DIWA DIDN'T MOVE WHEN SHE HEARD PAPA AND ROSE COME IN. She didn't move when she heard the wheels of suitcases being dragged across the hall. She didn't move when she heard a faint knock at her door.

Diwa stayed in bed, encased in darkness and warm blankets and sadness. She still felt cold. Soon, Diwa felt her eyes close and she drifted off to sleep.

***

When she awoke, the room was shrouded in darkness. Darkness covered the walls and the dresser and the empty bed underneath her. There was a thin sliver of light from the closed door, making shadows grow across the floors. Diwa huddled into her blankets. If she listened closely, she could hear laughter from the living room. Her heart ached thinking of them having fun together without her. Diwa rubbed her eyes and pushed the thought away. It had been her fault anyway, she had no one to blame.

But herself.

Breathing in, Diwa sat up, listening intently.

She heard the faint buzz of a TV and more laughter. It sounded like the tired kind of laughter.

Slowly, Diwa climbed down the ladder and creaked open the door, squinting at the bright light. Her heart ached so bad, the sound of laughter ringing in her ears. You're the real monster. Diwa swallowed down the rising bile in her throat. She would say sorry. She had to.

Diwa walked through the hallway, with all the pictures of smiling faces in white dresses. She found herself smiling too.

Breaking away from the pictures, Diwa continued her walk down the hall, pausing at every detail. Her eyes lingered at the faint cat scratches coming out from the patterned run, her heart filling at the thought of Nero. She breathed in the smell of wood and mothballs she once hated.

Tears filled her eyes. Maybe this place had started to become home. She sniffed.

Swallowing the thickness in her throat, Diwa paused in front of the living room walls and peered at her family, taking in the suitcases that were still stacked by the door, unpacked. They all sat on the couch.

For once, Rose's hair was not clipped back, it rested in unbrushed curls around her head. Layla's hair was not straight today. Papa's shirt was wrinkled.

Diwa gulped. Was this all because of her?

Papa had an arm wrapped around Layla, who sat curled into his shoulder and one arm draped around Rose. Nero lazed on the side.

There was an empty spot on the couch.

Diwa took a step forward.

They laughed at something that was playing on TV. They looked tired, postures slumped but the way they were huddled together in a way made them seem happy.

The perfect monster-less family.

Diwa's stomach coiled, tears sprang in her eyes.

She backed away into her room, closing the door behind her. Tears slipped down her cheeks and onto the floor.

She flicked open the lights, grabbed her bag and sat on her bed. In the front pocket was the picture with Mama and Papa and her.

They looked happy.

As happy as the others had looked just now, sitting in the living room, without her.

A sick feeling rose in her throat. She had gotten it all wrong, thinking Paul and Layla and Rose had been the monsters, for stealing away her parents with who they truly belonged with. Maybe her parents didn't belong with her.

Maybe she had been the one who had stolen them.

Tears slipped onto the photo, blurring her face in the photo. Making it disappear.

Maybe she had been the monster all along.