I am Ren.

Ren is me.

Ren!

I made two wonderful friends, friends who I want to be with forever!

A lot of bad things happened to us, but I think we’re finally going to be okay now.

I don’t have to be ignored by my parents anymore.

I don’t have to be scared of being thrown away again.

I get to live in this beautiful house and be happy with everyone!

All of my favourite people are here!

Helt and I like to play in the greenhouse sometimes.

If we’re lucky then we even get to help out with the cats!

We try to bring Jean along, but she’s been super busy with learning to be a maid.

She seems so happy now.

I’m so happy for her!

Noth said we can go in the greenhouse and play all we want, so long as we don’t go too deep inside.

We especially can’t go past the tables and chairs, he said.

Noth saved our lives and brought us here, so of course we have to listen to him, right?

And sometimes Elillith will come in with us and bring snacks!

I love her snacks sooo much!

And I love Elillith, too. She’s the best!

I wish she was my real big sister! We all do.

One time, when we were alone, Helt told me a secret in the back of the greenhouse.

He said that he’d heard something from one of the maids Noth’s dad had sent.

Apparently, everyone thought Noth’s [Gift] was the same as mine!

That’s amazing!

Someone with the same [Gift] as me had done all those super amazing things?!

Does that mean that I could do all that stuff one day too?

Helt kept saying that it could be a lie though, so I just had to go make sure.

I asked Noth, and he said it was true!

He said that the [Gift] that we had wasn’t a bad thing like everyone said, and that it was actually the best!

All I had to do was want something really hard, and then I could be whatever I wanted!

That sounds soooo cool!

I’d been sad that I didn’t have an awesome [Gift] like my friends did.

But now I just had to find what I wanted and be it!

I’m gonna make them all super amazed with what I become!

…But what do I want to be?

I think… I want to be like Noth?

He’s the only other person with my [Gift] that I’ve ever heard of.

He’s smart, and he’s cool, and he’s handsome. He's always been nice to me, and he even saved me and my friends!

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I really really like him…

So why not be like him?

Plus, I’d get my own angel!

~~~

I’ve tried so many times, but it never worked.

Why?

I want to be like Noth so super bad, but nothing ever changed.

I don’t get it.

I asked him why, but he just says that you have to want it with all your heart, and that it took him a while to do it.

Am I doing it wrong?

Don’t I want it with all my heart?

I’ve been trying for almost a year now.

Am I… not good enough?

…Were my parents right?

Am I so much of a failure that I can’t even use my own [Gift] right?

No one will like me if I’m like this.

Everyone’s going to leave me.

Jean, Helt, Elillith, even cool and amazing Noth.

~~~

While I was off being alone and pouting in the greenhouse, I made a new friend!

I sort of broke the rules and went past the tables to cry.

I didn’t want anyone to find me, and no one would see me there.

I also was kind of hoping that whatever secret was back there would help me figure out how to use my [Gift].

And I found a statue and some bushes back there!

There was also a pig head? But it was so gross that I couldn’t look at it for too long.

The statue was weird but pretty at least.

The bushes were the best thing there though!

Why would Noth keep such amazing bushes all to himself?

There are so many different red flowers on it!

And they’re all so beautiful!

They’re almost as beautiful as Jean!

I should pick some of them and show them off to everyone.

They’ll love them!

But my new friend stopped me when I reached out to touch them.

She pulled my hand back and told me that the flowers were dangerous.

I couldn’t see her, but I could feel her and hear her.

And she was right! If Noth found out that I’d been to his secret place and picked his flowers, I might have been in trouble.

I thanked her, and she giggled at me.

She told me that I was very cute.

No one except my friends have ever told me that!

So I asked her if she wanted to be friends with me too.

And she said yes!

I told her my name was Ren, and she told me her name too.

It was such a pretty name! It matched with her pretty voice.

I asked her why I can’t see her, and she said it was because it wasn’t time yet.

She said that when she finally gets strong enough, she’ll let me see her.

We made a promise that when I finally get to see her, we’ll both do our best to grant whatever wish the other makes.

That sounds so amazing, just like something from a fairytale!

I hope she won’t take too long to get strong.

And I hope she can help me to finally use my [Gift]!

She made me promise not to tell any of my other friends about her.

She said she was embarrassed, and that she didn’t want to meet anyone else until they could finally see her.

She said that she only came over to see me now, when she wasn’t ready, because she knew I was special, and that one day we’d be together forever and become really really close.

Even closer than Jean and Helt!

She also told me that if I tell everyone about her right now, that I’d get in trouble.

Since she’s back here in the secret area that we’re not supposed to be in, if I tell them about her then they’ll all know that I was there.

She’s right, my new friend is so smart!

I’ll make sure to keep it all super secret!

She said she gets lonely and wants to see me every now and then, so whenever I’m feeling down I should sneak back here and see her.

I’d hate to make my friend feel lonely.

Feeling lonely is the worst!

I promised her I’d come to see her as often as I can.

Before I left, she hugged me and rubbed my back a lot.

It felt kind of weird and hot.

It even kind of stung a little later, so I looked in the mirror and saw that she’d left a small weirdly coloured mark on my back!

Maybe my new friend was a little too strong?

Or maybe my new friend doesn’t know how to hug?

That’s so sad, that means she hadn’t gotten to hug much in her life!

How lonely!

I have to make sure we hug a lot next time.

We’re going to be so good at hugging!

I love making new friends!

I’m so glad I came here!