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consoling me and building my confidence until I

thought it would be all right, but as I looked at the

others, I suddenly wondered, can they do it? What

nightmares and fears had I stirred in their vaults of

horrid memories?

The four of us were chained together by our

pain now, and the trembling one felt reached through

the hearts of the next and the next and the next until

we all trembled together. Was it good to share or was

it cruel?

Every question raised another.

Answers taunted us with promises just like

beautiful fish beneath the water, and when we reached

too quickly or too deeply, they were gone in a flash,

leaving us waiting, searching, hoping for another

opportunity.

How could we not be afraid they would never

come back, even to taunt us?

6

"I hate days like this," Jade said after a long moment of silence. "I know it hardly rains here compared to most other places, and I guess I'm spoiled, but I can't stand this dreary weather."

"I don't mind it so much," Misty said. "Unless it's day after day."

"Granny hates it because it stirs up her aches and pains," Star said.

&n

bsp; "Too many days look gray and gloomy to me without the clouds and rain," Jade admitted.

"It's not that bad," Misty insisted. Jade didn't like to be contradicted.

"I suppose if you live like a child in a fantasy world, it doesn't matter," she said, fixing her gaze on Misty.

"I don't live in a fantasy world and I don't live like a child."

"We all do," I said and they turned to me. "I mean, if you aren't happy with things, you daydream a lot, don't you? I do," I confessed. "And you've all described doing it in one way or another, too."

"Cat's right," Star said, nodding. She glanced at Jade. "There's no point lying to each other just because everyone else lies to us."

"I spend a lot of time in my room, alone, just . . . dreaming," I told them, "a lot of time. That's what made my parents want me to see Doctor Marlowe in the first place. I hated stepping out the front door, hated going to school, just hated leaving the house at all. I missed a lot of school, claiming headaches and stomach cramps or just being too tired. It got so bad the nuns were talking to my mother about getting me a home tutor, and you know how much she would hate having a stranger in our home every day."