<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: teal">The night continued to drag on more slowly than any other night she'd witnessed. The moon's reflected light cast a ghostly illumination upon the Graveyard beyond the black iron fence which glinted and held a 'No trespassing' sign. But the sign was old and worn, and some letters were missing, and there were no patrols or guards who checked this land. No, it and the many dead bodies had been abandoned long ago, left to gather dust. Abandoned like she had been all those years ago. It made the Graveyard seem far more sad than it was scary. What was it with people and their fear of becoming bodies below the ground? They would all end up in a place like this someday, there was no changing that fact. A beautiful haunting sound of a cello played in the background as she gazed upon the area from the song on her ipod. What a fitting melody.<br/><br/>Her feet approached the big iron fence, kept locked with chains around the entrance. On either side of the main gate sat two gargoyles, standing guard and perched on their own pedestals. Their ruby stone eyes glinted red under the lighting of that night, stone bodies grey and unmoving. But somehow, they did feel alive. She ran her hand across the head of one. The stone was smooth yet rough, like sandpaper. Inwardly she thanked these stone beings for watching over a place everyone else had seemed to forget. Then she turned, following the length of the fence until she saw the familiar black bench beside the streetlamp. The lamp's light had long ago burnt out, and no one bothered to replace it. Isra hopped up onto the back of the bench and gripped the fence top, hoisting herself up and flipping to the other side like she'd done plenty of times before. With a soft thud she landed easily on the other side and began her walk amongst the headstones.<br/><br/>It was more peaceful here than usual. Was she relieved to be here? Probably strange for a regular human being. Good thing she knew she wasn't regular. A silent sigh escaped her lips, light mist from her breath floating away like a moth into the darkness. Her icy gaze drifted over the various headstones, murmuring a 'hello' to every person she passed. Sometimes she would stop to remove garbage that had blown in on the graves. Or when an animal was trying to raid the bundles people left for the dead, she would frighten them away. The dead were not to be disturbed. She felt almost like the grim reaper tending to these graves the way she did during the night. It wasn't such a bad feeling, though. In a way, she felt like she had a purpose here. Watching over them when no one else would. Much the same as it was with the orphans. <br/><br/>Something caught her attention and she paused, glancing to the left. She spotted a rat crawling amongst the weeds that had grown on the unkempt grounds. Quickly, she ran over and discovered it dragging a skeletal arm, the tissues having dissolved a long time ago. Her eyes widened in shock before she bit her lip, anger boiling in her veins. "No..." The muttered darkly, "It can't be..." Swiftly she took off over the headstones, treading carefully to not disrupt the other graves. Ahead of her was a spot in the ground that had been dug up, its contents, all raided. <br/>"Grave robbers!" She said in irritation, scowling in displeasure. How dare they! They had no right to defile the resting place of someone. Inside the pit, all that was left was the coffin and the skeleton, it's bones left scattered disrespectfully. Her hands clenched in anger. Unbelievable. Without a second thought, Isra pulled her grey long-sleeved jacket off, leaving her in only her black tank top with her key necklace clearly visible. With bare arms, she placed the bones on top of the jacket, arranging them properly in the shape of a person before wrapping them up. At least they'd left the coffin. Carefully she placed the skeleton bundle into the coffin, forcing the lid back over the top. Then she crawled out of the pit, grabbing the shovel the thieves had left behind. With a heavy heart she steadily piled the dirt back into it's place. Whatever they had taken- jewelry, clothing, or whatever else- didn't matter. Stealing from graves. How low could you get?<br/><br/>~<br/><br/>A while later, when the grave had been fixed, she sighed to herself and closed her eyes. Silently she apologized to the soul who rested there. Then she turned and set back off towards the fence to leave. Without her jacket, the cold would be just a bit too bitter for her skin to handle- it wasn't that she didn't like the cold, but if she somehow got sick, she would be unable to take care of the children at the orphanage. Isra hadn't allowed herself to get sick. And when she did, she did her best to cover it up. Unfortunately her relaxing night resting amongst the graves would not happen this time. In fact her entire evening had been nothing but a mistake- a revolting failure. Just perfect. Now her mood would be sour for days.<br/><br/>First a demon, now grave robbers. Next thing you know a tiger will escape from a circus and maul some people. Or maybe a freak asteroid will come and hit the earth. I mean, she wouldn't put it past the universe! Today was as random as she could handle. She left the Graveyard and walked home, shoulders hunched from air hitting her shoulders. She hated her arms- hated her skin being exposed. Not because of temperature, but because she felt vulnerable. That, and she found her arms disgusting. Everything about her was disgusting, really. Her pace quickened when she neared the place Lancier had first showed up. Then after that, it was all an awkward, haunting walk home. <span style="font-style: italic">Home.</span> That wasn't the right word. More like prison, both physically and mentally. Or maybe she would even prefer prison to this horror house. <br/><br/>She rounded into the alley just outside the orphanage and climbed up to the dumpster, reaching up and hoisting herself onto the metal ladder she'd latched there a few years ago. It held strong and was her only way of sneaking back into her room. Her tired arms pushed up the window and she flung her legs over the window sill before sliding inside and closing the window, locking it for the night. Relieved, she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and kicked off her sperry shoes, sending them scattering across the floor. Then she pulled on a new black jacket and walked over to the uncomfortable mattress she had to call a bed. Sitting down, she glanced around the room and studied it.<br/><br/>It was a small room, with two beds and many errors. The walls were old and broken. You could see the interior in several places and they were cracked pretty badly. There were no decorations on the boring dusty walls. The single mirror was broken from when she'd punched it a while ago. And the chairs near the old wooden table weren't exactly sturdy. Even the lights were old and dim, coated in spiderwebs- she didn't bother using them. Cobwebs were everywhere. It looked like an abandoned hotel room of sorts- but it wasn't quite abandoned now, was it? She was the only one who stayed in this room, the other orphans had rooms of their own. After all, this was the room in the worst condition. She couldn't let the others stay in such a risky room, where even the floorboards didn't promise to hold your weight forever. <br/><br/>As she laid down to attempt to get comfortable as best she could- which was impossible, since she was never <br/>comfortable- a light creak sounded from outside the door. Her gaze shot to the side. <br/>"Julie? What is it?"<br/>A young girl, about 6 years old with blonde hair and brown eyes, walked in quietly and clasped her hands nervously to<br/> her chest. She looked scared.<br/>"Did you have that dream again?" Isra questioned quietly. <br/>The girl answered her question with a nod. She was trembling again.<br/>With a sigh, Isra pulled the light sheets back and motioned for her to come over. Almost immediately Julie ran over,<br/> crawling under the sheets and curling up next to her. Isra tucked her in, sighing lightly and closing her eyes as her head<br/> hit the pillow.<br/>"Go back to sleep, Julie... I promise she won't get you. Not while I'm here."<br/>The girl went to sleep in an instant. Isra watched her for a moment to make sure the nightmare didn't start again, <br/>before allowing her own tiredness to wash over her. Soon she was asleep, one arm draped over the child protectively.<br/> </span></div>