The first thing I see when I open my eyes is a perfectly white ceiling, and the only explanation for that is that I'm lying down. As I sit myself up, the image of the ceiling is replaced by one of a sagged face. Jamie's grandmother. What the--When did she rock up? She says something, but my disorientation is rendering me dumb and deaf.

I'm still in Ava's living room, except it's only me in here now, and I'm half-lying on one of the comfy sofas. The fire is still roaring. Where is everyone? What even just happened? I scan the room but still can't see anyone, and as my eyes turn back to what's in front of me, I'm reminded of the fact there's a dead old woman standing at my feet. I'd kill to have her plush dressing gown wrapped around me right now.

"Sorry," I interrupt her mid-sentence. "Not really a good time, I'm a bit out of it at the--Uh, what's wrong?"

"I just want to thank you for helping me with Jamie," she says in a voice far softer than I remember. Granted, last time I did see her she seemed to be having a mental breakdown. "I couldn't leave without thanking you."

I shrug in response. "Oh, it's cool, didn't really do much."

"Listen," she begins as her eyes dart back and forth. She leans in slightly, and lowers her voice as she continues speaking. "There is something going on, and it's getting bigger. I'm scared they're listening, I--I don't know what they're capable of, I'm scared of what they'll do if--" She freezes, glances around again, then lowers her voice even more. "They're watching you--they're watching all of us. You need to lose them."

"What?" I ask, unsure of whether what she's saying makes no sense, or if I'm still a bit delusional.

She says nothing, just stares, and small bursts of light begin to flicker around her. I don't have much time.

"Wait," I try. "What was wrong last time I saw you, when you said I wasn't safe? Is that what you're talking about?"

Jamie's grandmother still says nothing. The bursts of light surrounding her become more bright and frequent, and soon a ring of white light has formed itself around her entire body. I ask her to elaborate again, but I'm not even sure she can hear me anymore. As the frame of light around her becomes so bright that it almost blinds me, her lips part ever so slightly.

"Felix." She doesn't say it quietly, yet my name sounds like a whisper. "You have to remember."

The burst of light sheds itself over her whole body until nothing remains but empty space. This old hag loves a bit of melodrama, doesn't she? As if seeing what I assume was the corpse of my older sister sprawled across a car in some hallucinogenic state wasn't enough, now I have to deal with a load of mumbo-jumbo a dead old woman unleashed onto me. In fact, to top that off even further, where the hell is every--

"Felix?"

I lift my head and turn to the doorway, and see Carmen standing on her tip-toes looking over the sofa at me. Oh good, there haven't been any apocalypses while I was busy hallucinating then. Mind you, god knows where Annabel has gotten to.

"Hey, you all right?" Carmen asks as she treads over to the sofa, and I sit myself upright. "You scared the shit out of Mosi and Kato, pal, they thought you were possessed or something. Ava said you acted freaky when she did it too, what's that all about?"

I wave my hand in the air in an attempt to shrug the whole thing off, but when I try to stand, I trip over nothing and fall back onto the sofa. Why is my head spinning?

"Oi, take it easy," Carmen snaps.

"Sorry, I--I dunno. I get migraines a lot. I shouldn't have done that really; I felt one coming on, that's why I didn't really wanna do it at first."

That actually sounds pretty legit, doesn't it? I'm impressed with myself. I might roll with that one to explain my increasingly frequent bizarre behaviour. Carmen nods, seemingly satisfied with my excuse. My head still feels light, so I inhale a sharp intake of breath, and release it slowly. I figure I'll be fine now, so attempt to stand up for the second time. Turns out I was wrong because once again, I find myself crumpling back onto the sofa.

"For Pete's sake," Carmen groans.

My head is swimming again, so as she shoves my chest down to get me back into a lying position, I don't have the will or the strength to stop her. This does actually feel a lot better. Carmen sits down onto the laminate floor so that she's eye-level with me, and crosses her legs.

"You keep trying to get up too quickly, just shut your eyes and relax for a bit," she suggests. "I won't kiss you this time, I promise."

"Thank god for that," I mutter as I do as she says.

"Piss off!" Carmen smacks my arm, making me open my eyes again. "You hardly stopped me, and you weren't even drunk, mate, so shut it."

She has a point. I turn my head to the side to see her face inches away from mine. We're playing chicken again, and I refuse to be the one who turns away this time. Every troublesome thought, from the words Jamie's grandmother spoke to the image of Annabel's limp body now engraved in my memory, is drifting from my mind, and all I need to focus on are Carmen's pink lips.

I can feel her warm breath on my skin, and the flowery perfume she's wearing is making me even dizzier than I was moments ago. A strand of her dark hair falls onto her face, but she doesn't move it away. Who am I kidding? God, I fancy her.

"Food's ready," Carmen announces, suddenly standing back up. "Sorry, that's why I came in here. We thought you better eat because of the whole passing out thing, and y'know--Well, you definitely should if it was a migraine, food will be good."

I nod a bit too enthusiastically in an attempt to brush off any awkwardness, and lift myself up off the sofa, this time a lot more slowly. Other than asking me if I feel any better, Mosi and Kato don't address the fact that I just collapsed in their living room as I make my appearance, but I can feel their eyes on me throughout the whole meal. The warming smell of freshly cooked lamb circles the air, while I stare at the fungi on my plate and attempt to measure the degree of my self-loathing.

On the bright side, Annabel has finally decided to show up. She's sitting in a spare chair at the end of the long table, and the way in which she keeps sighing and playing with her hands suggests that she's eager to speak to me, probably to question me over the vision. I keep envisioning her fragile body dumped onto a car bonnet, and it's making me feel kind of sick.

#

As we arrive back at the flat, we pass Mason in the hallway. We've not seen him in at least a week, so expect some kind of acknowledgment, but he completely ignores us and brushes straight past without a word. What a sociable guy. As we walk into our kitchen, I can't really blame Mason for fleeing because while Katie has crumpled herself onto one of the sofas, Jamie's sitting on a plastic stool with his eyes fixated onto a box of cereal as if it just insulted him. Hardly party central.

Tom interrupts the silence with his booming voice as he blabbers on about lamb or something, but neither of them look up at him for more than five seconds. I was hoping there wouldn't be anyone in here so that I could access my secret stash of pork sausages, to be honest. Disappointed, I leave the kitchen and head into my bedroom, where Annabel is waiting for me.

"What happened? Did you see things again? Why did you pass out? Is it because you saw something? Why didn't you pass out last time? What did you--"

"Slow down, Jesus, you're giving me a headache," I mutter as I fall onto my unmade bed.

Annabel shuts her mouth, but continues to look at me expectantly. The image of her in my vision keeps flashing through my head, and it's making it difficult for me to look at her. I don't want to tell her.

"Felix?" she questions again.

I sigh. "I dunno why I passed out. I mean, what I saw this time round was way more... intense, but it was pretty much the same thing."

I shrug in hope of implying that the story finishes there. The expectant look remains in Annabel's eyes though, and she presses for more. Just tell her, it's not like she doesn't know she's dead, I try to reason, but I can't bring myself to do it. Annabel has always had this fascination with the person she was when she was alive, as if that person was never even her, and I wish I had something better to tell her other than the way her corpse looked strewn across a car. She asks me again.

"I saw you," I finally manage to mutter.

Annabel's jaw drops. "Seriously? Are you kidding? You saw me when I was alive? Oh my god, that's insane! What was I like?"

"No, you don't understand--"

"Did I say anything to you? Was I with Mum? Was I the same as I am now? This is--"

"Annabel, you were already dead."

She freezes. "Oh... I thought... Oh, sorry."

"I think I know what I'm seeing--I mean, I'm pretty sure it's the accident," I say in an attempt to get her mind off what I just revealed. "It just doesn't make sense though because Mum isn't dead in it, she's not even in the car. Neither am I, for that matter, but they found us all inside of it, didn't they?" I ask, to which Annabel nods quietly. "Maybe it's not actually what happened, maybe my mind's just trying to fill the empty space where the memory should be." I sigh as I lean my head back against the wall behind me. "Either way, I've still got no clue what the hell is going on."

Annabel nods again, and doesn't say anything. I was expecting more feedback, in all honesty, especially considering she's usually the type to have plenty to say. Then there's Jamie's grandmother and her dramatically vague announcements to worry about. I've no idea why this didn't occur to me before--probably because I'm a goddamn idiot--but I'm beginning to think that all this may be connected.

The images of the accident, the things Jamie's grandmother spoke about, her telling me to remember, the creature I keep seeing. In fact, is the car crash what Jamie's grandmother was referring to? Is that what I need to remember? I turn my attention back to Annabel to voice my thoughts, but she speaks before I can.

"Why do you think Mum saved you instead of me?" she asks quietly as she stares at the wall.

"What? Annabel, I don't think it worked like that, I don't think anyone saved anyone."

Annabel doesn't respond, and instead, just vanishes. Shit. She can't really think that, can she? I understand how the thought of your own mother leaving you to die while she saves your bratty eight-year-old brother can't be too heartwarming, but I really doubt that's the case. I call Annabel's name, but get no response. Shit.

I spend the next hour or so trying to move the same chewed pencil I'd tried shifting before we left for Ava's house. Not with my hands, of course, I've already mastered that skill. I initially attempt to move it off a whim, but with no luck, turn to Annabel's theory of it only being possible when I'm pissed off. The only issue is that I'm not pissed off. Monumentally confused and stressed, sure, but not pissed off. Ava didn't specify angry energy when I asked her about it earlier though, so I decide to allow myself to get knee deep in this shit-pile of confusion.

As I try to focus that confusion onto the pencil though, all I get is a slight wobble, and that might just be from aggressively tapping my foot under the desk. On the bright side, it's becoming really goddamn frustrating, so hopefully that'll build enough for me to manipulate it. More time passes and it's still not working, and it's really starting to irritate me because what use is this bullshit ability if I'm too emotionally inept to control it?

I'm still glaring at the pencil as if it's committed the most heinous crime when there's a loud knock on the door. I jump, and the pencil shoots forward, bouncing itself against my bedroom window. Of course, now it wants to listen.

There's another knock on my door, so I leave the pencil where it landed on my desk, and get up to answer it. Carmen is standing there with raised eyebrows.

"You all right? Kinda look like you want to kill someone."

"Yeah, sorry, I just... Never mind," I reply. "What's up?"

"A few of us are watching some films in the kitchen, if you fancy it. Jamie's being his miserable self by locking himself in his room again, and Ava's getting some work done, but the rest of us are up for it."

"Even Mason and Katie?" I question, and Carmen nods. "Shit, yeah, can't miss that. I see unicorns more frequently than I do them."

Carmen laughs a bit too much for such a shit joke, but I kind of like it. Once I grab my phone, we head into the kitchen to join everyone. Tom and Mason are sitting beside the small coffee table in-between the sofas, while Katie and her boyfriend sit on one of the sofas with a laptop awkwardly perched on both of their laps. Tom and Mason are looking at something on the table, but I can't make out what it is.

Carmen sits down while I go to grab myself a drink of water, only to realise I've not cleaned any of my glasses. I take one of Jamie's from his cupboard.

"Where'd you get that?" Carmen's voice distracts me from what I'm doing.

I turn to the group, and I assume she's referring to whatever Tom and Mason have on the table, but I still can't see it. I quickly pour some water into the glass, and head on over to them.

"Some guy from the paranormal society gave it to me," Tom explains as I near them. "Cool, right?"

Once I reach them, I finally realise what it is they're talking about. Laid out on the small coffee table is what looks like a board game, but it doesn't take me long to realise what it actually is.

"Some random guy gave you a Ouija board?" I ask Tom as I sit down next to Carmen. "Sounds legit."

"You're not going to use it, are you?" Carmen asks.

Mason looks up from the table and rolls his eyes at her as if she's stupid. "Nah, just thought we'd stare at it and do nothing."

I personally want to hit the guy, but Mason's sarcasm doesn't seem to faze Carmen because he doesn't silence her. "They're meant to be really dangerous, I don't think--"

"If you're too scared to use it, babe, just say. It's all bullshit anyway," Mason retorts.

"You could always not be a dick about it," I interject.

"Bloody hell, calm down. You fancy her or something, Ferris?"

"It's Felix."

"Whatever."

I have to say, I can't quite remember Mason being this level of monumental dickhead during freshers' week. There's a bottle of vodka on the floor beside him and he's got a drink in his hand, so I'm not sure if he's drunk or just a general arsehole.

"I'm going to go and ask Ava about it," Carmen announces as she stands up.

I figure that's probably a good idea. To be perfectly honest, I also think it's bullshit, but after being stalked by some big gangly thing with black eye sockets, I'd rather be on the safe side. Mason laughs as Carmen leaves the room, and Katie begins reading off information she found online regarding Ouija boards. She's searched for safe ways to use one, so hey, at least the thought is there.

Katie is reading something out about cleansing the area, which in itself sounds suspiciously satanic, when Carmen returns. Ava follows suit, and I expect to see anger or concern on her face as she wanders in, but instead she's just humming a tune. Without uttering a word, she grabs the Ouija board from the small table, and heads back out the door.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Mason calls after her, to which she says nothing.

We follow Ava as she leaves the flat and begins skipping down our block's stairs. She's still humming something. Mason keeps calling her, and she keeps ignoring him, and for someone so small she sure is fast. Her pace seems effortless, yet we all have to jog lightly to keep up with her. Once she's left the building, she walks around it until we reach the path that runs alongside our block, and she stops at the riverbank.

"Ava, what are you doing?" Tom asks this time.

As expected, Ava says nothing. Annabel has joined us now, and she watches Ava with curious eyes. I figure it's a good sign. Maybe she's not so upset anymore. My attention is soon pulled away from her though because as Ava continues to hum an upbeat song, she drops the Ouija board onto the ground, snatches Mason's drink straight from his hands, pours its content over the board, then lights the corner of it with a lighter. It bursts into flames.

"That's not mine!" Tom yells as panic drowns his voice.

I am laughing so hard. I don't even know why I find it so funny, but as Tom dances around the thing trying to stomp the fire out, my stomach is literally aching from laughing so much. I catch Annabel's eyes to see her laughing too, and Carmen seems to find it pretty hilarious. Ava was so goddamn casual over it, it was brilliant. When I turn to her though, my laughter stops. She's stopped humming, and her face is blank. Cold even. She looks around the circle, her gaze lingering on each one of us for a few seconds.

"Don't ever touch one of those things again."