together, but what I heard over them were the pleas and cries that tore from my throat. I fought them, my determination to get to my sister making me swing and kick, but in the end they won and I lost.
I lost everything.
I stared at the flames that swirled and danced with one another, knowing that my baby sister had been claimed by them. She was dead and there was nothing I could do to save her. My world became all the darker, even as orange and blue lights flickered around me. Inside of me there was no light, no peace – just all-consuming sadness, anger and hopelessness.
Things that people normally felt in the dark.
CHAPTER ONE
NOAH
Present day . . .
Dissonant beeping. That was what I awoke to.
I wasn’t sure what the beeping was or where it was coming from, but it was somehow familiar to me. It was as if I’d heard it, or woken up to it, a few times before. I couldn’t place the cause of it though, and when I tried to think of what it could be, the pain started. An excruciating sensation pulsed throughout my skull. It was so agonising that I couldn’t open my eyes or move my limbs. My body was completely tense and rigid as it braced itself against the pain. I wished for it to go away, but it didn’t, it only lessened slightly to the point where I could open my eyes.
My vision was hazy, but slowly a brightly lit room came into view.
An off-white coloured ceiling caught my attention the second my vision could focus. Like the beeping, it was familiar to me, but I had no idea what place it was linked to. For a few minutes, I did nothing but stare at the ceiling as I waited for the pain in my head to fade. It never went away, but eventually the pounding gave way to a throb. Though it was constant and still very painful, I could just about tolerate it. I had no choice but to endure it.
I attempted to say “hello” but my voice didn’t sound like my own. The word came out as a slur, barely coherent to my own ears. I tried to say it again, but it felt like my tongue was suddenly too big for my mouth. I wasn’t sure how long I was lying there figuring out how to work my tongue, when suddenly the sensation that the muscle was too big just faded away.
“Hello!”
My voice was hoarse and my throat itched, like I needed to down a litre of water to soothe it, but I said the word loud and clear. It felt like a victory of sorts. I tried to clear my throat to scratch the itch, but the action proved to be too painful, so I resisted the urge to cough, even though that was what my body desperately wanted to do. I carefully attempted to sit up, but I couldn’t. My body felt like a heavy weight and I wasn’t strong enough to lift it. Though I couldn’t move all that well, I could turn my head from side to side. I slowly looked to my right and the decor – and machinery – that came into view told me where I was instantly.
A hospital, or medical clinic of some kind.
The beeping I heard seemed to come from a machine that appeared to register my heart rate. I didn’t linger on it; the sound was ear-piercing and sharp. Instead, I turned my attention to finding the Call button that every hospital, or medical facility, had. I hoped it wasn’t on the wall to the left or right of the bed, because I hadn’t got the strength to move my body. I didn’t seem to have the strength to do anything.
I was thoroughly exhausted, and before I could attempt to move, my eyes drifted shut and forcibly pulled me into a dreamless slumber.
A throbbing ache in my leg brought me back into awareness. My eyes darted open and once again I found myself staring at the off-white ceiling. It took me a minute to think straight and realise that I wasn’t dreaming. I was in a hospital, I reminded myself. I needed to speak to someone. A nurse, a doctor, anyone.
The Call button.
I needed to press that bloody Call button, wherever it was. I moved my arms, jerky movements at first, and felt a pulse reader on the index finger of my right hand. My left