"She hasn't moved." Ezekiel peered into the dark room, eyeing the lump of blankets on the bed in the corner of the room. "It's been two weeks and she hasn't moved."
        A tiny, round face poked out of the cocoon of quilts Layla had wrapped her self in three months before. Her face as pale and empty as the room around her, golden eyes sullen and hollow, stared at the wall across from the bed.
        Zeke had passed the room several time over the past few weeks while he was visiting and had seen the same lump and same empty face in the same bed.
        Now the troll hesitated at the door, remembering the words Tabitha had said a few days before: "That's Layla. She made this guest room her own after, uh, a bad break up. She's been like that for nearly two months, she hasn't talked to anyone, she hasn't laughed. I don't know if she's even cried."
        As he thought to himself how rude it was to be staring, curiosity took over his body and he found his feet carrying him into the room. His mind began trying to think of something to say to her, something comforting? Something funny? In the short time it had taken him to walk across the room to the bed, he had come up with nothing.
        "Um," he said blankly, "you must be Layla." He listened as the words fell out of his mouth, thinking what a stupid thing to be saying. Of course that was her, unless there is more than one perpetually depressed person in this house, which would be cause for concern.
        There was a very long silence as he waited for the obvious answer to his question, but she said nothing. She didn’t nod or look up, her eyes looking blankly past him.
        Zeke scratched the back of his neck, his face burning in the awkward tension.
        "I'm sorry about your boyfriend." It was a pitiful excuse for condolence, but he felt it was something that needed to be said.
        Again, no response. She didn't so much as blink to acknowledge his presence.
        Another brief pause as he waited for someone to say something. Finally he felt the need to talk to fill up the silence.
        "So, uh, what is his name?" Once again, probably not the best thing to ask, but it was already out. Maybe asking questions wasn't the best idea.
        "Noah." As soft as her voice was, the response startled Zeke. He looked down and saw a faint smile stretched across her thin lips.
        "Oh," he said blankly, "Noah.. That's a cool name.."
        Another silence followed. Zeke began to wonder why he had come into the room again. He turned his head and looked pitifully at the door. So close but so far away.
        He sighed and looked back at Layla. Two golden eyes met his brown ones, pupils dilated with sudden curiosity.
        "Who are you?" Layla asked, an eye brow slightly raised.
        Zeke blinked.
        "Me? Oh, uh, I'm Ezekiel, er, Zeke. I'm, uh, here because, well, I'm friends with Cael and Tabitha."
        He laughed for some reason before awkwardly scratching the back of his neck again.
        Layla's eyes drifted away.
        "Oh."
        Another long pause.
        Zeke sighed stiffly. "Look, break ups suck, I know that much, but you can't get yourself down. I don't know who broke up with who, but I bet wherever he is, no matter how badly it ended, he's probably thinking about you-"
        "He's dead." was all Layla needed to say
        "I see." The troll made a mental note to correct Tabi's thinking later that "death" qualified as "breaking up". That door really seemed like a good place to be by right about now.
        Zeke took a step backwards, submitting to the overwhelming feeling that he was not helping this situation any. "Well, I'm sure he loved you very much."
        Another step backwards.
        Layla's mouth moved, but no words seemed to come out.
        Zeke winced as he leaned in, hoping not to spur another awkward moment.
        "What?" He turned an ear towards her, hoping she would not respond.
        "He called me a demon." She repeated, her words stiff and unwavering.
        He was already in over his head, so why not inquire.
        "A demon? You're not a demon."
        Her eyes snapped up to look at him, suddenly burning with the ferocity of a hungry lion.
        "I'm not?"  She ripped the blankets off of her, revealing her bare body and all of the animals who share it. "Look at me!" Two feathered grey wings stretched out behind her as a long tail whipped violently back and forth, her clenched fists exposed long claws sprouting from her knuckles and out from her thick, wild mane poked two large bat ears. Her golden eyes with slit pupils spilled tears down her face.
        "I'm a monster," she said through her sobs.
        The troll stared back, unable to speak, unable to form any words that might help him or comfort her. However, Zeke hadn't much time to think before Layla collapsed onto him.
        Slightly stunned, he just stood there as she clung to him and cried from every inch of her body. The animals too rang out and wailed in anguish. Layla began to picture Noah's face in her mind, his bright emerald eyes, the way his hair fell in his face, the sound of his voice in her ear. Then his last words to her boomed through her head ripping away his beautiful face and leaving one filled with fear and hate and she cried out even more.
        Zeke stood there with his hand rubbing her back as her chest heaved up and down. As alarmed as he felt, he was remarkably calm.
        Eventually, her cries got quieter and her breathing returned to a normal pace, but she still held on to Zeke. She forgot how it felt to be embraced by someone. They stood there for a moment, Zeke wondered if anyone would come up stairs to investigate the noise, but no one did.
        Finally Layla spoke.
        "I could never love anyone as much as I loved him." It wasn't so much a statement as a realization.
        Zeke took a breath, "Well, if you're willing to try," he began, "your friends are right down stairs, and they've been worried about you for a while."
        He had said that with out thinking, and without thinking too, Layla pulled back to look at him. Her face was still wet and puffy, but her eyes studied his for a moment before letting him go to sat back down on the bed.
        She shook her head lightly, looking away from him at the wall beside her.
        "I'm not promising anything." She said stubbornly, the troll was a bit unsure of what she meant by that.
        "No promises," He said smiling a bit, he held his hand out. "Please?"
        She smiled to herself, remembering how Noah would always add in "please" whenever he asked her something he knew she would hesitate on.
        "Alright," she said, wiping her tears away. "You have any idea what's for dinner? I'm starving" she inquired, as she wrapped a blanket around her self.
        "No," Zeke said, "But I think Marie's cooking."
        Layla laughed, probably much harder than necessary, but it had been a while since she had laughed. She hopped of the bed and took his hand.
        "I guess we';re having cookies for dinner."