Slow hisses of air whirred busily in the silence.

A light rhythm of pulsating beeps accompanied by the occasional ring echoing from a distance soon joined it. And as my cheek began to grow numb and tingle from the rough, prickly wool blanket, I gradually became aware of the bright lights around me- a searing pain constricting my eyes once I looked directly into the light above Autumn's bed.

The light was absolutely unnecessary. There was already an unrelenting ray of sunshine streaming through the window- glaring off any smooth surface and consuming the entire room.

I threw my hands up to my weary eyes and rubbed them vigorously so they could adjust to the brightness, and my heart fell into my stomach when I dared to gaze at my sister's battered and bruised body.

What the hell happened to her?

Part of me couldn't help but wonder if it was all my fault. Late at night, after the ambulance drove Autumn to the hospital to receive immediate attention, the police investigated her bedroom. Her window was wide open, the items on her dresser were scattered and thrown across the room, and Autumn's blood was trickled across the sheets from the deep scratches engraved onto her arms and legs.

They speculated that someone may have broken into our house with the intentions of harming Autumn, but they were unable to find proof. There were no clues, no signs, and no fingerprints.

All they had to rely on were the crevices that tore Autumn's skin, but even then they said they had no idea what caused it. The indentations were too thin and sharp to have been caused by human hands, but the cuts were too rough to have been done by any knife or metal. They say that if they hadn't known better, it would have been from a wild animal like a bat- an abnormally large bat.

And since there have been more recent sightings of bats in Manitou, it wouldn't be a surprise if they settled the case with that.

But I know my sister.

I know that my sister was not the type to sleep with the window open at night. No matter how hot it could have been during the summer, she would sleep with it closed and prefer the fan to the cool night air. And as for as my knowledge, there were no bats in our house to begin with.

Something was strange about all this- I couldn't help but think that. I couldn't help but feel that the daunting warning I was haunted with throughout the whole evening yesterday was foreshadowing what was going to happen to my sister later. If I had only explored the fear a little more, faced it, and tried to analyze why I was feeling the way I was, maybe I would have been able to prevent the attack.

There was a reason why I felt the way I did. It was no coincidence.

I have had gut feelings before, but this was far more different than just an instinctual pull. I knew. I knew something was going to happen, which led to me think that this involved the blue orb.

While I was going through the agonizing pain in the forest, perhaps it was a transformation. The burning pain I felt must have been my nerves sparking together to form more connections in my brain and enable me to have this sort of insight. Autumn, as much as I hate to admit it, may have been right this whole entire time. Maybe we have become some sort of heroes endowed with the responsibility to predict and prevent future disasters.

What the hell was I thinking?

I groaned and let my head fall back into the little nook it created at the side of Autumn's hospital bed. The sleep deprivation was really getting to me, and I could use a few extra hours of sleep. However, it was already noon, and it would help to get a head start on all the homework and lecture time I missed today.

Thankfully, my mom was able to persuade Principal Geoffrey and all my teachers that I should get the day off without any consequences.

It was a few things less things I had to think about. Matter of fact, it may have been better that I didn't show up to school today. There was no way that I could handle the inquisitive stares of my classmates after what I did to Julian, and I can't even imagine how Julian himself would react if we came face to face.

He usually would try to beat me up after school or get someone to do it for him, but now that the tables have turned I wonder if he would finally back off. There was no need to have more drama like that one incident with my ex.

Even thinking of her, I can hear that annoying and deceivingly polite voice in the back of my head. "Matthew."

The voice sounded so realistic I thought I heard it come from behind me- not in my head. But I knew better that she wasn't here because sleep deprivation had messed me up already. Earlier this morning, I 'saw' the coat hanger's shadow move across the wall and slip out the door. It wasn't like how shadows would usually move when light would pass the object. It literally defied all logic, traveled across multiple walls without changing shape, and slipped right out the door. And after following it's path dumbfounded, I looked back at the coat hanger and found it's shadow right where it was a few seconds ago.

It's been awhile since things like this have happened.

As a child, things like this would happen all the time. Right when I wake up or when I momentarily open my eyes during the dead of the night, I would see random shapes move and different swirls of ethereal light float above my head.

So this wasn't quite out of the ordinary. It's just been a while. But never have I conjured and imagined a person before. For some reason, it was Sarah out of all people, my ex.

She walked around the bed so she was at the other side facing me, her long black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail and her dark, chocolate eyes staring straight into mine. My eyes fluttered down to her outfit. She was wearing a simple white tee with gym shorts. A water bottle was in her hand and beads of sweat scattered along the bottom of her hair line indicated that was recently running. I continued staring at her and laid back into my chair just observing her and the details. Incredible. I knew that around this time, Sarah had P.E, but I never thought that my mind would add that detail to this temporary hallucination.

By now the vision should have disappeared, but instead Sarah continued standing there in front of me, looking more agitated by the second.

"Dude. Can you stop looking at me like that? It's freaking weird." Sarah grumbled while she pulled up a chair and set a few things down by Autumn's bed.

My legs flailed as I swung myself upright and gawked at her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious? I want to see how my best friend is doing. I have been worried about her."

At least she had a heart for one person, my sister. Other then that, she was completely heartless and psychopathic. She may smile at everyone's face and compliment them till they give her what she needs, but in the inside she hated everybody. I'm not saying that because I'm still bitter after what happened between us. Sarah told me herself.

I really can't stand her, and I wanted her out of this room before we start another fight.

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" I muttered as I threw her a sour look. Hopefully, it would remind her that there were better places for her to be.

Sarah shook her head as she made herself more comfortable in the chair, throwing me a pointed look like she expected me to leave instead. "Obviously, it's a Thursday."

Her sarcastic and pointlessly short answers never failed to agitate me. Sarah had a gift for fully answering a question with the most minimal amount of effort. To me, she always was too quiet, but to her I always seemed to talk too much.

"Then why aren't you at school?" I prodded with my voice slightly raised.

Sarah remained unfazed and silent even after my sharp demand. She ignored me completely and sank further into her chair, quickly glancing at my sister and letting her eyes wander across the room like the informational health posters were so interesting. And like usual, she was having no problem not answering to anybody, but if she thought she could stave off the awkwardness and hope that my sister would wake up any time soon she was very wrong.

There was only me and her, and I had all day.

So still expecting an answer, I patiently stared at her averted eyes and watched Sarah pull her fingers close to her mouth like she was deep in thought and struggle to find anything new to look at. But eventually, she let out an impatient huff and gave into the pressure. "Damn, Matthew, I had already answered that. I think you meant to ask how I got here, but that is none of your business. But if you absolutely have to know and haven't figured out for yourself yet, I skipped school. I hitched a ride with a friend, but they couldn't drive all the way so I ran the rest. Jeez, you repeat yourself so much."

I do not.

But correcting her would be pointless. So alternatively, I kept quiet and just hoped that the silence would be so unbearable Sarah would have to leave. It took longer than I expected, but Sarah looked up from her phone, stood up from her seat, and told me to buy Autumn a Starbuck's coffee under the name 'Apollo Gee' with the twenty-five dollar gift card she left by the bed.

There was no way in hell that I was going to make myself look like a retard by ordering under that name, but Sarah persisted on it. She said that it was important and that she would kill me if I did otherwise, but she further explained by saying it was an inside joke that would make Autumn feel better once she woke up.

Autumn loved the inside jokes between her and her friends. As her brother, I knew that well. Her room was littered with so many pointless friendship memorials to the point it made her a borderline packrat.

So for the sake of Autumn, I was going to get her this damned cup of coffee with the name written on the side so that my sister could put it with her shelf of other miscellaneous things when we get back home. I don't know why I'm encouraging this bad habit of hers. One day, I should sneak into her bedroom and start throwing all the crap away. I would obviously keep the expensive gifts that her friends cared to put effort in, but why the hell would she keep a gum wrapper with a little scribble of a half eaten popsicle on it?

I tried deciphering the logic behind it on my way to get Autumn her cup of coffee. Thankfully, Starbucks was on the main floor near the cafeteria, so I didn't have to go far. The timing would be near perfect. She started tossing around in her bed and mumble nonsense, so by the time I get back to her room with her sugary cup of caffeine Autumn should be awake.

It's about time she would wake her lazy butt up. It was near four in the afternoon.

But to my disappointment, she was still passed out and dreaming of who knows what. I could tell that she was totally out, but she wouldn't stop twisting around in her bed and twirling up the sheets into a ball at the end of the bed.

The air was a lot chillier before I left it, and the hairs on Autumn's arm began to prickle from it- though she was still trying to kick off the covers like she was burning.

Setting the coffee down near the door, I wrestled Autumn's legs for a grip on the sheets and quickly whisked the blankets up in the air so that they would float down onto her restless limbs. Although the blanket would be able to cover half of her body for a few minutes, it was only a matter of time until she kicked them off again.

It was utterly pointless to keep covering her, so I plopped into the chair I set besides her bed and went to reach for my backpack with a sigh.But trying to pull it towards me wouldn't work. It was stuck- not that it surprised me. My backpack was somehow packed underneath the hospital bed, so I had crawl onto the floor and tug because the shoulder strap seemed to hooked onto something- a lever maybe. Every time I tugged, the bed seemed to beep and go up and down.

My face flushed red in embarrassment and frustration. If a nurse walked in right now, I would love nothing more but to jump in a never ending pit and disappear.

An idiot should be able to figure this out.

So as I pressed down and accidentally lowered the bed so that it squashed my backpack instead of releasing it, I finally decided that I would be classified as some special breed of stupid.

To top it all off, when I looked up, I fell onto my butt in surprise once I found my sister's face right in front of mine. It scared me at first because I wasn't expecting her face to be so close, but when I dared to look closer I found her eyes rapidly moving back and forth underneath her eyelid. Now, I'm not completely stupid. I stayed awake enough to know that when you are in a deep mode of sleep your eyes would rapidly move back and forth; REM sleep I believe they called it. But I don't think that when they said 'rapid' they meant electric. A machine could only move that face.

I held my breath as I slowly backed away. The air around her changed. The smell of this room was different, like someone left the window open and let the crisp earthy aroma of fall sweep into the room.

My eyes shot over to the window. It was closed, but I could almost swear that I could felt a cool draft of fall wind flow from it.

But that was when I realized it was coming from my sister. Somehow, a subtle breeze emanated from her like the blue orb in the forest, but she wasn't pulsing with blue light. It was orange.

My heart raced quickly against my chest, and in a sudden state of panic I flew back against the wall and pressed myself against it like I could disappear behind it. I wanted to be anywhere but here, and I should have ran out the door to get help but my legs were frozen to the floor.

A tight ball of panic welled in my throat and my esophagus collapsed into itself when I tried to breath, only tight and short rasped breaths escaping my wide open mouth.

This couldn't be happening again. It just couldn't. There was no scientific theory in the world that could explain what was happening at the moment. This wasn't realistic in any sense. I had to be hallucinating.

But I was soon shown that this was all very real when an imaginary force pressed me further against the wall, making it nearly impossible to move. I couldn't even tilt my head away, my face was held forward and eyes peeled open to witness Autumn's eyes snap open while a crooked grin danced on her lips. But her eyes were not the ordinary honey brown eyes I grew up looking at. Instead, they were bright red, like pools of blood spilling onto a blanket of snow.

"Holy shi-"

Autumn snapped her fingers, and a blitz of wind funneled inside my mouth and silenced me before I could speak. I could only open and close my mouth and stutter out the absenced words of help I wanted to scream, which seemed to greatly entertain my sister.

No, it wasn't my sister. Those eyes were too menacing, conniving and cruel to be my sister. Those were the eyes of someone who had lost their minds eons ago and induced centuries of pain. This was a power far greater than anything I had ever known and could handle.

And the being that possessed my sister seemed to know that as well.

"Clarkes. The family that holds the glass of your people's depression. You were always a stubborn bunch." The voice snickered- it's voice deeply resonating around me like it was speaking in a cavern.

It's eyes glistened as it tilted Autumn's head and took in my appearance, staring at me with what seemed like pity. But when it's eyes of fire trailed up to meet mine, it let out another joyful chortle, clasping Autumn's hands together in delight. "You are such a frail thing, aren't you? This is the first good look I had of you, and must I say I'm quite disappointed. I heard great things about you Clarke's, but you don't seem to live up to that legacy. Can you live up to the name of Kalum?"

It left me at an open question and stared at me expectantly, but I was still rendered voiceless. If I wasn't held back, I wouldn't have let it speak for so long. I would have stopped it at Clarke.

I was not a Clarke; I was a Descartes. If all of this involving the blue orb was happening to me because I was a 'Clarke', they had the wrong person.

"Oh, silly me." The voice chuckled while it snapped Autumn's fingers again and swung her legs off the bed. "Go ahead, speak. Your voice may be a bit rough for the rest of today, but you will be able to answer me just fine." And like the peculiar character this spirit was, it sweetly rested Autumn's head on her hands like a little child awaiting a bedtime story.

"Who the hell-" my voice sputtered into an uncontrollable cough and the linings of my throat felt groveled and torn. What the hell did it to me? It might as well have torn my lungs out and replaced it with gravel.

There was a slight tisk of disappointment. "Another normal boy, instead of you, would have done well as Kalum." It sighed.

An irreplaceable anger fumed within me- a similar anger to when Julian challenged me yesterday. Although I did not understand a word this demon was saying to me, a part of me felt deeply offended that another guy dared be mentioned to take my role- that another person be called Kalum.

"I am Kalum." I exclaimed furiously as I charged at it's bloodshot eyes with fists cold with bloodlust.

There was no thinking behind my attack. All I knew was that word belonged to me and me only, and to hear someone take it from me was like breaking a sacred oath that would alter time itself if broken. But the whole thing itself was peculiar. The word had haunted me all last night and yesterday morning, but it meant nothing to me. The only emotion it stirred was confusion and irritation. Now that I had said the world outloud for the first time, I could feel my very existance attached to it. It was my pride. It was my meaning. It was my destiny.

I was Kalum. Kalum was me- whatever Kalum was. Though I didn't quite understand it yet, this was my truth.

No one should dare take it.

And as I charged at the spirit that taunted me, I felt myself pause in mid-air like the atmosphere around me held me back. Then like a gentle breeze, I felt it lift me up and carry me back to the wall like a little child. It handled me with such careful ease. I was dumbfounded and unusually calm. The irrational anger I was possesed with withered away and left me to be stripped me down to the bone and to my soul. In front of it, I was completely vulnerable and open, being read effortlessly like a textbook.

A wicked smile lifted the corner of Autumn's mouth. "Very good. Much more like Kalum. But I'm afraid you don't have as much power here now, my dear. It is the season of Jodah now. Soon, though, it shall be your's, Kalum."

Fear, thankfully, had resided with the anger, but I was still uncomfortable with how calm I was. My sister's body was controlled by an unknown power, yet I was more perceptive of the things around me and the questions I wanted to ask.

"But I'm not a Clarke." I responded dumbfounded. "My name is Matthew Rin Descartes and my sister's name is Autumn Coraline Descartes. You must have the wrong people."

The being shook my sister's head and stared down at her nails with disinterest, picking at them nonchalantly. "Are you though? What of your mother?"

"She was an orphan. She was left with no name." As I continued talking, my voice hushed down to a shaky whisper once the question dawned on me. Could Clarke have been my mother's maiden name? If so, it made me wonder how the spirit in front of me knew, but again this was all so supernatural. Nothing was really out of the question and could be clearly thought out.

My pondering seemed to appease the red eyes and it flickered with satisfaction. "I would like you to think about that. Until then, try not to think yourself to death, child."

The red in my sister's eyes seemed to fade back into the usual brown, but I was already left with so many questions I couldn't answer. As much as I wanted Autumn back, I wanted to know why the hell this was happening to us. I needed to know what would happen to us.

"Wait!" I called after it "What is going on? Why is this happening to my sister and I? What should I do about all of this?"

For a moment, I thought I completely lost the mysterious presence when Autumn's face dropped in shock and return with color, but the red soon returned and lifted her agape mouth into a smirk. "What have I said, boy. Do not overthink this. It will only give you a headache. Besides, don't you want your sister back? It's not very nice of you to have someone preoccupy her body for any longer. The feeling is quite unnerving. You should let me go."

"No." I responded defiantly. I knew Autumn would want answers as well. "Tell me who you are, why you are doing this, and what my sister and I were meant to do with these abilities. I have been going out of my mind without any clues or directions, and now that you are the only lead I have I will not let you go until I know exactly what it going on."

The voice hummed in contemplation, letting it's rings of fire flicker up to the ceiling. It was like it held all the cards and secrets to this demented game, but it was deciding carefully on what it should reveal to me, as if it would 'spoil' the ending.

"Stubborn and headstrong as always, just like a Clarke. Believe me, mortal, you are not holding me here like some genie. I am here on my own accord and to answer any of your questions should be considered a favor. Do you understand?"

I nodded my head once and prepared to hear everything she had to tell me.

"There are four of you, each chosen to carry a burden but a great honor. Find the rest before they are found by the others. You and your sister are not the only pieces in this complicated game of prophecies. Be wary and trust nothing, not even your own reflection. I must go. They are coming."

Another answer riddled with thousands of more unanswered questions. If it wasn't for her startling last words, I would have demanded for clarification, but once her presence disappeared I felt another.

The flesh on my back prickled with goosebumps and didn't stop until it crawled down my arms and covered the rest of my body. And the faint fall chill resonating from Autumn soon turned into a biting cold worse than any winter could conjure.

Clunk.

I looked down besides me and noticed that the Starbucks cup of coffee I earlier forgot at the entrance cubby, where they kept Autumns things, fell to the ground and spilled across the floor, inching it's way towards my worn, black converse. There was no way it could have fell on it's own because I clearly remembered setting the cup back near Autumn's things. Someone or something knocked it over.

But that something wasn't making a sound.

Instead, the subtle beeping of call lights echoing down the hallway, the hushed conversations of doctors and nurses conversing about their patients, and old wheelchairs squeaking as they rolled past were the only things that could be heard. Silence itself was louder than what was behind that corner, but although straining my ears for sounds of our new visitor grew more nonexistent the more I felt it near me.

It seemed like eons until I finally gathered enough courage to peek around the corner just to find nothing there.

But I let out a sigh of relief all too soon. When I went to turn around and retire to my chair and studies, my shadow faced me. Of course, I knew it was there the whole time, like how shadows are when light is present, but something was uncomfortably different about it.

My shadow seemed to be growing.

I walked a bit closer to observe it, expecting it to shrink and become more my size, but instead it towered before me. A hole tore through the center of its head, revealing a menacing smile with jagged teeth, and it let out an ear piercing shriek that was enough to cause me scream along with it.

My childhood nightmares were back to haunt me, and before it could grasp me with it's lanky and haggard finger like claws, doctors and nurses fled into the room to save me- like they had just heard the commotion and odd events that just happened in this very room. But before they turned to find where I was, the shadow was gone, it's long fingers trailing behind it as it fled along the walls to the door.

A/N:

Eh, faster than usual on the updates. Just a tad. Leave a star if you thought this was worthy <3

And I'm literally crying right now, in laughter. Oh my god. This was becoming more of a 'horror' book than I intended. Oh well. Exciting shit is happening, and that is all you guys care about. Peace <3

~Flamin'