Marx lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He was in the guest room of the Tylers' house, spending the night because he had nowhere else to go. Tamara was most likely already asleep in the room next to his, but he could hear a faint murmur coming from downstairs. Restless and unable to sleep, he got up and silently opened the door. After a few seconds of hesitation, he crept halfway down the stairs and listened in on Lisa's and Tim's conversation.

"...-Said there was a weird crystal that seemed to hurt him to look at, and that he told her he felt static shock from out of nowhere. I don't believe the story, but it's too much of a coincidence. What if it's real? What if..." Lisa murmured. Marx took a tiny peek around the corner of the wall to see Lisa shaking her head and looking exhausted. "I don't know what we should do. I don't think he's what his mother says, but what else could he be? She never had a husband or boyfriend, never loved anyone or even really left her house. But here she has a son and claims he's evil. Says he should have died as a baby. Says he is dead. Their generation doesn't know, so maybe he doesn't know. But what if he does know? Tim, we could be housing a monster,"

Marx's heart went into his throat. They believe her? He thought. How could they believe her? He pulled his head back around the corner just in time and and tried to quiet his panicked breathing. You're not dead, or a monster... Calm down. Maybe they're talking about something else...? Marx couldn't imagine how they could be talking about anything else. It was too much of a coincidence.

They're crazy. Calm down, they're crazy. Maybe this whole thing is just a joke, a cruel prank before you turn fourteen. Maybe they're wrong. They have to be wrong.

Maybe they're right.

Marx put his head in his hands and sat down on the top step to think. From below, Tim started reassuring Lisa but Marx wasn't listening. He was scared and confused. What's going on?! His mind cried out. I'm lost! So, so lost...

While he was distracted, a strange feeling settled in the pit of his stomach and twisted in his gut like guilt. It spread throughout his whole body, making his fingers tingle with nonexistent electricity and his eyes burn like fire. He felt a strange hunger for something other than food, and his head throbbed in time with his heartbeat.

You are awake, a strange voice boomed in his head, sending icy chills down his spine and making his heartbeat stutter and stop.

He stood up and his limbs went limp, sending him tumbling down the stairs.

The darkness closed in around him and Marx remembered no more.