Maddox's POV

The shadows were back. I don't know what happened but they found me again. Maybe it was because I drank a few days ago, but it didn't matter. They were back.

They first found me in my cell a few years ago. I don't know when, I think I was a teenager. They were just shapes on the wall and I wasn't scared. But the more I got hurt, they got more real. They were black shapes but they weren't on the walls anymore. They would swarm around me and scratch me. I would wake up with marks and I begged and pleaded and cried to be able to get out of the cell at night. The men called me a liar. The shadows laughed. I suffered under them for a year. Until, one night they relented. The first time they dosed me, the shadows were gone.

Then the ones with red eyes came. The first night they came the old ones left and I thought I was safe and that it was over. I felt it before I realized what happened. It was worse pain, much worse than before, but it was too dark for me to see what happened. That morning when I woke up, I had bite marks all over my arms and neck. They looked human which scared me even more.

As time went on, they became people. My mother, the mailman, my teacher, random people from my life. They would tell me things I didn't want to hear. I would cover my ears and scream but that just made the shadows and the men holding me mad.

Tony tried to tell me to stop lying and that I was doing it to myself for attention. He didn't understand and just hit me harder.

Then one day, the first day they injected me, the shadows didn't hurt me. They would leave me alone, watching from the walls. I started stealing more of the 'medicine' to take before the lights went out. Tony found out and they made me stop taking it. But the shadows never came back.

Until tonight.

I stumbled out in the rain. I didn't know how I got outside or why I was outside and not in bed. I looked down at the small piece of paper in my hand. When did I get that? Colin gave it to me, but when? It had his phone number on it.

They were there. They were behind me, making their whispery laugh echo in the empty area. They were laughing at might me. They thought I was going to fail, I wasn't going to make it. I couldn't see, black spots crowded my vision and the world was spinning. I felt sick and tired. My arms were wrapped around myself, trying to protect myself from them. I felt their nails on my skin. I turned around wildly, trying to push them away.

Then they all moved to the side, parting the way for something. I stared at the approaching figure with wide eyes. Fear set in, I was terrified of what was coming for me. It felt like I was trapped inside honey. I was going so slow and he was coming for me. He was walking slowly, like he knew I couldn't escape.

It felt like the spell lifted off me and I finally started running. I didn't think about where I was going but my legs seemed to know. I ran down different streets, gasping for breath. Curse my weak body.

What was going on?

I wanted to go back home, but where was home? I had no home.

No, I had to calm down.

It was easier thought than done. I felt jittery and my hands trembled nervously. I pressed my back to the wall of the nearest building, looking around for him. I bolted, running like I was about to die. I might have been, I didn't know.

I ran and ran and ran until I stopped abruptly. I backed up and looked up at a house. It felt right. Not right but like I needed to go there. This must have been one of those 'episodes'  Dr. Kennedy was talking about. What else had she said? Did she say anything about stopping it? Think, Maddox, think.

An overbearing cold sweeped over me, smothering me. I couldn't breathe. How had he gotten me? I thought I was safe. The man's hands were around my neck, lifting me off the ground. I kicked at him but he didn't seem to feel it. He forced me to look at him. His face seemed to swirl around, making it impossible to see clearly. Everything seemed to spun into little dots of colour like that weird art that one of our tutors showed us.

The shadows darted in front of me, laughing softly. Their cold fingers grabbed my arms and they came closer, their laugh getting louder and louder. They weren't going to go away this time. This time would be the last. This time it was the end.

Then they disappeared.

Light cut through them like a sword. I dropped to the ground like a ragdoll, gasping for breath. I tried to get up, able to pull myself to my hands and knees, before a sharp pain ran up my body before finally reaching my skull. The world hummed and buzzed, swirling and spinning. The quiet hum rose to a great buzzing roar as the world faded around me. I passed out, lying in the rain, where I would probably be until I died of pneumonia. I closed my eyes and thought, Goodbye world.

Colin's POV

By now, I swore there was such a thing as fate. If there actually was, and I was right, fate was obviously an evil bitch.

I woke up, at 2 AM, to the sound of screaming. It was times like these that I hated being a such a light sleeper. So I got out of bed and threw open the front door. When I opened that door, a small part of me whispered, "Leave him there, it's not your problem." Once I might have listened to that voice. Once, I might have closed that door. But now everything was different, I was different. I jumped off the small, few steps I had at my door and rushed out into the road. It only took a second for me to recognize him. He was twitching and twisting in his sleep and with a bit of struggle, I lifted him up.

I carried him in like a baby, cradling his tiny form in my arms. What had happened? Why was he here? How did he get here? No, not time for an interrogation. Time for Doctor Colin. I carried him into my bathroom and propped him up against the drawers. He groaned a little and a slivers of green showed when he opened his eyes for a second. His eyes were glazed over and completely unfocused. Had he been drugged? I looked around my bathroom worryingly, I knew I had a first aid kit somewhere. I opened the cabinet next to Maddox and pulled out the white box. I would need a thermometer as well, he was shivering even though it was warm.

My hands were surprisingly steady as I cleaned up the gash on his forehead. Not really a gash, more of a scrape really, but it was pretty bad and bleeding a lot. There were marks around his neck, but they were fading and didn't seem to be hurting him so I just tucked the information away in my brain.

He didn't have a fever technically, but it was a little warmer than he was supposed to be. It couldn't have helped that his pajamas were thoroughly wet from the rain. He couldn't stay in them, he probably needed a bath too. I gently shook his shoulder, "Maddox? Maddox?" I was rewarded with some very sleepy green eyes. He made a small questioning noise and tried to sit himself up more. I put out a hand to stop him but he was already whimpering and holding his head in pain. He looked at his hands, as though they had caused the pain.

"Maddox?" He looked up and tried to move away from me, holding up his arms in defense. "Maddox. Calm down." He looked at me warily, "Okay, you have to get out of your pajamas at least. They're wet." He looked down as if just now noticing, " Why are you helping me? " His words were slurred, but understandable, "You're a jerk. You-you-". While he blathered, I had cleverly gotten him to start unbuttoning his top while I rummaged through my closet.

I came out holding a sweatshirt and he was now standing up, leaning against the bathroom door frame. He was only in his underwear and I swear you could literally hear my restraint breaking. He was so adorable, it was heart breaking. I helped him into the sweatshirt which was way too big for him, going down to the top of his thigh. I drank in the sight with my eyes for a moment before coming to his wobbly rescue. He had tried to stand up by himself and was rather unsteady. I picked him up and walked down to the guest bedroom. He was holding onto my neck, still shivering and I was proud of myself for having put a lot of blankets in there. I set him down on the bed gently and he immediately scrambled for me, panicking. "Colin, Colin, Colin! They're there!" He buried his face in my pajama top, hugging me tightly. There was nothing in the room, and I wondered for a second if he was actually sleep talking. No, he was legitimately scared of something.

I sat down on the bed and he clung to me closer. This was the boy who not too long ago was telling me I couldn't have any of his cake. He was still human. That thought comforted me for some strange reason.

"Maddox-"

"Why are they here? Is he going to get me? Why am I here? Why are you helping me?" His eyelashes fluttered closed as he slurred, " Colin? Colinnn? Will you staaay? You know how to keep nightmares awaay. " He pulled on my shirt and actually pulled on me to lay down. He curled up by my side, his head resting on my arm. I would call someone to come get him and explain what happened. But my eyes were closing and my body felt so heavy.

I mentally shrugged and pulled Maddox closer to me.  I watched the rain outside through the window. Thunder boomed and the boy beside me whimpered. I kissed his forehead to quiet him without thinking and lay in shock for a minute from my own actions. That wasn't like me. Oh well, I would never get the chance again. I looked out the window and when the lightning flashed, I could almost swear I saw a face in the window.