It was more than likely that True had heard Louise, and that made me the best person to assess her at the moment. I expected to see a girl with bed head in PJ's, but True was fresh-faced. She had showered and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. Her hair was parted by a sparkling blue barrette, and she wore a light pink lipstick. Overall, she didn't look like someone who had committed matricide the night before.

A voice inside me said that if I ever wanted to hear her speak, I'd better let her alone. Well, I would do that in a sense. I sat next to her on the bench. "Hi,", "Um," or any other greeting never left my lips. All I allowed myself to do was sit and stare. Sitting and staring wasn't bad at all.

True's fingers floated over the piano keys. She was quick and light, seeming to not even touch the keys. She was fascinating to watch. Though I was waiting for her to speak, I didn't really want her to. It would break the spell of the song. Reality would come crashing back with a roar at her first word.

She opened her mouth and drew in a deep breath. I thought the dam broke then, but I was wrong. Just a sigh. Louise and Michael were in the next room, waiting too. Ten minutes after her sigh, the wait was over.

"She wasn't my mother," True's voice rang strong and clear.

A million questions came to me, but I stayed quiet.

She continued to play softly. "My parents and I were staying at our vacation home on the coast. Not staying, hiding. One day, a woman knocked on the door, in need of help. When my dad opened the door, three men forced their way in. They killed Dad first, but kept my mom alive. She was passed around in the bedroom. I heard her screams, and their...grunting. I guess my Mom got tired after a few days, because they wanted me next. One of the men was against the idea, and the idiots fought amongst themselves. Another guy went for me, and the man that had protested earlier shot him. He didn't look behind him, and the other man shot him. Being the last guy alive, he leered at me, but was stopped when Gloria beat him over the head with a skillet.

"I asked her why she had helped me, and she said I reminded her of someone.

"I went to find my mom, who was tied to the bed. The bed was soaked with blood. They'd been beating her, raping her, and barely feeding her. In a couple of hours, she died in my arms. I'd forgotten about the other woman until she tapped me on the shoulder.

"She told me that she wasn't a bad person, that they had forced her to help them. She said she could be my new family, since my old one was dead. We could take care of each other, she said. I had nothing then, and I believed her. We went house to house, begging for food or stealing it if people refused. Had to escape one madman who tried to eat us. Once in awhile, Gloria would trade herself for food, but people stopped opening their doors even for that. We began to starve. Gloria was desperate, to a point of survival I had never seen. She was willing to do anything, and I can almost understand why."

Here, she paused. I didn't prompt her, and thankfully she continued.

"The next house we came to, Gloria killed the people inside. All the food in the pantry wasn't enough, she said. She...she...ate them. The people, I mean. I never could, would rather have starved, but she would laugh and tell me I'd get over it. Like my not wanting to eat people was a phase." True shook her head. "To distance myself from the people we would meet, I wouldn't talk to them. What was the point, when I knew they'd end up in Gloria's stomach." A tear came down haltingly. "But I stayed with her. I never stopped her. I was afraid of her, but all the same, I felt indebted to her. When we met you guys, you were like a real family. You seemed like nice people who didn't expect me or Gloria to 'trade' ourselves for food. Just genuinely nice, not wanting anything in return. I begged her not to hurt you. I tried to convince her that we could stay here and live with you, like normal. She said she'd let you live a few days because of how hard I had pleaded, but that was it. Gloria said she had no choice but to kill you. Our survival depended upon it."

When True stopped talking, she looked at me. I looked at her. Now I was the one who had nothing to say. Nothing I could think of to say would have meant anything in that cluster of awkward seconds.

Pulling her against my young chest as gently as I could was better than anything I could have said.

~*~