Ash and dust were all around, filtering down through the air like fine snow. It blanketed Millie's body, mixing with the blood that ran over her face. Every part of her hurt. Her ears rang, and her head throbbed, and she tried to think of where she was, and why she was there, and what good reason she might have not to burrow deeper into the ash and let the darkness take her.

Olivia.

Olivia had been with her, in those final moments on the street...

A deafening boom rattled in her memory.

They had been on the street when a bomb had hit.

Her eyes flicked open. She had to blink hard to fight off the dust. The grit and the salt in her blood stung her eyes. She swiped at her face, her palm coming away red and grey.

Where was Olivia?

Despite the thick of the dust, she could see another figure lying next to her in the debris. Millie tried to pull herself closer, but she couldn't move. Her legs were pinned beneath something heavy. She reached out, scrabbling through the wreckage, hoping to find some part she could hold.

"Oli...via..."

She found a hand. She took hold and heaved with all her remaining strength, pulling the hand closer.

Her sister came into view. For a moment, Millie was relieved, until she got a better look at her sister's face. Her sister's perfect, pretty face was stained red to match the lipstick that was smeared across her mouth. Her dark curls were wet and matted, clinging to her scalp...

Or, at least, what was left of it.

A deep dent had been left in her right temple, and her eyes were hollow.

The last of her strength failed Millie, and she sank back into the ash.

A woman in a white apron hurried past her curtained room, and Millie realised she had awoken in a hospital. The stench of astringents and burnt matches hung heavy in the air. She turned her aching head to look at the little space. Between the curtains, it was a simple, plain space with only a small table and an empty chair.

She was alone.

She didn't want to be alone.

Where was her mother, her father?

Where was Olivia?

She could hear a was a conversation nearby, just beyond the curtain. Two shadows were on the other side, leaning close together, their voices low.

"What can we do?" came a desperate, pleading voice. Her father. "She's all we have left."

"Pa... pa..." she tried to call out to him, but her voice was weak. She tried to reach for something but found her hand bound to the metal bed frame by a padded cuff.

"She's fading fast," another voice replied. "None of our treatments are working. But..."

"What is it?" her father asked. "An infection? Some kind of parasite?"

The shadow on the other side of the curtain shifted, looking around. When he spoke again, his voice had lowered to a whisper. "I fear it is something like that. Something has attached to her, weakening her..."

"Is there nothing we can do?"

"Possibly. It's not exactly approved, but there is a house in the North..."

The whisper grew too low for Millie to hear more.

She tried to call for him again. "Pa...pa..."

She wished for someone, anyone, to be there with her...

"Poor thing. You're all alone."

Millie looked over. Olivia was in the chair next to her bed.

When had she come in?

"Olivia... What... How..." Millie rasped, confused. "How you are here? You were..."

She tried to remember, but her head hurt too much.

"What do you mean?" Olivia said, tilting her head. Her sister looked as pretty as ever, though her eyes were strange and lifeless. "I've been here the whole time."

Was that true? She couldn't think straight. Her head hurt too much. Tears welled in her eyes. Olivia stared down at her and smiled, but there was something... strange about it. Instinct told her to recoil, but Millie couldn't bring herself to push her own sister away. She didn't want to be alone.

"Don't... Don't go... Don't leave me!" she sobbed.

Olivia leaned in close and clasped Millie's bound hand, intertwining her fingers with hers.

"I will never leave you."

Millie stared up at Olivia. Tears welled in her eyes, spilling out onto her cheeks, and trailing into her hair. Olivia smiled down at her, and there it was again—that strangeness in her smile. It was ever so slightly off, as though Millie could see too many of her teeth.

"They can't send me away, Millie," Olivia cooed, reaching down to run her fingers across Millie's cheek. Her fingers were ice cold. "If they send me away, you'll be all alone... Forever..."

Millie choked out a sob. "I will?"

"Mildred, is it here with you?" the Mother Superior said. She kept glancing up to the space where Millie's eyes were focused, but there was nothing there. "You can't listen to it. It lies to you! You have to fight it!"

"If you let me go, you'll have no one," Olivia continued. "Our parents hate you because what you got me killed. You have no friends. Everyone you love is dead." Olivia leaned in close, whispering in her ear, her icy breath prickling at Millie's skin. "If you let me go, no one will ever love you. Do you want to be alone?"

Another sob choked free. "I... I don't want to be alone."

"You won't be!" the Mother. "We'll be here for you. We'll take you in. You have to fight!"

"It won't let go," Sister Marion scoffed from behind them. "After everything, it's still dug in too deep."

"If you must speak, Marion, find a way to make yourself useful!" the Mother snapped back at her.

Sister Marion clicked her tongue but bowed her head and began to chant softly. The others joined in.

The Mother Superior's attention returned to Millie. The girl's gaze was still fixed straight ahead.

"No one will love you," Olivia said, running her fingers through Millie's hair. "No one but me. Without me, what do you have to live for?"

"You have to fight, Millie!" the Mother cried.

Millie finally tore her gaze away from Olivia to look back at the Mother. She wanted to believe her, but...

Olivia dug her fingers into Millie's face, forcing her gaze back to hers. Her face had shifted, her eyes bloodshot, her teeth longer. "They're lying. Without me, you're nothing. This is the only way I can stay with you."

"Reject it! Fight it!"

The others continued to chant.

"N-No," Millie mumbled. She tried to struggle, but Olivia held her fast.

"Without me, what do you have to live for?"

"I... I can't... You're not..."

Olivia's eyes fluctuated, the pupils widening, spreading out, making the whole eye darker. Then she flung herself forward, drawing Millie into her arms. She hugged her, squeezing her tight, pulling her into the air...

"You have to fight, Millie!" The Mother Superior screamed, though her voice seemed so far away now. "Fight for your freedom, fight for yourself!"

But Olivia's whisper was so much closer.

"I will never leave you."