I've never liked thunderstorms. They're too loud for me. The clapping thunder always stamps his foot too hard about my head, pulling a rather ferocious tantrum. It doesn't help that the lightning could never help but argue back, too stubborn to let the Thunder win the fight. Her purple rage slamming into the ground in a furious fit makes my body shudder, she could do so much with her purple electricity, yet she throws it around as if it were simply a butter knife. They constantly bicker back and forth for hours, jealous tears tumbling from their home in the sky down onto us, making our day just as miserable as theirs.

I've always hated their endless arguing, in fact, I would cover myself with my blanket hoping the soft, patterned linin would block out their unpleasant curses. It wouldn't work. They made my skin crawl with uneasiness as if spiders were scuttling over my shivering body. I've never liked spiders either.

But hearing the roars never failed to startle me, all I could hear were their howls. It was all I ever focused on during a storm, the noise, the light. I'd try all sorts of things to distract me from the quarrel in the sky. Anything from whispering stories under my breath, enchantments to remind me that it would end, to rocking back and forth, my hands firmly pressed against my ears in an effort to block out the deafening noise that only grew louder and louder over time.

But now. Even with a violent storm raging outside, echoing through the corridors of this stingy hospital I do not even hear a whisper. The lights flicker above me, a humming sound coming from them as if they are about to explode. I hardly notice them. I boom travel down a corridor, a wave of an unknown force sent to scare me. It doesn't faze me.

I'm too numb to notice anything that once terrorized me. Too busy with my own thoughts to let them control me. I lose my train of thought, unable to concentrate on one thing for more than a moment. Thoughts dash around my mind, a tornado of unexplained thoughts, lost memories altered by this night's events.

I could almost laugh, but I don't. The memory of cowering under my blankets in the safety of my bed seems like a world away, something that now I would give anything to go back to. So many memories that I once hated to remember seeking something new. Something more. They want to come back, to become real once more.

Because they know that there all better than now. Imagines that I used to grimace at, ones that made me weep, all come back like a reversal of expectations. I want them back. I want my life back. I was so easily torn down, a poster for people to gaze at, but when one person doesn't like what they see my whole world fell to pieces.

I hardly hear the body sit next to me, but their presence is enough to tell me I don't want them here. I haven't cried yet, but I fear I will with the arrival of the news the person is burdened with. He sits there for a few moments, sniffing slightly. His gaze never leaves the floor. He shifts in his seat slightly, trying to get comfortable but I doubt he ever will – that is if I am correct about what I saw earlier. I wait expectantly for him to speak, to stutter on the words I dread the most.

I couldn't wait any longer. "They're dead, aren't they?"

A simple nod was all it took for me to collapse on in myself. Tears leaked out of me, uncontrolled. I didn't even try to wipe them away, they were a testament to the life I knew that would not continue. My breath quivered slightly in an attempt to search for something more than just loss. But nothing else arrived to take its place.

I knew nothing would.

They were gone. Ripped out of my arms as quickly as they were placed there. He couldn't even look at my cry. He simply stared at the wall, no tears at all. Thomas died along with them, even if he is sitting next to me. He loved them more than I did, it was no question to anyone who dared look. Even I knew that I could never love them as he did, and why I don't know. It's only now that I wish I made a better effort but now it is too late to even suggest a change.

He stood up soon after, walking past me. He didn't care how I felt. I hadn't cared for them, loved them as I should and now he'll punish me for it. He doesn't care how old I am, what I did was inexcusable in his eyes. He's counting down the days until he shakes the guardianship of me off his shoulders. Leave me to rot somewhere. And I can't say I blame him.

It wasn't long when a nurse walked up to me. Her heels clicked along with flooring, each step another click. I liked the pattern, I don't know why it calmed me so don't ask. She took a seat in the chair my brother once occupied, flattening out her skirt underneath her as she sat. I took the time as she sat to notice her sliver name tag glinting in the yellow corridor lights; according to the label, her name was Nurse Thomson. She was a gaunt-looking woman, her skinny face only coloured by her perfectly pinned hat on the top of her head. Her hair was grey with age, but she seemed so young, her long spindly fingers soft to the touch, no wrinkles making the contact uncomfortable.

She pursed her lips together, sealing the words she wished she could say to me away tight within her own mind. I'd heard the rumors spread around the town of what goes on inside our house, and some I hate to admit is true. But I know the one that has been whispered from ear to ear isn't true, even if I don't what the words are.

No one could have guessed what happened last night. Not even me.

She took a deep breath in, before releasing it back out. "Grace." My eyes snapped up towards hers. I gulped, not wanting to hear what came next. "You and your brother have to leave."

I nodded my head slightly, making an effort to stand up. Her strong grip kept me grounded, her sharp nails digging into my skin to keep me still. "I don't mean here. You need to leave England."

"Wh- what?" I stuttered, taken aback by her words. "What do you mean, leave England. Why can't I stay?"

She groaned throwing her head back. "People will start to suspect what happened. Leave now or hold your breath. It might be your last." She practically spat at me before releasing my wrist and standing up.

I watched as she strode down the corridor. Her once comforting clicks sent a shudder down my spine. Leave England? I couldn't. They'd think I was running away, they'd suspect me. I knew I was to blame, so did Thomas, but no one needs to know that.

I finally stood up from the chair. It had been my home for the last seven hours. When I arrived here a nurse had escorted me away from the entrance, told me to follow her. I wish I hadn't. She sat me down and told me not to move. I'd listened to her, but I was in the mood for breaking the rules. It was impossible not to, not one person was around to stop me; wouldn't you break the rules?

More thunder clapped above my head, rumbling as it trundled further and further away. The lights had stopped flickering, the lightning had finally given up in its endeavors to beat the thunder. At least someone had stopped fighting. I couldn't say the same for my family. Or what's left of them for that matter.

I aimlessly walked down the hospital corridors, peering to patient's rooms, offices full of doctors and nurses discussing scans and hopeless dodging running medics are the pounded down the corridors with patients lying, bleeding out onto white sheets.

I wasn't quite sure where to go, I was lost in the maze of unmarked rooms. I passed one person who was simply staring at a wall, not moving. I stopped by his side, furrowing my brows trying to determine the reason for his unnatural behavior.

"Sir?" I asked, trying to look at his face. It was contorted into an endless frown, extra layers of skin drooping mindlessly from his chin. I gazed further up his face, taking in his odd features. I gasped in shock. His eyes were pure white. Whiter than the clearest moon, not a single ounce of colour found in them.

"Would you mind not staring at me, didn't anyone tell you it is disrespectful Miss Knight?" His voice was deep and low, expected for a man of his size and age. But it was as calm as the sea on a windless day, not a wave of built up emotion present. It was too calm for a stranger that knew my name.

"How?" I questioned, scanning his face for anything that would remind me of a person I have once known.

"Your name in one of many questions." He continued to stare at the wall, his eyes not moving from the spot on the wall he had kept in his view for so long.

"Like what?" My curiosity had taken over, any sane person would have left him to stare at the wall in a loop of insanity. But just like this man, I was not one to be labeled as sane.

"You must leave Grace." He turned his head sharply, his empty eyes somehow staring straight through me, revealing any secrets I tried to hide. "You have many secrets." I firmly gripped my shoulder, swaying me slightly from the impact of his heavy hand. "They'll be revealed soon, don't let it happen. Leave!"

I wriggled out of his grip, backing away as he continually echoed the words over and over. "Leave Grace! Leave!"

I turned to run, not wanting to hear his words. Two people. Two have told me to pick up everything and leave. Should I? I'm not safe here, the events of last night will travel like a virus around the town, welcomed gossip for everyone's ears.

Leave.

Everyone is poisoned by one secret that was released into the air for everyone to see. One secret tore my world down. One secret killed two people. One secret is making me leave. And I'm about to let it.