Frank Adler is a freelance boat repairman. He was previously a philosophy professor at Boston University before his niece, Mary, was put into his custody after his older sister, Diane, killed herself. Mary was a mathematical genius. She had inherited her smarts from her mother. Frank was a philosophical genius, but gave up his job to take care of his niece. He had Mary ever since she was six months old old, which is when her mother died. Mary is now eight years old and taking college level courses in school.

It was a few hours after Frank had put Mary to bed. He struggled with insomnia, so instead of trying to fall asleep, he went out to the dock. He stayed out on the boat, drinking bear and looking up at the night sky. But a light coming from his house caught the corner of his eye. He chuckled, thinking it was his niece, sneaking a late night snack. He got up, a small smile on his face as he went to go get her back to bed.

He entered the house from the back door, which is the closest way to the kitchen. He was going to sneak up on Mary and scare her, who was roaming to fridge, only to see it wasn't Mary at all. Mary was in her bedroom, sleeping soundly, the whole night. It was another small child who seemed to be Mary's age. The kid looked very skinny. Too skinny. The kid was had blood on their clothes and body, and bruises on their skin. They wore an over sized t-shirt, which was disgustingly dirty and torn to shreds. Their hair was a mess, it was tangled and dirty, and had dried blood in it. They were extremely pale and was shaking.

"Hey! What the hell are you-" Frank started to angrily snap, but paused, his tone softening as he got a good look at the child, "...what the hell happened to you?"