The girl who found Leo is shorter than him. She's wearing a striped shirt and blue pants. In one hand, she holds a broken broomstick. "How did you find this place," she asked sternly. She tried to stand on her toes to even her height.

"My dad and I came by the other day."

"Then, why did you come back?"

"I heard singing, and now, I found you."

Nadine, setting her feet down, said, "Well, you heard me."

"Do you know James and Donna Clark?" Her lips begin to quiver. "Well, do you?"

"Actually, they're my parents." Leo was shocked by this. I knew they have a kid, he thought. "Tell me, where is your mom? How long have you been here? Does anyone else know about you?"

Nadine became annoyed with the boy's questions. So, she responds with a question. "Are you always curious?"

Leo shook his head. "By the way, I'm Leo Walker. What's yours?" The girl tilted her head. "What do people call you?"

"Nadine." Leo looked at the house, then back at her.

"What happened here?"

With some reluctance, she explained, "Some time after my mother's disappearance, someone thought it was a good idea to throw stones in the windows. One of them was covered in twine and lit. The flames burned mostly the walls."

"Yikes! So, it's you... alone?"

"Well, there are some mice."

Leo couldn't believe that this girl is alone with mice in an untidy house. It wasn't good at all. "I want to help you."

Nadine looked cross-eyed at her intruder. "How can you help me? You did not know my parents had a kid."

"Well, almost everyone thinks you were gone with your mom."

"They thought wrong."

"What time is it?"

Nadine looked at the clock on the wall behind her. "Almost four. "

"I have to get home. My parents are expecting me to be home in time for supper." Leo rises from the chair he was sitting in. He reaches for the soccer ball and gave it to her. "I'll come back again soon," he told her.

With that, he walks out and closes the door behind him. Nadine bolts to the door, locking it. She looked at the ball Leo gave her. She gives it a gentle kick and watches it roll. She does this a few times until she leaves it on the floor of her room.