Seren woke up in their new room. It was blindingly bright with the sun reflecting off the ice and into their window.

The Sun.

Seren sat up and jumped out of their bed, their bare feet slapping the hardwood floor. Throwing open the closet, Seren grabbed the first outfit in reach and tossed it over their dresser. Scrambling to get dressed and succeeding in getting tangled up in the fabric. They tripped over their pant leg and hit the ground hard. A small knock coming from their door, after Seren recovered.

“I know I’m late!” Seren yelled.

“It’s just me,” Mrs. Houper called. “You aren’t late, it was decided you could have the day off today.” Seren paused and slowly buttoned their pants.

“Why?” They asked, shouldering on their button up shirt.

“Well. Uh…” Mrs. Houper stammered. A muffled yell came from somewhere else outside the door.

"Yes, they're awake!" Mrs. Houper canvas to the unseen yeller. Seren finished dressing and ran to the mirror to brush through their hair.

"Okay! I'll let them know!" Mrs. Houper yelled. Then she knocked again

"I know you're there," Seren said, braiding their hair

"Right, Mr. Asche would like to see you in the office after breakfast." Mrs. Houper said. "Which is waiting for you in the kitchen." Seren finished their hair and stared at their reflection. It seemed paler than usual. They took a deep breath and turned away.

They ran downstairs to the kitchen where, as promised, a plate of eggs and toast were waiting.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Kalyani greeted them. "You slept forever! Thought I would have to remake that into your lunch!"

"Morning," Seren smiled. Sitting up onto the stool at the breakfast bar. The clock on the wall read 11:43. Seren watched it tick, trying to comprehend that they'd slept that long.

“Still asleep?” Kalyani asked, startling Seren out of their trance. They shook their head and ate breakfast. Avoiding the eggs after only a bite. They were runny and the mouth feel made Seren sick. However, it was too late. Seren’s appetite fled them.

“Done,” they said and pushed the plate away.

“Already?” Kalyani said, looking at the nearly untouched plate. “Thought you’d have more of an appetite than that.” Seren shrugged, having no response. Kalyani took the plate and Seren slid off the stool. They played with their fingers, trying to remember how to write legibly for the day. Ready to tackle a stack of papers the first time and not need to redo any of them. While climbing the stairs, they cracked their knuckles to limber them up, stretching out their arms and giving themself a rousing pep talk.

At the very top, they knocked on the door. Bouncing back and forth, ready to tackle the day, full contact.

“Come in, Serenity.”

Seren opened the door and walked into the room with their head held high. Stopping dead at the sight of Mr. Asche not at his desk but leaning on it with an intense look. All the confidence Seren had readied melted out of them and they felt small all over again.

“Serenity.” he said, his tone so level it tried to behead them.

“What did I do?” They asked quietly. Shrinking down and casting their gaze to the ground.

“What do you think you did?” He asked, red flags popped up in Seren’s head like spikes. They shrugged, thinking of many things they could have done wrong but wise enough not to say anything. Not until they knew what they were being accused of.

“What do you remember of yesterday?” He asked, Seren’s brain whirled into overdrive.

“I… went out with my list.” Seren started, waiting to see if that was it. It wasn’t. “I went to the first place. A tinker. They dodged me…”

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“And what did you do then?”

“I moved on.” Seren looked up and saw the sharp look magnified by Mr. Asche’s glasses. “I did. I got to another person and…” Their voice stopped, the sudden memory of making a selfish trade coming back to them.

“I made a trade,” Seren muttered, hoping he couldn’t hear them or understand them.

“For these,” He produced the rings from out of his pocket and held them out. Seren nodded weakly. “Why?” Seren's jaw ached but they couldn’t open it.

“Cause I thought they’d be useful…” They muttered. “It’s scary sometimes.”

“Scary?”

Seren flinched back and waited for a reprimand.

“I see.”

They looked up in nervous confusion, as if there would be another sharp tone waiting for them. Instead, to their surprise, Mr. Asche’s face had softened while he stared at the rings. He held them out.

“Take them,” he said. “They’re yours and I’ll take what they're worth from your pay.”

“That seems fair,” Seren nodded. Trying to hold in their tears of relief.

“What else do you remember about yesterday?” He asked, placing the rings on Seren’s desk.

“Uhm…” Seren concentrated hard on the memories of yesterday. There was the tinker, the lady… the tinker again… and the boy… “I don’t remember.”

“No? Are you sure?” Mr. Asche trained their stern eyes like aiming a crossbow. Piercing right through Seren’s mind, which luckily, was blank.

“I remember something about the tinker having a son.” They said, breaking under the gaze.

“A son?” Mr. Asche asked, the stare thrown by the statement.

“Yes. I think. I don’t remember very well. But he said he would get me the payment and there was a boy.” Seren said. “He was a bit bigger than me.”

“Serenity, I really need you to remember what happened.” Mr. Asche advanced suddenly and knelt down. Taking Seren by the shoulders so they couldn’t escape. “ What. Happened.” Seren felt their words run away in fear.

“I don’t remember.” They said instinctively.

“Yes. You do. There’s something in there and I need you to tell me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.” He said, again his stare went right through them. “Did he attack you?”

“I.” Seren started. “Yes, I think so.”

“Don’t think. I don’t want you to think. I want you to know.” He said. Seren swallowed hard.

“I know.” they whispered.

“Okay,” he nodded. “Go back down to your room. You remember Mr. Prasad? He’s coming by again and I don’t want you to be seen.”

“Why?” Seren whispered, their eyes filling with tears.

“Don’t worry about it. Please just do what I tell you to. Okay?” he said. Seren nodded, feeling like the air was stolen from them. They left the office numbly and went back to their room. Curling in the corner that had become theirs. Leaving it dark so they could think. Trying to rationalize it all out.

What did they do? There was the boy. There was the feeling. The feeling. Seren felt goosebumps creep over their skin. Solid. They had felt so solid but absent. The feeling of a flood hitting a mountain.

Seren shivered. They shook involuntarily and stood up. Taking one of the notebooks out of their desk, they sat and looked at the blank page. Slowly, they began to write words. Broken and misspelled, but words.

They wrote about what they felt. For every bit they remembered, they wrote another page to describe it. Shifting into a small ill-thought out fairy tale. Time melted away as the pages flew.

The pen shot out of their hand when a sudden knock rapped at their door.

Mrs. Houper walked in with a large box.

“Just coming to check on your wounds, dear!” She announced, looking back out the door.

“Am I wounded?” Seren asked in a normal tone.

“What? Oh no” Mrs. Houper said after shutting the door. “The lawyer’s here about the boy you beat up.”

“The what?!” Seren gasped, jumping to their feet. Mrs. Houper looked back in shock. Words failed her for a solid minute.

"The boy?” Mrs. Houper asked quietly. “Ssh, we have to be quiet.”

“What are you talking about!?” Seren couldn’t keep their voice down, only making it higher.

“Seren!” Mrs. Houper, raised her own voice. “Settle down!”

“How?!” Seren yelled, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Is there something wrong in here?” Came a voice and a knock at the door. Mrs. Houper’s eyes widened and stared at Seren severely.

“Get in bed. Now.” She hissed through her teeth.

“B-”

“NOW.” Seren threw off their button up and crawled into their unmade bed. Mrs. Houper threw the blankets over them. Another knock came at the door and Mrs. Houper ran to it and opened it just a crack.

“Sorry, Mr. Prasad. The row has left Serenity with some gaps in their memory.” She said quietly. “This is coming as quite a shock to them, as you can understand.”

“May I see them?” Mr. Prasad said from the other side of the door. “For the amount of complaints I’ve had about them. I’ve surprisingly not met them yet.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to take that up with their guardian upstairs.” She said again apologetically. She smiled and shut the door and heaved a sigh. Turning back to Seren who was already crying.

“Am I in trouble?” They asked.

“I’m not sure yet.” She shook her head. “For now, let’s get you back into your night clothes.”