Present time “Olivia! You have certainly grown up.” Grama held me at arms length. She tucked the hair by my eyes behind my ears. “How are your eyes so blue?” Another little girl ran up behind her. “Blair, you remember Olivia don’t you?” Blair. I had heard that name before but where? “Not really.” Blair squinted her eyes, shook her head, and started to run but stopped. “I thought I saw her when we were back on Ezra.” I remembered her now she was the one who had gotten lost. I helped her get to the docks. No that was another girl. She was the one that ran into Jayne. “Yes that’s it!” Drat why do I always do that? “Sorry thinking out loud. I do that a lot.” Another girl ran up beside her. “I’m Jenny. Since my little brat of sister is being rude, I’ll re-introduce you to everyone else.” Daddy pushed me in through the door and then Grama slammed it shut. “I know all these people?” “Yes we’re all family. You must of hit your head really hard.” I looked around at the people in the room. “I think I might of.” They all looked new to me, but obviously I had met them before. There was only one boy and two other girls besides Blair and Jenny. The oldest of the three was Todd, one of my cousins, and then there was Betha and Rochelle their twins. There were three adults in the room. My uncles John and Christian and my aunt Mercredi, they were acting very strangely around me. Momma and daddy were still outside talking with grama, and when they came in grama was crying. I walked back over by momma. She looked worried I never had seen her that worried before. “Momma I want to go home,” I said looking around at everyone. “We’re going to leave in a minute; your daddy has to clear some things up with your grama.” Me and momma stayed away from grama and daddy while they were yelling. “Obviously she is NOT DEAD!!!” Daddy was scaring me. “She was!!! Your father and I had to watch her get sick and then die! We saw the doctors at the institute confirm her death!” “But she’s not…what institute?” “It was an academy for gifted kids. Usually they only take kids in grade school; but she already knew her A-B-C’s and how to read and write.” Daddy made a really funny face. “An academy set up by the Alliance?" “Yes! The alliance set this academy up for__” “That’s where River Tam escaped from!” “Yes that one!” Daddy looked really mad. Suddenly I didn’t feel too well. My head was spinning, and my heart felt like it was about to break through my chest. I couldn’t breathe, and then everything just went black. *** Flashback Jayne stopped for a split second and they had me. He tried to get me back but couldn’t. They took me to a skyplex right off Ezra. Jayne’s friend was there and he didn’t look to good. I was blindfolded and stuffed in a small room. There were other girls there too. They were all small like me but their minds were all fuzzy and blank. I could feel the life being sucked away from each of them one by one. One little girl was still alive. She had gotten her hands untied and her blindfold off. I felt bad for her cause she was next to be gone then it would be me. No one would come for me I was not cared about by anyone. I didn’t have parents to worry about me. I didn’t have a friend to call for help. I had no one. *** “Zoe, why is Mal bringing a little girl here?" “Because,” Zoe was still searching for a cot, some blankets, and a pillow, “he wants to play hero.” “How do you know who she is?” “I don’t all I know is that she stomped on Jayne’s foot this morning.” Wash’s eye grew very wide. “Why do I have to miss all the fun stuff?” “Because you’re my husband.” “That doesn’t matter! Being with you makes everything fun!” Wash waited as Zoe thought of a come back. “Then stop complaining.” “That proves everything, Mal was right you have been spending too much time with me.” “That’s a bad thing?” “No it’s a great thing. Just make sure Mal doesn’t see you playing with the dinos. He might just think about killing me.” *** I heard screaming and then nothing for a minute, then more screaming. It came in waves, waves that were memorable and terrifying at once. It was loud one minute then I could here a pin drop. I was scared I didn’t know if he was dead or not. In his mind he kept thinking of his momma and a person named Inara. He thought about his ship and the war and his first mate Zoe. His pilot Wash came in every once in a while. Mal thought of the good things while I could only think of the bad things. I had never been of Paquinn till my grama said that I didn’t look like I felt well. I was little and couldn’t take care of myself. Over the next week I started to lose things like eyesight and hearing. One day I had fallen down the steps because of everything. The only real thing I remember is the way I kept hearing and seeing things that weren’t real. My grama took me to Osiris to get help. The only thing she knows is that they failed. I’m supposed to be dead.