“....It’s growing stronger…” a muffled, far away voice sounds.

“...This is because of the incident?” Is that Mark?

“We aren’t exactly sure. You do remember what the warnings were, don’t you?”

 

What? What warnings? What are they talking about?

“Is there something we need to do to make sure that it doesn’t happen?” Mr. Tuan? What is he doing here? I thought he was in London on a business trip. What’s going on?

 

I attempt to open my eyes, but get blinded by the harsh lights above me. I groan.

 

“Cyren!”

Yup. That is definitely Mark. He is always so loud. I open my eyes after being temporarily blinded and look around to notice that I’m in a hospital bed. Mr. Tuan and Mark are looking at me with worry-filled faces.

 

“What happened? And why am I in the hospital?” I attempted to speak, but my voice was hoarse. My head started pounding from the sound. With a grimace on my face, I held my head in my hands and sat up.

 

“I’ll go get the doctor” a nurse, that I had only just realised was there, said.

“Are you ok, Cyren?” Mark asked.

“My head is pounding, but other than that I’m fine. What happened?”

“You out and nearly fell off the side of the treehouse. What happened to you?”

 

What DID happen? All I remember is Mark taking me to the treehouse for a surprise he had planned, and then-

 

“I heard my Dad. I heard his voice.” the sound of my voice cracked as I started crying.

“What? You heard Richard’s voice?” Mr. Tuan stood shocked, with wide eyes asking me. I did hear his voice. But the nightmare… Maybe it was all in my head. Was my mind playing with me when I heard it? No. I remember Mark saying exactly what my father said all those years ago.

 

“I’m sorry that I ruined your surprise today Mark.” I timidly spoke.

“Today? Cyren, this happened three days ago. You’ve been in a mini coma since then.” he said with a look of pity.

“THREE DAYS?!”

 

*Bu-Bum*

 

The sound of my heart beat filled my head and pounded against my skull. The pounding only increased and started to feel like a fire erupted under my skin. I yelled and grimaced with tearful eyes at the incredulous sensation.  

 

“Cyren… Cyren… Happy Birthday… NO! I WON’T LOSE YOU AGAIN!” the voices collected inside my head, all screaming at the same time.

 

“PLEASE! Make it stop!” I pleaded as sweat trickled down my forehead.

 

“CYREN! Richard she is beautiful… Lily? Lily…? LILY?!”

“Sir you need to leave...Beep beep beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep…”

What is this? Why am I seeing this? How do I remember that? My mother’s pale, dead face was in front of me, but I was only just born.

 

“No No NO! Lily wake up!” my father’s hand went in to touch mother’s cheek-

 

I screamed out in pain as a shockwave flashed through my body when I saw my father touch her cheek. Hysteria was in the room. I could see Mark through my pain stricken eyes. He was holding my cheek and leaning over me trying to get me to snap out of it. My vision was shaky and blurred from tears, and the pain never ceased. It only continued to worsen until I glanced over at the doctor above me on the opposite side of the bed from Mark. The doctor had stuck me with a needle and once again everything around me became black.

 

    **********

 

    My head hurts…

    My whole body hurts, but when I tried to move my movements were stiff. I started out by trying to move my fingers. Wiggling them to gain some feeling back. Then I opened my eyes only to see the familiar white ceiling that I had seen before. I looked to the right and saw Mark asleep on the couch in a very uncomfortable position. He was sleeping, and despite his uncomfortable position he looked so peaceful. That is until I looked at his face peeking behind the blanket he was clinging to. His face had a permanent scowl on it, brows contorted in worry and anxiety.

  

 I attempted to call out his name, but it came out as more of a grown than a coherent word. The door of the room opened to reveal a nurse who came in with a clipboard.

  

 “Oh! You’re awake. I’ll go get your doctor.” she said with a click of her pen.

  

 Mark groaned and lifted his head up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Then glanced in my direction to find me awake. His eyes immediately widened with all of the white of his eyes showing. I swear his eyes could just pop out of his head. He stood up and ran over to me, then continued to ask me questions like does it hurt, how are you feeling, what happened, thank god you’re ok, where is that doctor, you scared me.

  

 Though my voice restricted the amount of answers I could give him, I just let out a groan.

  

 The door opened up again. This time the doctor came in to assess my condition. He went through some minor checkups, and then sighed with a face of pity.

  

 “I have got some news for you. And it isn’t good… Your blood tests came back from the lab and we haven’t got a clue as to what is going on with you. The DNA samples do not match anything that would be considered human. So I am going to need you to tell me exactly what happened back at that treehouse.”

    I stared back at him with my jaw practically hitting the floor at the only sentence that caught my attention.

Not… human…?