Elijah opened his eyes only to find his mother and his sister worriedly staring at him. Alex had a phone on her hand as if she was calling someone.

"Elijah, Elijah." His mom said, furrowed brows. "Are you okay? You passed out."

"I'm fine." He said, trying to stand up. His mother held him down.

"We have to take you to the hospital and find out why did that happen." She said, looking at his sister, who started dialling.

"No, I don't need to go to the hospital, I'm fine." He said, knowing how fake that sounded. "I probably just passed out because I'm tired, or hungry, I don't know."

"And that is precisely why we need to go see a doctor. We don't know what happened." She said, with that "keep-this-up-and-I'll-scold-you" face.

Elijah didn't want to tell them what had just happened. He didn't want to tell them he had passed out because of a mysterious migraine. "How long have I been out?" He asked. It felt like just a couple of minutes had passed. "I got here and you were already blacked out." His mom said, while his sister talked on the phone. "But you woke up soon enough. Not more than one minute after I saw you."

So it was pretty fast, huh.

Elijah could barely think after what had happened to him.

What as wrong with him? What had happened to him that made him able to talk to... Death itself?

Strangely, that seemed sort of familiar to him, as if that intimidating figure had already crossed his path before. Maybe Elijah just needed to stop drinking soda.

There was no way that could be real, even though his heart insisted that it was. He probably just passed out because of exhaustion, since he hadn't been sleeping properly those past few weeks. Certainly, that was the cause. It was all a dream.

His mom insisted that he go to the hospital, however, and the doctors had nothing to say. He knew that would happen because what happened couldn't possibly be explained with science. It was a supernatural encounter, an out-of-reality experience. The doctors wouldn't be able to explain it.

They were getting back from the hospital when it happened. Elijah was looking out of the window when the car passed by the woods. Nothing had changed.

Then, he spotted a familiar figure in the distance. The skull mask and the black clothes were identical to the ones he saw in his dream. The head of the creature turned to him, seeming to notice his presence.

Elijah felt a sudden ache in his head. It was only for a fleeting second, and when it went away, it took the mysterious figure too.

Elijah felt tears welling up in his eyes.

What the hell was going on?