“Oh good, here she is now. Now, remember, if you have any questions or concerns or second thoughts, call us right away.” The Child Services Agent told Lizzy and Robert Philman, and their son, Jason Bane.

They nodded, and stared out to the car quickly approaching. The blue Nissan Versa pulled up in their driveway. A woman opens the drivers side door and walks to the back where she unbuckles a small Megan Cade. She grabs a pink bag with a unicorn and throws it over her shoulder. In the other arm, she scoops up the small girl, and kicks the door closed.

“Hi, you must be Lizzy? And Robert?” She says, looking each of them in the eyes before glancing down to a still young Jason. “And you must be Jason.”

“Yep, that’s us. Can I take that from you?” Lizzy ask her.

“Oh yeah- wait, Megan or the bag?”

“Yes. Well yes the bag, I’ll take the bag.” Lizzy takes the bag from her arms. “Hi Megan.” She smiled as she waved to the little girl. The lady whispered something in her ear, and Megan waved back.

“Oh, I’m Layla, by the way. I’ve been taking care of Megan for the last three years, I foster children before they go to their forever home, I have three other kids in the car there as well, there’s Nikki, Kenna, and Liam. Ages 2, 5, and 16. I’m so glad to meet you, I’m glad Megan is finally gonna have the family she deserves.”

“Thank you for taking care of her, we wish we could’ve taken her sooner, but we didn’t have an up to code living space, we were one bedroom down, so we saved the money to buy this house and now we live here.” Lizzy answered. She turned to Megan. “Hey there Megan, you’re gonna be living with us for a while, I’m Lizzy, I’m gonna be your mom, and this,” She pointed to Robert, grabbing his arm and pulling him over. “This is Robert. He’s gonna be your new dad.” She beckoned to Jason. “And this is going to be your new big brother, his name is Jason, would you like to come see your new room?”

Layla, the foster mother, placed Megan into her new mothers arms. Megan, as her innocent little self, found this all to be very exciting, but at the same time, couldn’t understand what was happening. She watched Layla follow behind the group over Lizzy’s shoulder, while Lizzy wandered around, talking to herself about all the things in the house.

They unpacked Megan's small bag, and the child services worker and Layla left the home. Megan was left with her new family, and things were pretty good.

“Rob!!! What kind of example do you think you're setting for our children????” Lizzy yelled at Robert while Jason stood, with his arms around Lizzy.

“Don’t worry, this happens all the time, dad says if they don’t steal they’re weak, and my mom says if you can’t listen, then you’re weak.” Jason whispered to a now five year old megan. “I’m gonna go to the restroom, then to the kitchen to grab a snack, how about you run up to my room and we can play Xbox.”

“Okay.” Megan said cheerfully.

“Stop being weak Liz. So what? I stole something, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again, I’ve never been caught, and I never will be if you leave it alone. If our kids can’t work up the guts to steal something from someone, they’ll always be weak, do you want that for them?” Megan stared and took in her father's words.

“No, what our kids need to learn is that the only way to get what they want in life is to work for it, not steal it and cheat their way to the top, cheating is what truly makes them weak. Your father may have taught you that the only way to be strong is to fake what you can’t make, but I don’t want my kids to cheat like you, I don’t want them to be weak like you.” Liz replied. Robert’s faced turned red, and they began to scream at one another. Megan ran off, trying to get away from it all, but as a floorboard creaked, her father caught eye of her.

“Megan! Where do you think you’re going? Get back here.” Robert turned back to his wife, his voice calmer now. “Do you see that? She’s afraid of a little yelling, if that’s not weak, i don’t know what is.”

Megan turned around, fearful but in fight mode. “I am not weak!” She screamed. “I just feel that you're yelling is not enough grown-up way to act! I was only going up to Jason’s room where he said we could play Xbox, don’t call me weak!”

“At least my daughter has a voice and can speak up for herself.” Lizzy snarled.

“She’s only five Lizzy, everyone's weak at age five. I bet if i asked her to steal a small candy bar she’d back out. Even her birth parents didn’t want her, and do you know why? Because the doctors said she was too weak to live.”

“Robert! That’s not even true, they had filed before her birth! And it wouldn’t matter, I’d be proud if she backed out of stealing a candy bar, and like you said, she’s only five, so you have no place putting her in this position.” Lizzy replied with full force.

“Megan!?” Jason called from upstairs. “Are you coming up?” Megan trotted up the stairs to her brothers room, with tears in her eyes. She didn’t understand what her father had meant by birth parents, but she was sure going to find out.

As the siblings sat upstairs, they could hear their parents continuing to argue in the distance.

“Jason, What did dad mean when he said my birth parents, he and mom are my parents, right?” Megan asked, looking up to Jason.

“Well, they are your parents, but they didn’t give birth to you. Another couple did, and then, you stayed with another lady until two years ago when you came here. I know you must have some memories of staying with that lady, don’t you?” Megan shrugged at the question, she couldn’t remember much of anything before living here. She could remember a room, was it her room?

The walls were dark blue and the lights were dim. There were two beds and a crib. The room seemed unusually large compared to the room she was in now. She knew this room well, but couldn’t quite remember why. Maybe it had been hers before she had moved here, but who was the lady, and who are her birth parents? What even are birth parents?

“Well, Anyway, your birth parents are like, in the simplest form, your first parents. Sometimes, your first parents can’t take care of you so the government finds you a new family, and that’s when you came here. It’s nothing to feel bad about, i mean, I don’t know my birth father so, I’m half adopted right along with you.” While Megan didn’t really understand anything Jason had just told her, she could tell he was trying to help her understand, and she appreciated that of him.

Megan’s Father, Robert, Comes home with $500 cash in his hands, a big smile on his face.

“Rob? Is that you?” Lizzy Called, wiping her hands on a towel and she peeked through to the living room from the kitchen. She made eye contact with him, and smiled slightly. “Welcome home, dinner's almost ready.”

“We don’t need it, we’re going out tonight.” Robert replied.

“No, we’re on a budget again.”

“But I have $500, it’s not much but we can go out and pay a bill or two ahead.”

“Where’d you get $500????” Lizzy said, dreading the answer.

“Well...I….uh- okay, I stole it. I went to Arizona to do some decor work on a family's new home, but they were rich, they won’t even notice, they had $90,000 in savings in there closet alone. They left so I took….uh…..$3,000.” He said nervously.

“THREE THOUSAND??? YOU STOLE THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS FROM A FAMILY???  WHAT HAPPENED TO FIVE HUNDRED?” Lizzy yelled as Jason and Megan came downstairs to see what all the everything was about.

“I was gonna tell you at dinner so you wouldn’t freak out. Look, I know that’s not good but now we can pay some bills and have some free spending money, and, in perspective $3,000 isn’t that much.”

“No, but it’s a lot to steal from random strangers you weirdo! You need to return it.”

“Relax, you want some Nitrous Oxide?”
            “No, again? You freak, where do you even buy that stuff? You know what, I don’t want to know. You should leave before I call the cops.”

“Lizzy, You can’t be serious, I’m not leaving my kids.”

“Yes you are, you keep doing illegal things and bringing illegal stuff home with you, I’d rather you leave now and have a so-called father figure who left, rather than one who got taken away.” Lizzy glared at him, with tears in her eyes. “And they’re my kids, not yours. I don’t want you to leave me, but I do want you to leave my kids.”

The stared at each other in silence. Robert didn’t know what to say, he never thought Lizzy, his amazing wife, would ever kick him out like this. “Okay, but at least let me stay tonight, let me find a place, I need somewhere to stay if it’s not here.”

“Fine but if you’re not gone and moved out by 8pm tomorrow then I will turn you in. I love you, but I love my kids more.” Lizzy walked back into the kitchen, tears running down her face.

“Are you okay?” A small voice said from behind the wall. Little Megan, who had been there the whole, listening to everything, was concerned.

“Oh, Megan, how long have you been there? Nevermind, it doesn't matter, dinner will be ready in a bit, why don’t you go wash up?” Lizzy said calmly, not wanting her small daughter to know the truth.

Megan ran up the stairs to Jason's room, panic in her eyes. She burst open the door, and just stood there, and a single tear rolled down her cheek and landed safely on her shirt.

“Uh, Megan?” Jason said. He was the closest one to his little sister, and this was not her normal behavior. She told Jason everything, and even though Megan didn’t quite understand, she wasn’t stupid, in fact, she was quiet intelligent for her age. She ran to her parents room, where a phone sat covered in a thin layer of dust. She picked it up and dialed the number she had been trained to dial in case of emergencies.

Twenty minutes later, despite the argument that the whole family now knew about, they sat down to eat at the dinner table. They all stared down at their plates, not daring to say anything to one another. When, suddenly, the doorbell rang. Megan knew exactly who it was. Lizzy got up to greet their guest.

She opened the door to a bunch of police officers.

“Officers? Hi, uhm, may I help you?” Lizzy responded nervously.

“Yes, we received an anonymous call about a suspected robber. We’ve had reports before, but this time, we had to check it out. We traced the call, we don’t care who it is but we wanted to know where, and seeing as it was in the very household of the suspicious activity, we’d like to speak to Robert Philman. Is he here?” An officer at least a foot taller than Lizzy said, looking down to her. Lizzy’s mind immediately thought of Robert turning himself in, but why would he have done that? She wondered. She crossed out the thought of her angelic kids doing something like this, and figured it had to have been Robert.

“Robby, it’s for you.” She said with a voice as shaky as an earthquake. Robert glanced at his kids before walking calmly to the door. As soon as he walked over, the policed handcuffed him, and took him away. Meanwhile, another officer stepped inside to talk to Lizzy, and another who stood next to Megan and Jason, while a third officer came in and searched the premises.

They took Robert Philman to jail after he admitted to stealing things from as late as nine years ago. Lizzy lashed out against Megan after finding out it was her.

“Megan?? Are you awake yet? You’re gonna be late for school since mom won’t give you a ride anymore.” Jason said to Megan as she rolled over in bed and groaned at the thought of a whole new day. “I’ll give you a ride once I get a car, I promise.”

“It’s not my fault Liz won’t give me a ride, I shouldn’t have to get up this early.”

           “It’s okay, she’ll forgive you for what you did eventually.”

“No she won’t, and you know it. And don’t talk like that, you know what I did was right, regardless

“I’m sorry I know what you did was right, It’s just, you could end this if you prove to mom  you’re not ‘weak’ like she thinks.” Jason looks at her, just a glance from the side.

“Jason, NO!! I put Robert in prison for everything he stole, I’m not gonna do what he did, not even to prove myself to Liz.”

“Please, just steal some candy or flowers or something, please!”

“Not you, too, Jay.”

“No, I don’t want you to steal anything, but mom’s gone mental. She wants to kick you out, because she said,  ‘she wasn’t strong enough to handle Robert stealing small stuff, why should she stay to report every little thing I say to the government.’ I tried to tell her otherwise, but she’s insane, all she can talk about is how weak people are, how weak you are. I’m sick of hearing her say the word “weak”.” Megan's disbelief shined on her face. At just 15, she could she even get kicked out of here. She depends on Liz for life, but she’s getting kicked out?

Megan got up and got ready for school. She popped in some earbuds, and began her walk to school. On the way there, thoughts filled her head. She couldn’t steal, from anywhere. If Liz didn’t watch her spending account so closely, she could buy her something expensive with some savings, claim she stole it, and apologize with it. While she would get grounded for stealing, maybe, like Jason had said, she could forgive her and let her stay.

But that would be against everything she believed in, everything she worked to not be. So, she turned up her music to drown out her thoughts, and stepped to the beat as she walked to school.

When the lunch bell rang, kids went frantic, but Megan and her friends went out to their usual spot, calm and collected, unlike the flock of kids flooding around them.

“You guys hear about those new jackets? They’re so cute, my rich aunt got one, and they’re so warm too.” Megan’s friend Alyssa said to strike up the conversation within the group.

“Guys, we need to get us some!” Another girl, Kylie, Responded.

“No way.” Megan stated blatantly. “Those things may be cute but they are way overpriced, I mean if I could, I’d buy one for each of us, but I don’t think I’ll ever have that kind of money.”

“Someday, I’m gonna buy one.” A third friend, molly claimed.

“No, someday they’ll be more important things to buy than that fab new jacket you and your friends loved in high school.” Megan pointed out.

“Someone's a little moody today.” Alyssa Chimed in.

“Sorry, but Liz has gone mental. She can’t think straight anymore, she’s gonna kick me out.”

“Liz?” Alyssa and Molly emphasised in unison.

“Uhm, oh, my mom.” Megan replied, realizing that only Trina, who had transferred schools two weeks ago, knew anything about her life. “Okay guys, I’m gonna head back to glass early, gotta prepare for those finals.” She continued, expressing a small smile, a curtain to hide behind and put a show on in front of for the outsiders.  

After school, she walks home, while Jason gets a ride. It’s okay. She thought. It gives me time to think. She walked home to nothing but the sound of her music, what she had been hearing all day, trying to avoid everything and everyone. Trying not to let them into her world, she could never know who to trust.

This was something Megan could stress out over often. She had trusted many of the wrong people in the past, including her own adoptive mother. She didn’t know how many more people she could trust wrong, but in today’s world, all was dangerous.

“Liz, I’m home.” She said, dropping her house key into the bowl at the door.

“Rent is due in two weeks.”

“But you bought this house, not rented it?”

“Don’t be a dummy, for you, your rent is due in two weeks, $200 or you move out.”

“Don’t you find that to be a little ridiculous? I don’t even have a job, on top of that, I’m your daughter.”

“No, you're not. I don’t have to call you that. Legally, yes, you are my daughter, but no daughter of mine would get my husband sent away.”

“That’s it. You need to stop pinning this on me, right now. I was there that night, I was there the whole time. You would’ve called the police on him if he’d done one more thing, and you were kicking him out anyway. Do you know what I heard you say on that night? That you loved him but you loved your children more. If that’s so true, then why have you spent all these years telling me that I’m weak, for doing what you were afraid to do. I was only six, for god’s sake Liz.” Megan Interjected, atempting to maintian a calm and cool demeanor. Lizzy stared back at her in disbelief.

“It was an empty threat! I would never call the police on my own husband.”

“So he means more to you than me and Jason ever have then.”

“No, I didn’t say that.”

“But you Implied it.” Megan walked out of the room.  

Determined to prove Liz wrong, she went online and started looking for open Jobs hiring teens of fifteen years of age. Jason walked in and saw her sitting on his bed, with his laptop, with a determined look on her face.

“Okay….This must be serious, what’s goin’ on sis?” He said, plopping down next to her.

“Well, me and Liz got into it again.”

“That explains why mom hasn’t came up from downstairs since I’ve been back from my walk.”

“Sorry, but this time, I couldn’t listen to her non-sense anymore, I let it all out. It told her everything I’ve been thinking for years. She wants me to pay $200 or move out, and I lost it. I’m 15, I can’t move out. I’m adopted, I have no where to go. And while the idea you presented me with was great an all, I just think there are better ways to earn a living. So, I’m filling out applications for a job.”

“Wow, look at my little sister, getting a job before me. I’m really lame aren’t I?”

“Yes you are.”

“Hey!” Jason proclaimed as he jokingly punched his sister in the arm.

“Jason!!! Can I use your laptop again?? I’m excpecting an email, today is the last day and if I don’t get it then I won’t get this Job.” Megan Insisted from the top of the stairs, to her older brother Jason, who sat down below.

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead Meg.” Jason Answered. “Let me know if you get it! Mom left, by the way.”

Megan Jumped down on the boucny mattress, filled with exciment, but also with a nervous dread she hadn’t been able to shake all day. If I don’t get this email..She thought repetitively. She flipped open the computer and signed in.

“I GOT IT, JACE!!! I GOT THE JOB!” Megan screamed at the top of her lungs. Jason, (Jace) Jumped off the couch and ran upstairs.

“No way!”

“Yes way! I got it, I’m gonna get everything now. I start-” Megan looked back at the screen, realising she hadn’t read the full email. “Tommorow!? I start tommorow, 40 minutes after school! That’s perfect, It will take me aproximently 30 minutes to walk there anyway so I’ll be there right on time.” Megan hugged her brother and returned his laptop before running across the hall to her room, where she lay on her bed, and fell asleep filled with joy.

After about two weeks of work, Megan realised that she really enjoyed her job. In fact, it became the best part of everyday, and made the weekends even better. She loved working with customers, and helping them find what they needed throughout the store. She was incredably thankful for her tearchers, who put in that she was reliable. This was the Job that everyone at her school had wanted, for they were the highest paying job for 14-17 year olds, but they only hired a select few based on feedback they got from people such as, teachers, coaches, and guidance councilors.

Because it was the most desired job, It had angered a lot of students, even her friends were upset at first, but as soon as Megan began getting paid, they all saw why. One of her friends even visted her at work, but since the public loved her so much, Molly had a hard time getting a hold of her, because she was constantly being dragged away. A friendly helpful smile in that store was always needed.

After a few months, she had saved her money, and could now pay four months rent, but only paid two. She set aside the other two for something she knew she had to buy.

One of the new jackets that everyone had been wanting. She knew Lizzy wanted one just as much as every person in her school, so Megan being able to afford one and turn in rent, would be a big deal to her, and maybe she could stop being so rude to Megan all the time.

So, the next weekend, she asked Jason to borrow the car and take her down to the store. She’d never been in a store with so much exspensive stuff in it before. Taking her first steps in, she realised she had really under-dressed for the occasion. Everyone else in the store seemed to have on clother ten times more exspensive then hers. She could feel the eyes of the employees and guards, as well as fellow shoppers follow her as she shopped. Eventually, she picked out her favourite $350 jacket, in a nice teal color.

She walked up to the register, and it took the cashier a moment to realise that a girl of her age and current fashion was buying their clothes, but appon pulling out her cash, she immeaditly scanned the tag and bagged the teal jacket.

Megan walked proudly back to the car, and jumped in.

“You must’ve found it?” Jason said, his smile as big as his sisters.

“Yep, now i’m gonna go home and finnally prove her wrong.” They drove home in scilence, with the brightest smiles on the their faces.”

“Mom? Are you home?” Jason called as he entered the family home.

“I’m home!” Lizzy said from the kitchen, happy to see that her son was finnally home, the only kid she could really say she loved. “Welcome home darling, how was your day?”

“It was amazing, Megan has something she’d like to tell you and give you.”

“I don’t want it.” She said, her mood changing in a snap. Megan walked in the house anyway, in her new jacket and fourhundred dollars in her hand.

“Okay, look, I know you’re always gonna hate me, but I got a job a few months ago, and this month you’re really pushing the whole rent thing. So this month I’m paying you, $200, for this month, and $200 for next.”

Lizzy took the money in her hands but didnt have anything to say. She felt overwhelmed, since Megans last blow-up, she had been thinking that maybe she had been to hard on her. She wanted to apologize but she felt she had damaged her daughter enough already. But how could she forgive her. She had already got her husband put in jail?

She did make a good point saying that Liz herself would’ve called the police on him with all the illeagal stuff he’d been doing, and she had been happier since he’d been gone without the stress of people finding illegal stuff in her family home.

A tear ran down her face. “I don’t know what to say.” Liz said, her voice cracking halfway through the sentance.

“Liz?” She whispered. “Are you alright, i’ve never seen you cry before.”

“I’m fine, it’s just that i’ve been feeling really bad about treating you the way that I have been treating you recently.”

“Good, it’s about time you start thinking.”

“Hey! I’m still your mother here.”

“Sorry, but you’ve been really crappy about something i did so long ago, and It was for the best, I will not stand to let illeagal things go on. When something is wrong something is wrong, and I think you just need to realize that, and instead of raising me to suceed you told me I was weak for years, and that I couldn’t work to get the things I wanted. You were wrong, you always have been.”

“I just wanted you to realise how much what you did hurt, I never thought I was hurting you or anything.” And with those words Liz turned her back and walked out of the room.

When Megan woke up the next morning, she Went through her usual morning routine, before putting on her shoes and walking out the door.  As soon as she closed the door however, she realized that she had forgotten her new favorite accessory. She had forgotten her brand new jacket that she loved so so much. She turned the cold metal handle and walk back inside as she put on her coat she realized that it had a small hole just a long seam.

she turned around and went back inside to her  kitchen where she opened the third drawer to the right from the sink to find a needle and a thread. As she stitched the jacket back together she realize that the fabric inside of the jacket was unlike any fabric she had ever seen before. It was quite thick however it was in sheets so each sheet was incredibly thin and almost see through. And while it was soft it had a weird way about it,  it was almost oily in a sense, but still dry at the same time.

Megan was slightly grossed out by this, but seeing as she was almost going to be late for school,  she said the jacket up quickly and continued her walk to school.

After having normal school day yesterday Megan thought today would have been the same way. but little did she know how different today was going to be.

she woke up in the morning and immediately checked her phone, a thing she did every morning.  a new video on YouTube had hit trending. The video was entitled “HUMAN SKIN INSIDE LUST FOR LIFE COATS?”   and had only been up online for 2 hours but it had millions of views. The description read that it was not fake however all the comments did say it was.

Why would someone fake something like this?  making quick gone to the video to check it out for herself.  has the guy cut open the coat just to see what was inside for his fun poppy new video,  he pulled out the same thing that Megan had seen in her coat the day prior. at first the guy looked puzzled and then like a wire snapped the entire mood of the video changed.

the guy began to babble about what he thought this could be Until he finally connected the pieces and realize that what she had just pulled out of his $300 jacket what's human skin.  and while everyone in the comments sap they're typing from their homes about how fake the video was Megan new that he was not lying. Well she had considered the thought that maybe what she had pulled out of her jacket was real human skin she quickly pass it up seeing as it was too impossible.

Even though she had worked really hard to gain the money to buy that coat she knew that she too had to open her jacket on camera and show the world but that guy was not lying and hopefully get other people in on the movement.  the only problem was that she wasn't really sure if it was human skin or just a new substance that they hadn't seen used in a coat before. So she decided that after she recorded herself opening it she would upload that to a YouTube channel,  and then take the substance to the school where they had a lab where they could find out if it was indeed human skin.

and if it was she would take her results back and record herself reading the results allowed to prove thought it was actually what they had all been dreading. So she got out her jacket a pair of scissors in the camera.  propping the camera up on the edge of her bed she pulled over a gray Rubbermaid tub. on the lid she placed her jacket and began to film.

“ I know that's a video of the human skin inside Lust For Life coats was probably seen as a stunt to 90% of you out there.  but the other day mine had a hole in it and when I went to sew it up, I saw it exactly what that guy saw in the video. and if I didn't believe him I wouldn't be cutting open what I had worked hard to get because it wasn't easy for me to get this.  but I believe him, because he has a high probability of being correct. and to show you this I'm going to cut my own open today for all of you to see that what this guy did was real and what he saw happen.” She said to the camera. she kept the jacket open revealing the same  material. Tears well in her eyes. as tears fell down her face she turned off the camera and within two minutes she had the video uploaded online.

Five minutes have passed and she’d gotten so many views on the video already,  but that wasn't important to her, what was important to her were the people tagging her and their own videos that they had posted to show that They too had the material in their jacket.  as making got all these notifications she was on her way to the school to get the material tested. Once she arrived at the school, she only had to wait 10 minutes before she got her results. Instead of waiting until she got home to film she got her camera out of her bag and immediately began to film her opening the results.

“This is indeed human skin inside of Lust For Life coats.  whether you want to believe it or not, this horror show is real.  This Test confirms it.” she said to the camera. Once again she uploaded the video, tagging herself in the previous video in the description of this one.

Again,  she went viral.  within the hour she got calls texts and emails from places everywhere. She herself,  had called the cops to ask if she could speak to one of them about these videos including the one that she had made.

After few days of receiving calls and having concerned people come to police stations Across the Nation police finally decided to open an investigation.  Megan and Liz went on protest against this finally acting as a mother-daughter team.

When police investigated they did find the bones the remains of 80 people who have been missing in that state for 20 years.  that explain the limited access to their coats and why they had been so expensive. the Creator wanted to make a fortune, and that's just what he did. in the back of the store in the creators office he had been pinning down people who had gone missing, taking them, murdering them, preserving their skin, and his next victim? Well, who better it to be than Megan.

But that was before he got taken to jail, and that was before he excaped three months later...