Trapped and Hurt!

"I came here...to burn myself to death..." said Natalie quietly, "but I couldn't do it..."

"Excuse me for saying this, but have you gone INSANE?" Shadow asked, looking up from binding Merlas' wound.

"No...I haven't..." said Natalie, "I attacked my sister..."

"I attack my sister all the time. We're not on the best of terms any more." Shadow said. "But I expect you have an explination..."

"Her blood just smelt so good...I panicked...I jumped on top of her...tried to bit her..." mumbled Natalie.

"You know you just have to ask me if you need blood." Shadow said.

"But I couldn't call you...I knew you'd be busy..." said Natalie, looking at the ground, "it isn't as easy as all that."

Shadow put a hand on Merlas' neck and waited for Natalie to comtinue.

"It's....it's not like Hogwarts anymore Shad..." she whispered, tears streaming down her face, "it's harder..."

"Of course it's not Nat, we have to fend for ourselves now. For some of us, it's easier, we're used to it." Shadow said quietly.

"But you don't understand," said Natalie, looking away in annoyance, "I thought I could control myself...remember how I was at Hogwarts...I didn't care..."

Shadow looked at her friend sympathetically.
"I understand more than you think."

"I know you do..." said Natalie quietly, turning back to face her friend and wiping away her tears.

"Not being human makes things so complicated." Shadow said.

"It does...." said Natalie, frowning, "but when was life ever not complicated anyway."

"Lucky you." Shadow muttered.

"Not really..." sighed Natalie.

Shadow looked up again.
"I was only 'human' for the first three years of my life, and even then it hardly counted because the demon was still there, in my head."

Natalie looked at Shadow.
"I didn't know that..." she pointed out.

Shadow shrugged.
"Not many people do."

"Must've been hard....being to young to know what was in your head...or not being able to stop it once it happened..." said Natalie, frowning.

Shadow sighed, absent-mindedly rubbing Merlas' neck, trying t othink of a way to phrase what she was going to say.
"In my dimension, children are already born with working vocal chords. We grow faster than humans, and already have a pretty good intelligence. I partly knew what was going on, but only realised the full extent of what 'demon' was when I saw a, a sort of protrait of my father."

"Um...why's that now?" Natalie asked, "what did you see when you saw it?"

"What I saw terrified me. I wasn't even a year old when I saw the drawing." Shadow said, turningher head away.

"Well it would..." said Natalie, shivering at the thought, "it must've been very hard to look at that and think about it..."