Moonstone Lake

Memories

Mono found himself in a bedroom. One he had seen before with almost nothing in it but a bed and a desk drawer. Behind him, the door opened. On the other side, a small boy with an excited smile dashed into the room. He didn't notice Mono at all as he searched the desk drawer. He took out a small box and opened it with care. Inside was a pretty stone made into a necklace.

"Mono!" Dave called.

The boy put on the necklace, hid it under his shirt, then fixed the box up as he had found it. He ran back into the hallway.

"you found it. Good job."

"No! Dad, you can't open it yet."

"Your right. I guess we'll just have to see what's inside when you turn fifteen."

"Is  this when you got the stone?"

Mono turned his attention toward Kiki, who stood casually beside him. "Where did you come from?!" both Mono and the creature's voice spoke in surprise together.

"I've been here the whole time."

"you can't be here!" The creature yelled.

"I can. You wish for no adults. I'm not an adult."

"You sneak little- How old are you, anyway?"

"Fifteen."

"You're three years older than me!" Mono and the creature said together.

"You're twelve." Kiki stared at Mono with a curious expression.

"Fine, whatever!" The creature shouted, annoyed. "You'll both just have to journey through memory lane together. Come find me if you want to get out of here."

"So that's the game we're playing." She placed a hand on Mono's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Not really. Did you see that thing?"

"Thing? His you."

"That thing. Isn't me!

Kiki seemed concerned for a moment. "I can't call him a thing. So let's call him Jin for now."

"Why give it a name?"

"Because I can't see him like that." she walked out of the room. "Let's go. We don't want to be stuck in here forever, right?"

The younger version of Mono swung the bat and ran. Ray waved from home base for them to throw him the ball. In Mono's hurry, he slid, then crashed into Ray.

"Sorry. I got a bit carried away." said little Mono.

"That's okay." Ray pulled himself up. "OW!" He crouched and held his leg. "It hurts a bit. What about you? Are you okay?"

Little Mono glanced at his foot, and at Ray's pained expression. "Yeah, I can't really move mine."

"That was a lie." The creature's voice rang out. "We both should have been in pain, but I wasn't.

"Shut up." Mono dashed out of the playground.

Kiki didn't go after him. Instead, her eyes turned sharp like a beast and her ears grew and curled out. She took a quick look around. It was like a large round room where the outside world didn't exist. "This isn't just an illusion."