Ava and Noah laid in the middle of an alleyway, rain pouring down on their faces. Noah held Ava’s head tight praying that she started responding. Suddenly Ava slightly twitched. Noah looked down and stared at Ava’s face waiting for her to move again.

“Ava. Ava! Are you there? Please answer me,” Noah said.

Ava remained motionless, her eyes closed and her arms beside her. Noah shook her trying to wake her up from her deep sleep. Ava’s eyes slowly opened. Her serene green eyes meeting with Noah’s icy blue eyes. His eyes started watering, happy that Ava was finally awake. He looked straight into Ava’s eyes holding her cheek.

“Hey, Ava. Are you ok?”

Ava started mumbling some incomprehensible names.

“Laura, Mike, Alan, Elena, Martina...”

“What are you saying Ava? Who are those people?” He looked at Ava in confusion as he took off his extra shirt to wrap it around Ava.

He stood Ava up, taking her arm and putting it around him so they could walk to the nearest bus stop. Noah held unto Ava’s waist and arm leading her out of the alleyway. He then felt Ava shivering uncontrollably He looked at her and saw her lips turning blue and her face going pale. He quickly walked in front of her trying to make sense of what she was saying.

“Yes...midnight...together...avenge...Annie.”

Noah felt Ava’s forehead and quickly took his hand away, stepping away from her. Ava stood on her own mumbling the same things repeatedly.

“Ava. You’re burning.”

Ava turned to face him her eyes drooping from her body and begun saying some random numbers. Ava stopped talking and her eyes closed. Her body went limp and she fell, but before she could hurt herself, Noah caught her. She laid in his arms until her eyes started fluttering open.

She opened her mouth, but her words came out in barely a whisper. “Noah?”

“Ava? Is that really you?”

Noah looked at her small smile. She looked so exhausted, like she had been fighting for hours. He put her down as he sat next to her.

“Ava, what happened?”

“I don’t know. All I could see was darkness and there was this voice... It was like telling me things. And then I could see but everything was grey and unclear. That’s all I can remember.”

Noah sighed and hugged Ava.

“You don’t know how worried I was. I thought I was going to lose you. I never want this to happen again.”

Ava looked up at Noah who was trembling as he spoke.

“I’m sorry I dragged you here.”

“No. Don’t apologize. I’m glad I came here. You were in so much danger. And also, this was all my fault.”

Ava lifted herself up from his arms and looked at him.

“What do you mean it was your fault? You had nothing to do with this.”

Noah looked down, guilty of his actions.

“A man came up to me and said that I should give you this bottle that contained some kind of mist. And then I had to wave it under your nose, and when I did...”

Noah looked at Ava with teary eyes.

“And then your eyes started going weird...and you started floating and you weren’t responding...”

Ava hugged Noah tightly trying to calm him down.

“It wasn’t your fault. I saw you when after you gave it to me, but it went dark really quick. It did work, but I think something else was stopping it. Please don’t blame yourself.”

Noah put his head on her shoulder, and they sat there in each other’s embrace as the rain started calming down.

“Are you okay though? You’ve gone through a lot the past few hours,” he said.

Ava looked at her legs and saw many cuts on it. She squirmed at the sight of her arms covered in bruises. On the left arm there were great purple welts that will only deepen over the coming weeks for her.

“Where did I get all these bruises and cuts from?” Ava asked as she traced her body with her hand.

Noah shrugged trying to forget about everything. He looked away to the pathway were everything happened.

“We should go home,” Noah said.

Ava looked at him concerned that the recent things that have happened have scarred him. They spent so much time concentrating on what just happened that they lost track of time. Ava looked up and saw the rose gold sun setting down.

“Oh my god. Noah, what time is it?”

“It’s uhm...” Noah checked his phone and looked at Ava in panic.

“6pm. The bus is leaving in 5 minutes.”

Noah got up and helped Ava up. He covered her with his shirt and grabbed her by the waist as he helped her walk to the bus stop. As they were walking towards the bus stop, they saw the bus leaving. They stopped in their tracks and sighed in disappointment. They walked to the nearby bench and sat down. Noah put his hands on his face thinking what to do next.

“I’m sorry,” Ava said biting her lip.

“You have nothing to be sorry for Ava. Just try to stay calm while I think of something.”

Ava patiently sat there waiting for Noah to say something. She suddenly clutched her chest in pain. It felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart. She reached her hand out to grab unto Noah’s shoulder.

Noah slowly turned around to see Ava crying and holding her chest.

“Ava what’s wrong?”

“My chest,” she sobbed.

“I’m going to lower your shirt a bit okay?”

Ava nodded as she whimpered from the pain. Noah slowly put her dress a bit lower from the top as Ava winced as his cold hands touched her skin sending shivers through her body.

Noah loudly gasped.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Noah ran his hands over the item embedded into her chest. Ava cried out in pain. Ava quickly looked down to what Noah was touching. She screeched.

“What is that?! Get if off me!!”

She touched it and a rush of pain passed through her body. Noah touched it again in shock.

“Don’t touch it!” Ava yelled.

“Ava calm down, please. Just breathe. We need to find a way to remove it.”

Noah poked it as Ava sucked air through her teeth in agony. She looked at the item that was stuck on the middle of her chest. It seemed like it had become one with her body.