I could feel panic overtaking me as the voices of the souls seemed to grow louder and louder. The edges of my vision were starting to turn black and I found myself struggling to breathe.

As my vision continued to shrink I could see Monique's boots marching around back and forth in front of me, "Liver, stop panicking."

I stared at those boots as my brain started to shut down and I said, "Help me."

~~~

When I was able to open my eyes once more I was in the cage. I was in the middle of the cage, which was much smaller than I remember it looking from the outside of the cage. In front of me, there was what looked like an instrument and a tray with what looked like food piled up on it. The food, however, didn't quite look edible. It was a mixture of black and green in what appeared to be some sort of mashed potato. Next to it was what appeared to be a lump of dark purple meat. Behind the meat was a glass filled with a dark red liquid with neon yellow swirls and stripes throughout it. The glass was topped off with what appeared to be a crystal lid. The lid was rounded on top with edges that were shaped into drips. On the top was a small crystal ball to allow for a gripping point to take it off.

"Good your finally awake," I heard Monique say.

"Hi," I groaned.

"In front of you is what is called bagpipes and dinner. After you finish your dinner play the bagpipes. He is very upset that you haven't played for the last 4 days."

"4 days?"

With that Monique left without another word. I found myself frozen as I processed that. I had been out for 4 days and no one cared. I could have died and the only reason that Monique checked on me was that the figure was bored and wanted music. I groaned and sat up before picking up the bagpipes.

"Well, Mr. Bagpipes I think that you will be my only friend for a while," I said.

For some reason, I waited for the Bagpipes to respond even though I knew that it wouldn't respond. I had quickly decided that these bagpipes were going to be my only friend for a while. So in between practicing them and during meals, I would talk to them. After eating three meals Monique would come and tell me that it was the end of the day and to go to sleep. After she did this for what I assumed to be 3 weeks I was able to tell when the day was over and would be able to fall asleep on my own. However strange things always happen once I would fall asleep. One of the stranger things that I remember well was on, what I thought was, my 25th day of being in the cage.

After the third meal of the day, I was saying goodnight to Mr. Bagpipes and preparing to fall asleep when Monique popped her head threw the souls in front of my cage.

"He is requesting music for his party," Monique grumbled.

"Party," I questioned.

"Yes, the party that I am currently missing."

"Ok."

"Good."

I watched as Monique spun on her heel and walked back into the souls. Quietly I picked up Mr. Bagpipes and started playing. To say that I was playing badly is an understatement. After around an hour, I could feel my ears hurting and I could hear his distinct yell telling me to stop. So I gladly did. I stopped playing for him that night. Once his party ended and the noise from the crowd that had attended faded I heard the voice of some people that I never thought that I would hear again.

"If mother knew why wouldn't she tell us at least? I mean I understand the littles, but why not us? We're full grown adults," This first voice resounded as the voice of my oldest brother Marvin.

As I was imagining the way that his shaggy black hair shook as he angrily spoke the frustration ebbing off of him I heard the distinct voice of my second eldest brother, Josh, "Because to them we are nothing more than kids."

This brought back memories. I could remember the time that Josh begrudgingly taught me how to pull my hair up properly when I was 6 or the time Marvin took me into town for the first time when I was 4. This led me to think of my other siblings. I wasn't close with many of them, but they were my siblings. The oldest of us was Marvin. With Josh not far behind. The only things that allowed people to tell that they were siblings were their tanned skin and their chocolate eyes. Marvin had shorter black shaggy hair whereas Josh had long light brown hair that was often in a bun. Marvin wore thin silver framed glasses while Josh didn't need any. Both of them were 18 and were only 8 months apart.

"Could you stop fighting for once? We need to figure out a way to help Andorea," the next brother, Max, quickly spoke up.

Max was 17. He had dark skin like our mom, but he had light brown hair like our dad. His hair was long like Josh's because he wanted to be like Josh. I could remember how many times he ignored the rest of us because he was trying to get Josh's attention. He would even try to copy Josh's bun.

"Like we can help Andorea, we're dead," I could hear Mary's high voice ringing out compared to all of the others.

"Mary, there is no reason that we can't try," Billy's constant reasoning for Mary's pessimism showed that they still weren't separated.

Then there is Billy and Mary. Billy and Mary were both 16 (like Marvin and Josh also) separated by 8 months they were the closest pair of kids that I ever knew. Billy had the tanned skin of our father with milk chocolate eyes. He however had black wavy hair and wore all black. I wasn't close to him, but I overheard him once tell Mary that he thought that he was gay. Mary was also tanned with black hair, but she had a buzz cut and bright blue eyes. Mary could have been considered a cleptomaniac. She even went to the lengths of only wearing black and wearing sunglasses to conceal her shining blue eyes. She had 3 piercings along the outside of her left ear. I don't think she liked me very much though. Something about being too girly for her.

"I think that if we leave her she can join us and we can all make new friends," Jess's wishful thinking for more friends was evident as the conversation continued.

Jess was 15 and was probably the friendliest of us all (just barely friendlier than Marvin). Dad would always say that she appeared to be a spitting image of our mother when she was Jess's age. Jess had dark skin and long wavy black hair that stopped mid-back. She wore black glasses with a thick frame and bright blue eyes.

"Jess, that's the most pathetic thing ever," I heard Mary respond.

"Well, I think that it could be a good idea seeing as Tracy, Greg, Humphrey, Herold, and the littles aren't here," I could hear Billy mutter.

Tracy and Greg were both 14. Tracy was tan with long straight black hair and chocolate brown eyes. Greg, however, had dark skin with dyed blue hair and bright blue eyes. The two were always at each other's throats. I don't know how mom and dad dealt with them for as long as they did. Humphrey was odd. At only 13 he had a strange obsession with fire, but with the obsession came his fear. Humphrey liked to watch fires, but once it got to be a larger size he would put it out instantly. When I was 4 he started a fire and started watching it, but when he went to stand up he fell over and almost died in that small fire. He was tan with short wavy black hair and chocolate eyes. He was always in pain, because of the large burn scar down the right side of his body.

Herold was the sibling that I knew the best. Herold was 12 and he had the dark skin of our mother with short black straight hair and chocolate eyes. He always wore a purple vest because he said that purple was a magic color. He wore gold-thin framed glasses. He was the best of the bunch and I would hang out with him more than any of my other siblings.

The first of the littles is Jake. He had dark skin and dyed ginger hair and chocolate eyes. He enjoyed keeping his hair around shoulder length and walking around town barefoot, much to dad's disappointment. The next of the littles was Alex and Sally at 10. Alex was tan with light brown hair and blue eyes. He was the artist of the group and even painted his shoelaces bright green and was covered in paint often. His hair slightly covered his left eye and he was the shyest of the group. Sally looked as if she was made of dark chocolate. She refused to wear anything that wasn't bright pink or light blue.

After Sally is the two youngest. Lady and Harbor. They were the princesses of the family. Lady was 9 and had dark skin and pink hair. Her chocolate eyes were always shining and everyone loved her. Harbor was 8 with tan skin and wavy black hair. Her big chocolate eyes were always full of mischief and she constantly had a smile on her face.

"Do you think she can hear us," Marvin's voice snapped me back to reality?

"I don't know, but she looks sad," Jess whimpered