"Where is he, where is he, where is he?" Stella was speeding recklessly through a refugee establishment for survivors of the Gothic Bombing, searching desperately to find anyone she could. She had scoured the entire building and found no one. She was about to leave, when she saw a boy she recognized, sitting by a trash fire with about five other kids. Stella walked up to the boy, and said "I know you. You're that kid I saw in the castle, that's right. I'm Stella! Stella Johnson! Nice to meet you, Justin!"
Justin was confused. "I've never been to a castle." He told Stella. "And how do you know my name? You're creeping me out!" "No, it's okay," Stella insisted, "I was taken to this castle that showed my things, and it gave me powers, and it told me you're my brother!" "I don't have a sister!" Justin shouted, uneasy at Stella's seemingly deranged excitement. "Leave me alone before I get my dad on you!" Justin ran off, but before he got anywhere, Stella said "Caroline hurts you. The castle showed me that, too. You have a scar on your shoulder from when she threw a beer bottle at you." Justin stopped abruptly, and put his hand on his shoulder, exactly where he had been struck by his mother. "Okay, suppose I believe you." Justin relented, turning back to her "Why are you trying to find me?" "To take you away from all of this!" Stella answered "So you can be safe with me!" "Why would I do that?" Her brother questioned. "My dad keeps me safe just fine, and I'm not about to lose him too!" Stella couldn't fail to understand that if she tried. But she did know something Justin didn't. "Because Sara didn't die of cancer." She answered him. "That was your father's fault." Justin turned to run, but only made it about two feet before running into Richard Lockley, his father. "Dad, she said it was your fault Sara died, but I know she's lying to me. Right?" Justin waited for his father to answer him, but it seemed he wouldn't "RIGHT?!" Justin repeated. Still, his father said nothing. At once all of his tears found their way out once again. He ran immediately to Stella, and said "Take me away from here! I never want to see any of this again!" Stella could not help but cry herself, and she and her brother Justin left as fast as Stella could manage.
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