Jevae-

I had kissed him. My lips had met his cheek. My face was burning hotter than the sun as I sprinted up the stairs. At first the running helped me clear my head, but by the second staircase I was tired, so I opened the door leading into the hall and walked as calmly as possible to the elevator. I clicked the button and leaned against the wall as I waited for the doors to open.There was a quiet ding and I shuffled into the elevator and went to click the level three button. It was already glowing so I looked up to see who else was on my floor. Of course. It was Fen. I had just fought away the blush when it came blooming back in full power. I quickly turned away and looked at the floor. Half of me was hoping he would say something the other half was hoping he stayed silent. A couple of seconds that felt like hours passed, and the doors opened once more. I jumped toward the door marked C and flung myself inside. Not awkward at all.

Fen-

She had kissed me. I was still thinking about it when I walked into the building and boarded the elevator. I was still lost in thought when the doors opened on the second floor and someone walked in. I glanced down and realized it was Jevae. Our eyes met and suddenly there was a furious blush on her face. She quickly looked down, while I looked up. I could feel the flush on my own face. I debated saying something, but what would I say. ‘Thanks for that. I accept your apology.’ That just seems wrong and inappropriate. Before I had a chance to fully gather my thoughts, she had bolted straight into Ms. Sage’s apartment. A part of me wondered what she was doing in Ms. Sage’s apartment, but I mostly felt hurt that she wanted to get away from me so quickly. I shuffled to my apartment, utterly ungraceful. I walked in and slammed the door behind me, surprising myself. I was usually so poised and collected. I walked over to the fridge and opened it. I pulled out a bottle of water and shuffled towards the couch. I slouched onto the couch, took a swig of water, and closed my eyes. I thought of everything that had transpired since I met her. She tried to commit suicide. I changed the timeline for her. She noticed. She laughed at my name. I laughed at hers. Jevae. So starkly clear in my mind. She touched my heart in a way no one has before. I opened my eyes and stared out through the clear doors of the balcony. I noticed a weird bird fluttering by. I recognized it. A part of my brain was yelling at me to notice it. I was so drained. So tired. I closed my eyes again and dreamt of Jevae and what it would be like to be normal with her.

Jevae-

My siblings were here as was my father. Kaisley ran over as soon as she saw the state I was in. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing”, I responded.

“What do you mean nothing?! You’re bright red and sweating! You never sweat.” she shouted back at me reaching up to touch my forehead to feel for my temperature. I dodged her hand and made my way to the couch, steadying my breathing.

“What happened?” My father came over and sat next to me.

“Nothing. I just ran because there was a dog that was barking at me. I’m so out of shape that the least bit of exercise makes me winded,” I chuckled nervously, trying to brush it off, “so what are you doing here dad?”

“I just came to make sure that everything was fine and to share how I’m doing.” Ms. Sage was throwing me weird glances. Wait. Don’t tell me animals are not allowed in the building. Crap.

“Everything is fine. How is it going at the rehab center?”

“Fine. Everyone is friendly and the food isn’t half bad. So, why did you get home later than your siblings?”

“Oh that! Nothing. I just had to ask someone about something after school.” Victoria’s mouth curved into a dangerous smirk. I prayed she didn’t say anything.

“Is it about that boy that lives across the hall that we bumped into this morning? Ohhhh! Jevae has a boyfriend!” Of course she had to say something. I was most likely bright red again.

“Is this true Jevae? Are you seeing someone now?”, my dad asked in a serious tone.

“I did meet him but our relationship is not like that. We’re more like frenemies.”

“Sure…” Kaisley remarked practically glowing at the thought of me with a cute guy. Ugh. Not again. It's not that he isn't cute. I just shouldn't be having these thoughts about him.

“Don't y'all have homework or something to do?” I grabbed my bag and walked toward our room, closing the door behind me. I heard the conversation pick up again, but decided to ignore it. It was around six when I finally got through the last calculus problem. Hah, what a useful subject, I thought sarcastically. Where would I use it in life?

I stepped out of the room and into the hallway. When I entered the living room, my siblings were putting away their school stuff and sitting at the kitchen table. A heard a ding, signaling someone was at the door. I opened it and there was a pizza delivery guy. God, the pizza smelled amazing. I called for Ms. Sage and she paid the guy. As she took the pizza and I went to close the door, I saw a weird glint in the person's eyes. I decided to ignore it and quickly shut the door, locking it for good measure.

When I entered the kitchen there were plastic plates and cups set up. The cups were filled with, what I later found out was orange Fanta soda. The pizza was on the center of the table and my siblings were already digging in. I took a slice and sat on the couch. I turned on the TV and turned up the news. It seemed there were an odd number of earthquakes near the Cascade mountains. Weird. I turned the TV down again and went to stand behind Kaisley’s chair, in the process grabbing another piece. I noticed that Ms. Sage was eating a Hawaiian pizza. Pineapple most definitely does not belong on pizza.

“...science test tomorrow. I’m gonna fail I suck at science,” Victoria was saying, whining and pouting at the same time.

“Did you study?” I asked. If she didn’t at least read over her notes once, how did she expect to do good on the test?

“No…..” she said, looking at me with puppy dog eyes, begging me silently to help her review. I nodded once and finished my pizza. No more for me. I was starting to feel nauseous. I’m getting old. Usually two pizza slices don’t make me feel this way.

The next hour was spent cleaning and reviewing. Turns out Elijah had a math test this coming week and he hadn’t finished his homework packet yet. It was 9:30 by the time everyone was tucked in. Kaisley and Victoria were sleeping on the bed and I was sleeping on the floor with Elijah. I opted out of sleeping on the bed. They needed sleep more than I did.

It was around midnight when I first heard the tapping. I ignored it at first. Then it became more insistent. I got up to see what the hell was disturbing my sleep. There was nothing immediately there. I looked to the right, left, down, and up. Then I looked straight out. It was a beautiful night. There was a big cloud covering the moon. Are clouds usually that big and dark. The cloud kept getting bigger. Then it looked down. Wait. Clouds can’t look down. There was a giant fucking crow coming right at me. I did the first logical thing that came to mind. I screamed. It was to late. The bird hit the side of the building. I was blasted back. When I recovered enough to lift my head, Ms. Sage’s apartment was gone. I was in the hallway. At a second glance I was leaning against Fenrock’s apartment door. I actually got my scream out this time. Then the tears came. My second home was destroyed. Where were my siblings. They weren’t in the hallway with me. I started lifting debris, ignoring the cuts and other injuries all over my body. I moved even with a twisted ankle and dislocated shoulder. Why was no one coming out? Where were the police? Where were the firefighters? Where was everybody? I was sobbing on the ground, tired of searching, a broken doll, hair in knots, when I noticed a tall figure approaching me. I looked up, thinking it was finally the rescue team. I was shocked. It was the pizza guy from earlier. He was holding a long knife. I started laughing hysterically. Great. At least I won’t be the only survivor. I looked out the hole in the building and saw the moon. I closed my eyes waiting for the blow to come. It never did. I opened my eyes and there was a beautiful girl with bright red fiery hair, battling the pizza guy. Her french braids flying like whips as she did a backflip and kicked the guy square in the face. I gasped, surprised by her nimbleness. Someone hauled me back as the girl sent rocks hurling at the pizza guy. Wasn’t that impossible? I turned around to see who it was. Standing before me was a very fine male specimen, sporting a shaved head and many freckles.

“Who are you?” I stuttered, trying to get over the sheer size of his muscles.

“French. Thomas French.” I couldn’t help but laugh

“That was so corny,” I said between giggles. Thomas blushed, cleared his throat, and then let go of my arm. I stumbled a little, trying to regain my balance. I winced as I put weight on my injured leg. I fell back, not able to hold myself up. I prepared myself to hit the ground, again, but instead a pair of warm arms encircled me. I turned around and stared right into a pair of ice blue eyes. I was so relieved to see him that I just let the tears fall. I borrowed my head in his shoulder and hugged him back. I stood there, in his embrace, for what felt like centuries but was probably only seconds, when a tremble shook the building. I untangled myself from Fen and looked behind me. The giant bird had turned into a woman and was trying to kill Thomas. Great, just what I need. My siblings are missing, Ms. Sage is probably dead, and now Thomas and Fen were in danger.

“No!” I turned back around to where the red-headed girl was last and she was diving straight to a sphere of purple light. How had I not noticed that before? The girl was too late. Pizza guy hit the top of the sphere with his knife and…..out fell my siblings. I rushed towards them, but was pulled back. When I glanced back to see what was the problem, I did a double take. Fen had turned into a literal angel. His hair was pure white and his eyes shone like pieces of the moon.

“Fen?” I asked. He looked away with what looked like self-hate in his eyes. I kissed his cheek and got behind him. It wasn’t the first time and we were probably about to die. I got behind him as he started to walk toward my siblings. Pizza guy took Fen as an opponent. By what I could see, pizza guy was actually scared of Fen. I prayed his was okay and ran towards my siblings as they moved to another part of the ruined building to begin their fight. I got to Kaisley first so I checked her pulse. I checked all of their pulses. I breathed a sigh of relief when I discovered them alive. I began to shake Kaisley awake so she could help me with Victoria and Elijah. There was a huge blast and then Fen was falling off the side of the building. I started screaming and ran to the edge. He was about to hit the ground. I couldn’t take it. I jumped.