[ She knows she's never said that word once since they met and their ... maybe an hour of talking back and forth. Somehow, though, she feels he would say it. Almost like an echo or an idea in the back of her mind that won't leave. Not a memory, not deja vu, but a hunch. Like maybe something she could of seen in a dream. That's how talking to him feels in general. Something she's done before even though she hasn't in a dream she may have had.

Jesse shakes her head. ] No. No. Not from darkness like these Taken things. We called them Dung Monkeys because that's how they looked. It... the thing that changed them wasn't anything like darkness. Not by how it looked, anyways. It wanted ... I think it wanted to be our mother. Turn us into it's children, or something.

This dark thing you keep talking about? It's not the only thing out there.

[ They called it the Not-Mother because that's what it was. Something that made the other kids drink a milk like substance and change them into their little ...monkeys. It's why they killed their teacher. Why the parents locked everything down. But her parents wouldn't listen. None of them would. Then... they all disappeared. Was it her fault? Had her wish in frustration made them disappear because of the Not-Mother?

Jesse looks up at his question. She finally turns her gaze up to him. The tears are gone but their traces are evident. ]

No.

[ It shows on her face as well--the time it's been. Nine years and she's no closer to understanding any of it. Other than the fact it was real and it happened. ]

Just me... moving from home to home. And, my friend.