1 Prologue

The house had grown quiet. I don't remember what happened. I slowly sit up, my tiny body aching at the simple motion. The white carped that once cushioned my head now had a bloody stain on it. My rips and headache. Listing a hand to touch the wet trail on my cheek, I realize it's blood. Dad was upset with mommy, now I remember. I came downstairs to see what was happening and he hurt me too.

Strength leaves my limps as I fall back onto the ground. my eyes look to the far end of the room. The wall if filled with shelves that are covered in different books and disks. In the centre is a large tv dad never lets me use. My mind feels extremely hazy, my eyes struggling to stay open as my world spins. In this lucid state I think I see one of the bookcases, the one full of actual books, open. Into the living room comes a cat. She's got this fluffy fur that's white with a pink tint to it. Her eyes aren't like regular cat eyes. They're green, greener and brighter than I've seen any green be. She sits before me, long fluffy tail coming to wrap around her body.

"We aren't supposed to have pets." I manage to whisper out as the cat studies me. She rubs against my cheek before pawing at my feet. I sit up to shoo her away, but she moves towards the bookcase. "You want me to follow you?" I ask her. She nods and meows at me. I struggle to stand, walking to the bookcase with one hand cradling my likely broken ribs. Opening the hidden door further I see a staircase heading down. It is well lit, only lighting when the door is fully open.

A meow pulls my attention to the cat who is a couple steps down. She is signaling me to follow her. I don't know why I do, but I follow her down the set of stairs, closing the bookcase behind me. Once down the stairs I enter a small study. Strange books of many languages little the room. As well, crystals and herbs. It looks like something out of a witch movie. Sitting to the back of the room is a woman. She looks like no one I've ever seen. It's all I saw before I passed out.

I woke in my room, completely healed and late for school. When I tried to open the bookcase, it wouldn't move. It had to have been a dream until I turned 16 and a remarkably similar thing happened.

Father had just finished hitting me for my performance in a recent game. There was glass stuck in my side from falling through the coffee table when the case opens and in walks that damned cat. She looks like she hasn't aged a year. The same thing happens, I walk down the same steps, enter the same study.

"Hello Jason." The woman greets me, eyes opening to show shimmering green. "It has been a while since you last visited me. I've missed you." Misty, my imaginary friend. She only appeared in my dreams after father hit me.

"I'm too old for imaginary friends." I tell her.

"Clearly this is a dream, so why not sit down?" She asks me with a tone only a mother could use. I sit, looking at her strangely. "Allow me to heal your wounds. It looks like Greg did quite the number on you." She raises her hands, violet swirling around her fingers as the glass in my side fades away and the bleeding stops.

"I didn't score enough points this game apparently." I sigh as the pain slowly fades. I lay onto my side, eyes still on the woman. She also hasn't changed in these years. She looks just as youthful as she once was.

"Jay." She says as I start to fall asleep. Her presence has always been so calming. "Take your mother and leave this place. Never return." Her voice is hard, serious. "There is a bag with everything you should need in the corner there." She points it out. I go to grab it, noticing a shadow of a man walk into the room. He's tall, long hair that is braided, book in his hand with a pencil in his mouth. He shouts something as he paces. Then, he moves to kneel before Misty, placing his hands on something around her. He whispers something that makes tears fill her eyes before he fades away.

"What was that?" I ask. I've never seen him before. Why am I dreaming of him?

"Shadows of a memory from the past." I nod, not understanding but accepting it. "Oh, and Jay?" She calls as I stop at the door. "Look after Ridlynn for me, would you." I nod, lifting the can into my arms.

I woke the next morning with the pink cat, the screams of my father waking me.