached around her, clinging tight.
"It's okay. I'm here," she whispered. "I'm not afraid to be burnt if it means you'll feel better."
For a while, they sat together, laughing quietly, spinning stories from the stars and moon—stories that had never been.
"Thank you, Rebecca," Blaze murmured at last.
Behind the oak tree, Tracy watched, her stale bread falling into the dirt. It soaked with tears until it was soft as a sponge.
Later at midnight, Rebecca climbed into their secret hideout, high in the branches of a giant tree. Two beds, a cracked mirror with a hole in the corner, candle wax dripping everywhere—it was their world apart from the other children.
She found Tracy sitting on her bed, staring at the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot, veins crawling red. Dark bags hung beneath them like bruises, like smeared makeup against her cream-white face.
"Tracy, are you okay? Were you… waiting for me?"
"Yeah." Tracy's voice cracked, as if she hadn't spoken in years.
"I see. Sorry for keeping you waiting. I was a bit busy with… uh, the other children."
"I see."
Rebecca almost asked why Tracy looked so ruined, but she brushed it off as exhaustion. She slipped under her blanket. "Goodnight."
No reply came.
Bill sat on the branch of another tree, smoking under the red moon. His body was wrapped in bandages and old cloth. I'll have a cool scar, he thought.
Leaves rustled above him. He froze. I'm busted.
Meanwhile, Rebecca woke before sunrise to relieve herself. Her foot hit something. She lit a candle and sighed when she saw their tennis ball lying there. But then she froze. Her eyes fell on Tracy, still in the same position as last night.
"You smoke?" Blaze asked, appearing beside his brother.
"You're the first to find out in three years," Bill muttered.
"I never thought there'd be cigarettes here."
"There's junk everywhere if you know where to dig. Found a lighter, found the weed. Sometimes you just… need a break from reality." He stared at the slow burn of his cigarette.
"So you wear a mask like everyone else," Blaze shrugged.
"Everyone wears a mask. But what they can't hide…" Bill exhaled, watching the smoke twist into the red sky. "…is what lies deep in their eyes."
Blaze told him the story of punching the boy. Silence lingered, then Bill burst into laughter.
"I never thought you had the balls, Blaze. He deserved it."
"Do you think I'm a monster?" Blaze whispered.
"If my brother's a monster… then what am I?" Bill smirked, then his gaze softened toward the moon. "So… Rebecca really does love me."
"Don't get so full of yourself. She cuddled with me s—"
"She was consoling your sorry ass."
"Wanna bet?"
They laughed, and for a moment, Bill forgot about the cigarette.
Rebecca stood before the mirror, gazing at what had held her sister's attention. Side by side, their reflections stared back—Rebecca's face lit by the moon, Tracy's swallowed in shadow.
A sharp thud. The heart-shaped stone flew past Rebecca's head, shattering glass. Splinters pricked her skin as she stared at her warped reflection.
"You finally showed me what lies beneath the mask," Tracy's voice shook. "I trusted you. I loved you when nobody else did!"
"Sis, what do you—"
"But you… you're just a selfish bastard who wants everything for herself! Can't I be happy for once?" Her voice cracked apart between sobs.
Rebecca's chest tightened. She remembered the night Tracy had confessed about Blaze. "Tracy, I'm sorry. I was only trying to comfort him, I don't lo—"
"To hell with you!" Tracy screamed, hurling objects at her. "Of course you don't love anyone! You just use them like toys!"
Rebecca didn't move. She let them hit.
Tracy rose, storming toward the door.
"Tracy, wait! Please don't—"
"Have fun with your toys, Your Highness." Her hand lingered on the doorframe, her voice breaking into a whisper Rebecca barely caught. "I doubt any of them will love you… you witch."
The door closed. Rebecca stared at her bruised body in the broken mirror, tears streaming.
Morning came with a knock. Tana entered, gasping when she saw Rebecca.
"Rebecca—what happened? Look at you!" She rushed to her side.
"I… fell off a tree," Rebecca muttered.
"Where's Tracy?"
Rebecca clutched her, trembling. "Sis Tana… where's my sister?"
Tana's lips quivered. She pulled Rebecca into her arms. "She's gone. She took her own life."
Rebecca cried, but her cry wasn't just grief—it was deeper, deeper than the abyss itself.