┊┊┊┊ ➶ CASSIE 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

"Mum!" Cassie shot out of bed. In the seconds that Cassie had been awake, she ran out of her room, up the stairs and into the room that Cal and Kayla shared. Her eyes were wide, she scanned the room, searching for whatever made her daughter scream, and that was when she saw Cal shaking in his bed.

"Pomogni mi!" He cried.

"Hey, hey, Cal it's okay, I'm here, I'm here," Grace hugged her son as she soothed him. Ben stood beside Grace, Cal's parents cuddling him.

Michaela was the last to burst into the room, "What is he saying?"

Ben shook his head, "He's muttering in his sleep, it's probably nothing."

Grace placed her hand on Cal's forehead, "He's burning up!"

"I'll get the thermometer," Michaela offered as she ran out of the room.

Kayla was sobbing, the four-year-old was covering her ears as she watched her cousin cry in pain. "Kay, why don't you help Aunt Mick find the thermometer?" The toddler nodded, she left the room, her eyes not leaving Cal until she disappeared into the hallway.

"They're hurting me!" Cal cried, "Help! Pomogni mi!"

Ben kissed Cal's forehead, "It's just a bad dream, buddy. You're safe."

"No, no, no! Not the red door!" Cassie's heart was rising as she watched her nephew shake in his bed. She stood there, helplessly watching Grace and Ben comfit Cal. Cassie has seen night terrors before, when Kayla was two she would wake up in the middle of the night crying, sometimes Cassie would have to sit up with her for hours before she fell back to sleep again. "Pomogni mi!" Cassie felt helpless as she listened to Cal's cries.

Michaela entered the room and handed the thermometer to Grace. Cassie flinched as she suddenly felt small arms wrapping around her legs, "Hey Kay," Cassie scooped up her daughter.

Cal squirmed away from the thermometer as Grace tried to place it under his armpit. Grace gently held him still. "Shh, shh. Let me see," she whispered to him to calm down as she turned it.

"No! No! No! Not the red door!" Cal exclaimed causing Kayla to flinch into Cassie's arms. Cal's eyes were wide open, but he continued to shake and mutter as if stuck in a dream.

The thermometer beeped, "103.2."

Ben picked Cal up, "We should get him to a hospital. Get Olive."

"No, she slept at Avery's."

Cassie picked up Kayla's school bag, it had her water bottle, hat and shoes prepared for the next day, it didn't have any food in the bag but they could always grab something to eat at the hospital. Meanwhile, Ben and Grace ran out of the room, they didn't stop to grab anything, meaning that Cassie was the unappointed packer. Mick crossed her arms, "Is there anything I should grab?"

"Can you get my keys? I'll get Kayla in the car."

Cassie picked up Arte the Dragon and put it in Kayla's bag, 'cal's going to miss you, Lil guy,' Cassie thought to herself. She didn't know how long Cal was going to be in the hospital but she knew one thing for sure, Cal hates sleeping without Arte.

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

Cal's been sleeping for the last hour, he's been tested on and monitored for just over four hours and the doctors still haven't figured out what's causing his fever. Ben and Grace are waiting in the room with Cal but Cassie and Michaela decide that they don't want to overcrowd Cal, so they're sitting in the waiting room. Kayla had a toy car that she had hidden in her bag, the toddler sat on the floor as she rolled the car around. "Mummy, catch!"

Kayla rolled the car across the pathway and into Cassie's feet. Cassie picked up the car, it was a red Jeep. Cassie looked across the pathway, making sure no one was walking past before rolling the car back to Kayla. Kayla caught the car, giggled and turned it back to her mum.

They took turns rolling the car back and forth.

Cassie looked down at her phone, it was 7 am. They had been here for about 5 hours, Olive probably hadn't even woken up yet. Cassie sighed, she placed her phone back in her pocket before looking up. Cassie's eyes widened as she saw Kayla roll the car into a doctor's foot, "Kayla! Say sorry."

The doctor bent down and picked up the toy car, she handed it to Kayla. "It's okay, no harm done."

Cassie smiled at the doctor, it's been a while since she's seen the doctor, just under a month. "I'm really sorry, aren't we Kay?"

Kayla nodded, "Sorry."

Saanvi chuckled, "It's fine, really."

"This is my daughter, Kayla."

"Nice to meet you, Kayla. I'm Saavni, you're mum is a friend of mine."

The toddler grinned, "I know, mum thinks you're pretty."

Cassie blushed, her pale cheeks warmed. "Okay! It was nice talking to you Saanvi, I'm going to talk to my daughter about personal conversations."

Saanvi laughed, "You know what, Kayla? I think your mum is really pretty too."

Cassie coughed, caught off guard by the sudden compliment. Of all the things she had expected the doctor to say, that was not it.

Standing in the corner of the waiting room, Michaela ended her phone call and walked over to the girls. Cassie didn't know who she was on the phone with but assumed it was Jared. "How is he?"

Saanvi looked at Michaela, a soft frown appearing on her face. "We've given him acetaminophen to knock his temperature, but we still haven't identified what's causing his fever."

Michaela looked at Cassie and Kayla and then back to the doctor, Saanvi nodded. "It was nice talking to you Kayla, Cassie," Michaela and Saanvi then walked into an empty waiting room.

Cassie frowned, she thought about her conversation with Amber Lahey, as far as Cassie was concerned, Michaela and Ben weren't hearing voices like MJ but it seemed that every time one of them talked to Saanvi, it was a secret that Grace and Cassie weren't let in on.

Cassie suddenly felt a tug on her dress, she looked down to see Kayla hugging her toy car, "Is Cal dying?"

Cassie felt the cold reality of what was happening hit her, she looked into her daughter's bluebell eyes, Kayla's never lost anybody before. Cassie shook her head, "No, no, he's just sick."

Kayla looked down, she sniffled, "I don't like hospitals when I'm sick..."

Cassie sighed, getting down to Kayla's eye level. "Do you remember the stories Olive told you about Cal?'

"He's funny!"Kayla nodded.

"And?"

"That he was sick..."'

"That's right..." Cassie's heart ached, she'd had to tell a lot of kids hard things, she's a middle school teacher, it's a part of her job but it doesn't make it easier. Kayla looked away, she sniffled once more. "Are you sad?"

She nodded.

"It's okay to be sad, you don't need to hide it from me."

"But you hide when you are sad."

Cassie felt her heart shatter, in the last five and a half years, Cassie had built a stronger shield than she intended to, raising two girls was hard, especially during the months when Grace was too depressed to help. Cassie had to learn to put on a confident face, Olive had gone through too much already, she didn't need to see how much Cassie was falling apart. A lump of regret appeared in her throat, she felt a pinprick of guilt in her chest, she hadn't meant to teach her daughter and niece to hide their emotions. Cassie took Kayla's hand and squeed them tight, "I know, but I'm dumb. You should never need to feel like you should hide yours."

Kayla looked at her mother, she tilted her head to the side, Cassie was finally able to see the tears in Kayla's eyes, "Why?"

"Because being sad is an important part of being human, you remember Inside Out right?"

Kayla grinned, "Riley was sad!"

"That's right, and do you remember how Joy said that was okay?"

Kayla nodded and hugged her mother, "I'm sad."

Cassie kissed Kayla's forehead. "I know, honey."

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

Cassie looked at Cal sleeping, he looked so peaceful, a lot more so than when he was awake. "What do you think they're talking about?" Cassie spun her head to Grace, Grace was staring at Saanvi, Michaela and Ben, the three passengers were in the waiting room, whispering about something. "I know they're probably talking about Cal but I can't shake the feeling that they're talking about something else."

Cassie felt the same, she couldn't shake the conversation she had with Amber Lahey, about how MJ's been acting strange ever since Flight 828 returned. MJ and Cal were the only two kids on Flight 828, MJ had just turned 13 and Cal was a few months short from 11, if MJ was hearing voices, was Cal hearing them too? Is that why her siblings and Saanvi have been acting so strange?

Grace shook her head, "This all feels wrong, I've been here before. The hospital rooms, the tests and waiting for answers, Ben busier in the waiting room with his laptop than by his son's side—" Grace looked at Cassie, her eyes widening, "I didn't mean— That was unfair of me, Ben's your brother, he's trying to help Cal, in his own way," Grace corrected herself.

"Don't— You can be open with me about this, I know Ben is my brother but he has Michaela, she understands what he went through, you, you have me."

Grace sighed, "Thank you. I'm just frustrated, what's so important that he would rather be out there than in here with his son? If Kayla was sick, where would you be?"

"Right here, I doubt I would leave her side."

Grace nodded, "So why does he?"

Ben looked up from his laptop, his eyes latched with Cassie's, a pinch of shame from talking about Ben behind his back running through her, especially since Cassie wasn't around when Cal first got sick. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when Cal first got sick."

Grace shook her head, "I don't blame you, Cass. You were young, what 18-year-old wants to spend their life in a hospital?"

"He was so young, 6 when he got diagnosed! I couldn't believe it," Cassie chuckled, "I still remember when Mum and Dad let me visit the twins in the hospital, I didn't want to go because I was still mad that you weren't going to babysit me and Mick anymore."

Grace laughed, Cassie was happy to hear the sound, especially since Grace has so few of them. "It's so weird to remember back then, you were so little."

"Hey! I'm only ten years younger than you and Ben!"

"You'll always be a baby," Ben said as he entered the room, causing Grace to snicker.

Cassie turned to her brother, surprised to see only Saanvi and Ben, "Where's Mick?"

"She needs to go out for a bit," Ben replied casually.

Cassie's eyes widened as she spotted Michaela near the exit. Without hesitation, she chased after her, "I'll be right back," she told them, but more so Grace. "Michaela!"

The dirty blonde paused as she heard her sister's voice, she turned around and saw Cassie chasing after her, "What are you doing?"

Cassie crossed her arms, "Where are you going?"

Michaela put her hands in her pants, she looked over to the room that Cal was in, Cassie followed Michaela's eyes and saw Ben watching them intently. "I'm going to look for someone from the plane."

Cassie's eyebrows borrowed, an expression of confusion visible on her face, "Why?! Cal's sick, are you seriously going to leave right now?"

Michaela looked down, "I'm sorry, it's important, really, I just can't explain why."

Cassie shook her head, "You can't just not be here, Mick. Cal needs us, all of us—"

"I'm not you, Cassie, I'm here, I'm helping!"

"Excuse me?" Cassie felt a bitter taste appear on her tongue.

"I didn't— I'm sorry, I need to go."

"I'm your sister too, Michaela. Whatever you and Ben are sneaking around doing, whatever you're whispering about, I don't understand why you don't trust me enough to know it too."

Michaela frowned, "It isn't like that, Ben thinks the person from the plane has something to do with Cal, and I do too, we can't explain it but I trust Ben."

Cassie signed, running a hand through her honey-blonde hair, "You should be here but— If Ben thinks this is what is best for Cal..." She shook her head, "What about Grace?"

"Ben's going to talk to Grace about it."

Cassie couldn't imagine Grace taking that well.

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

Cassie was right, 30 minutes ago, Ben walked into the room and explained why Michaela was missing, 5 minutes later Ben walked out of the room and created himself a nest in one of the waiting room chairs. Cassie doesn't know what Ben told Grace, but whatever it was made the two of them separated.

Cassie looked at Kayla, the toddler was curled up in a ball on one of the chairs, she was cuddling the plastic car as if it was a soft teddy bear like Arte the Dragon.

Saanvi sat down next to Cassie, the blonde suddenly felt the urge to fix her hair as it was quickly thrown into a messy bun on the drive to the hospital, "How are you?" Saanvi asked.

"Do you ask all your patient's family that?"

"No," Saanvi hums, "But I try to with my friends."

Cassie blushed, remembering the conversation she had with Saanvi only hours ago, "I'm sorry about what Kayla said, she doesn't have a filter—"

"It's okay, I meant what I said."

"Oh," Cassie's blush deepened, she's used to being complimented for her appearance, Cassie has honey-blonde hair with blue eyes and a bright smile but she's not used to being complimented by someone as pretty as Saanvi, "Um—"

A piercing alarm went off from Cal's room, Saanvi got up within a second and raced into the room. "Mum?!" Kayla cried as the alarm woke her up from her sleep, tears were running down her face as she looked at Cal's room.

"Hey, Kayla," Cassie looked in the room, the sound of Cal's cries making Cassie's voice falter, "It's okay, it's okay."

"What's wrong with Cal?!" Kayla exclaimed, she was shaking.

"Pomogni mi!" Cal screamed in the background.

Kayla cried into Cassie's arms, she soothed her daughter, hugging her tightly, the hug also comforting Cassie.

Cassie felt as though she had been sitting for hours, her arms wrapped around her daughter, fingers gently combing through her hair, soothing her. At one point Cassie saw she dozed off because she felt much more energized than she had before. She gazed down at Kayla, noticing the tear stains remaining on her shirt from when Kayla had rested her head as she fell asleep.

"Grace?" Cassie questioned as she saw her sister-in-law leave Cal's room, it being the first time she'd done so in the seven hours they'd been there. "What's wrong?" Grace's breath was heavy, she looked around the hospital, her eyes glassy.

Almost as if Grace didn't hear Cassie, she ignored her question, she didn't even look in her direction. Grace rushed through the hallway, Cassie's confusion turned into concern. Cassie looked into Cal's room, there was a nurse but no Ben, "Can you watch her?"

The nurse nodded.

Cassie looked down the hallway and saw Grace lock herself in the bathroom. Cassie walked up to the bathroom hesitantly, a part of her was worried about Grace, Grace hadn't eaten or slept all day but another part of her tried reassuring Cassie that Grace was okay and just going to the bathroom.

As Cassie got closer to the bathroom, she heard sobs escape. Cassie knocked on the door, "Grace?"

"Go away, Cass!" Grace yelled between sobs.

"I'm not going to do that, let me in."

After a brief moment, Cassie heard the click of the lock, the door swung open inviting Cassie into the room. Cassie looked at Grace, her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks were tear-stained. Cassie went to hug Grace, "Stop! Don't—," she snapped as she turned away from Cassie and took a seat on the ground.

Cassie put her hands in her pocket as she watched Grace sit on the bathroom floor, she bit her lip, she really didn't want to sit on the dirty floor but she also wasn't going to just stand there and watch Grace cry.

Cassie took off her cardigan and threw it on the floor, she sat on top of it.

Grace leaned against the bathroom wall, "He left."

"What?"

"When you were sleeping, Ben left."

Cassie gasped, "Are you serious?" She asked, annoyance clear in her voice. Grace chuckled bitterly, "Is it about, you know... The passenger?"

Cassie was careful with what she said, Michaela told Cassie that Ben was going to tell Grace about the passenger but she didn't know if he did or didn't tell her.

Grace ran her hands roughly through her hair, which with Grace's curls would've been a big challenge even without her forgetting to brush her hair on the way to the hospital.  "He sounded crazy! Talking about government schemes and the plane— Did you know he and Michaela have been seeing and hearing things? Ben told me they all have been."

"What?" Cassie asked a bump suddenly appearing in her throat, Amber was right.

"I don't know him anymore, it's like the plane changed him."

Cassie's vision blurred, she didn't hear what Grace was saying, it sounded like a person talking underwater, the words not reaching her. She focused on that one sentence, Ben and Michaela have been seeing and hearing things. Cassie is no scientist, she teaches Social Studies & History to a bunch of 13 and 14-year-olds, but even without a great knowledge of science, she knew there was no logical reason for 200 people to be hearing and seeing things.

A sudden knock on the door caught Cassie's attention, "Mrs. Stone?" A young lady's voice called out.

"It's occupied!"

"Mrs. Stone, he's waking up."

Grace stood up, her eyes locked with Cassie's, hopefulness reappearing.

Grace ran out of the bathroom, Cassie followed after. Cassie remembered running through Stewart Airport, anticipating seeing her family again but fearing that it might all be one big nasty prank.

"Cal? Cal? Cal," Grace cried as she entered Cal's room, Cassie remembered Grace calling out Cal's name the same way left then a month ago. "Can you hear me?"

Grace put the palm of her hand on Cal's forehead, her forehead creasing with wrinkles as she tried to guess his temperature, Dr Williams smiled as she looked at Grace and Cassie, "His fever broke."

Cal opened his eyes, a soft chuckle escaping him as he looked up at Grace, "Hi Mom."

Cassie let out a gasp of air, she chuckled, appreciating her nephew being able to smile after being so close to death.

"Hi. I'm here," Grace kissed his forehead. She turned to Saanvi and Dr Williams, "What happened?"

"He got lucky. His body must've fought off the infection."

Lucky. Cassie never liked being told that as an answer, especially not when her nephew's life was at stake. Cassie went to push for more, for a reason, but her brother standing in the doorway, caught her eye, "Ben—"

Ben stood there, he looked out of breath, his hair was uncombed, he looked almost as bad as Grace, "I'm here," Ben walked up to Cal and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly, "I'm here, buddy."