The girl remains quiet as a mouse, looking down. Two members of the Gasyer family stepped out and didn’t recognize the girl.

‘Why did she lie?’ Kaleb huffed, hoping the anger building up would leave.

The two girls raised their eyebrows and looked at each other. One of the twins spoke up and said, “Get lost, especially you. You’re nothing but trouble.” As that was said, the other girl closed the door with a loud bang, leaving silence in the air. 

The girl stomped her feet onto the first steps; she wanted to knock and beg desperately to let her in. Before she could do anything, Kaleb yanked her off the steps, and they began walking away. The girl slammed her foot into the top of the steps, but it didn’t creak, not even the slightest noise.

BANG BANG!!!

Xander goes inside his son's room, slamming the door wide open. The petrifying look on his face says the state of emergency.

"I lost all of my rations for the storm!" Xander yells at his favorite child in panic.

The third oldest, Jaques Gasyer. Jaques is short for his age. His eyes are yellow and he has white hair, unlike his father, who has dark blue hair. Jaques is sealing all the windows with wooden planks around the house. 

Jaques, who was boarding up the windows in his room, dropped his hammer in surprise and sighed.

"Where did you lose the water supplies?" His eyebrows furrowed, causing wrinkles on his forehead.

Xander whispered, "Let's keep this between us, son. I was taking care of your little sister, Betsy, and I just lost track of it. You know how much care she needs." Xander pleaded his case to Jaques in a worried tone.

"Betsy?” At this point, Jaques knew Xander was lying through his teeth. Ada and Asa just took Betsy outside to teach her how to hunt. “Mother will request the rations to make dinner. We'll just say we found out Betsy took the rations, thinking it was hers, and accidentally spilled them outside. Now to solve the situation... we'll...y'know."

"Very well then… Even if they don't believe it... they won't have a choice." Xander approved while nodding

As Xander looked for his wife, Kaleb peered through an open window that hadn't been boarded up yet. Once he opened it, the window was covered with wooden planks from the inside. With amazing luck, the window had a gap that they could both slip through with ease. Kaleb goes through first and lands on his feet with ease, then helps the girl as well. 

She took off her gloves and began to feel the wooden floors. “This is my room!” The girl gasped in relief. 

Her statement made Kaleb roll his eyes. “We broke in here,” Kaleb muttered. His eyes widened in surprise as she began taking off her shoes and socks. ‘Wow, she must feel at home,’ Kaleb thought to himself.

The weird girl began dragging her feet against the wooden floor as she made her way to the bed. The wood acted like a map showing the way as she read what the patterns told her. She stopped right in front of it before hitting it with her knees. Kaleb followed right behind her to get the sheets to warm himself. He then wraps himself in the warm cotton blanket, and he lets out a sigh of relief.

“If you move this bed, there’ll be a small cellar where you can sleep, eat, and read as well.” The girl mumbled shyly while pointing at the floor.

Without protest, Kaleb began moving the bed to the side; he had doubts that there was an underground room. Lo and behold, there was indeed a cellar. “Oh?” Kaleb was certainly confused; now there was a cellar door under the bed. He didn’t know whether he should trust her, but the answer was staring him in the face. “It has a lock,” Kaleb growled. If looks could kill, the girl would’ve been six feet under. The cellar had a square door on the wooden floor. And it had a keyhole along with it.

“I have the key,” Betsy said, handing it over to him. She was expressionless and very hard to read. She was sure that if she mentioned the cellar and she had the key, he would trust her. But once she heard the tone in his voice, she knew there was still no trust between them. 

Kaleb took the silver and gold keys from her hand and opened the cellar door. Once Kaleb saw that the door could be opened from the inside and outside, it calmed him down a bit. “I’ll be taking this while I’m down there,” Kaleb said without worry.

The girl didn’t protest and nodded. Kaleb jumped down, making it look effortless, landing like a feather. It’s only been three minutes down the cramped cellar, and Kaleb began twisting and turning. He was getting impatient by the second and couldn’t imagine his time down the cellar for another three minutes. He continued to move around, trying to find a comfortable spot where he could rest, but the room was just too small. As he tossed his back around, he knocked some old books, hitting the wooden floor. Three small books fell on the floor, and they barely made a noise.

She was on her bed trying to get a short nap. Hearing the slight commotion, she sat up on her bed, putting both feet on the floor. She stomps the floor with one foot and politely asks, "Can you be a little quieter down there?" The girl asks in a polite tone, making sure not to anger him.

"I didn't even do anything," Kaleb mumbled while rolling his eyes to the back of his head. "It's all these old books you keep in here." 

"I just put them there, since I don't read books," She whispered, hoping he didn’t hear her. Her voice was soft but squeaky, allowing anyone to hear her even if she was mumbling. 

"Why not?" Kaleb asked.

"Because I'm blind..." She says embarrassed by the question

There was a moment of awkward silence. Only the stormy winds can be heard from outside. This left one question inside the boy's head, and most importantly, it also changed the subject.

"Why didn’t they let you in?" Kaleb asked, sitting up straight, eager to hear her answer. 

"What do you mean?" She asks, trying to deflect the question, but it fails. 

Kaleb then responded, "You know what I mean, Asa and Ada didn’t let you in your own home.” Kaleb didn’t believe this was her house, let alone her family. He just wanted to know why she was lying. 

"Because they’re annoying," she answered with a vague statement that doesn’t explain much. She wanted to change the topic but didn’t have the heart to say it to his face, so she tried to do so subtly. “How did you know their names?

"Who doesn’t? They are well-known hunters; they keep this dump alive,” Kaleb said, annoyed.

"I wish I were able to help people and be useful to others," Betsy responded with a soft sigh and a sullen look on her face. She was looking up as if the boy was right in front of her, talking. “Instead, we give just to take more again.”

The boy was confused by her answer and wanted to ask what she meant by that. Just when he was going to ask her, she interrupted his thoughts.

"What is your name?" She asked out of pure curiosity, “My name is Betsy, but I didn’t hear your name when you were talking to my sisters.”

There was a moment of silence before he answered her.

"Reggy."