Gazing out her window at the starry sky, an audible sigh escaped her lips. She was finally allowed out of the mansion just yesterday yet she still didn't manage to make any friends. She did, however, help some starving children by giving away her extra sandwiches.

Remembering their smiling faces made her feel a little bit better, however, it didn't help with her current situation at all. In fact, it made her all the more lonelier.

Cloie's shoulders slumped in defeat, the loud yelling of her grandmother's voice still ringing in her ears. When she had arrived back at the mansion, she knew she had it coming. Although she didn't expect herself to be sent to her room and grounded the next day. Now she wasn't allowed to step a foot outside of her room unless told to.

"Not much of a difference anyway..." She frowned at her reflection. She was almost never allowed to go outside of the mansion, so being confined in her bedroom wasn't very new to her either.

All she could do was look out her window and watch the people passing by, having been told again and again how the streets of Ergastulum were too dangerous for her to go alone, especially during the night. There were criminals, refugees, and worst of all... Twilights.

Cloie often heard about them from her tutors and her grandmother when she was younger. They would always describe them the same. Monsters.

In all her life living in Ergastulum she had never, not once, encountered a monster.

Everyone inside the mansion should be fast asleep, and so should she. But she couldn't. She wanted to know. What did these monsters look like? Did they have big claws and sharp teeth like the ones from storybooks? Numerous books scattered the carpeted floor with corners of pages folded neatly as bookmarks. She read every paragraph carefully, memorizing their biology, and such. The more she read about them, the more she became curious.

"All Twilights possess enhanced abilities due to their predecessors' use of Celebrer. They are noted for being incredibly violent and destructive--" She read aloud, then tilted her head. "Wait, what's a Celebrer?"

She turned the pages of the book and began to yawn, her eyelids slowly closing. It was late into the night and she was almost never awake at this hour. But she still forced herself to stay up and read. "Failure to regularly take Celebrer results in withdrawal symptoms, including dizzy spells, nausea, palpitations and migraines. More severe cases include hemorrhages, convulsions, hypothermia, hallucinations, labored breathing and other irregularities in cardiopulmonary activity--after a certain amount of time, death occurs."

Death. The single word made her frown, she closed her book and put it away. "Twilights are monsters with huge bodies and massive strength," She murmured. "But if they don't take a drug regularly then they're in pain?"

She really didn't understand Twilights at all.

As she looked out the window again, she saw a boy wearing a hoodie standing on the opposite side of the street. He seemed to be observing the mansion.

Without even a thought, she opened her window from the third floor, and she poked her head out. This immediately caught the stranger's attention and he slowly walked closer to the mansion's fence. "He seems familiar", she thought.

As soon as he was out of the shadows, Cloie was able to see his features properly. Brown hair in dreadlocks and freckles between his cheeks. "That's the boy from yesterday," She gasped. The boy was waving at her and motioning for her to come down. She shook her head and made an X with her arms, telling him that she couldn't. He frowned and just stood there, not moving an inch.

"He's not leaving until I go down there, is he?" She sighed.

On one hand, she could just close her window and ignore him; on the other hand, she was curious about his sudden visit. Cloie sat on her windowsill and contemplated. If he didn't go away then there was a possibility that someone would find him. "But if they told grandmother about him, then she'd get really mad when she finds out that he knows me." She grumbled and crossed her arms. Having made her decision, she gestured for him to wait for her there.

The mansion was scary at night. Every hallway had too many paintings. It made her feel really uneasy as she was passing them. Her bare feet padded across the floor, making little sound as she walked. Cloie passed through the door located in the kitchen and headed out to meet the stranger from the alleys. Just as she had told him, he stood in the same spot and waited for her.

"Hey," He greeted.

"Don't 'Hey' me!" She hissed, hands on her hips. "Why are you here? We're both going to get in trouble."

Seeing her reaction made him chuckle, leaving Cloie more confused. "W-What's so funny?" She asked him.

"You were in the alleys just yesterday with no care in the world, but when you're in the safety from behind iron fences, you freak out about getting into trouble."

"Uhhh..."

Cloie blushed a bright pink and averted her gaze. She just acted without thinking when she saw those kids, it's not like she was actually brave enough to go there.

"Heh, I was right," The stranger said, smirking. "You really are weird."

"Hmph," Cloie pouted. "What do you need from me? If it's more food then--"

"Oh, right. I came here to say thanks."

She blinked. That was it? He just wanted to thank her? Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him and he simply grinned. "Hey, I'm not kidding." He raised his hands up defensively. "You don't get to meet nice Normals nowadays. I just thought it wouldn't hurt to show some manners."

"Normals?" She repeated the word quizzically. "What do you mean by 'Normals'? Is that some sort of slang term?"

He stared at her with a straight face. "You don't know what that is? Then..." He pointed at himself. "Do you at least know what I am?"

Cloie scanned him from head to toe. She didn't see what he was getting at, so she shrugged. "A Normal, I suppose?" She guessed. There wasn't much of anything that stood out except his hair, but that wasn't exactly something she thought she should differentiate.

The boy shook his head then stuck his tongue out.

"You're gonna get killed if you're too ignorant." He told her matter-of-factly. "I'm actually a Twilight."