I jerk awake in the middle of the night, my head pounding softly. My thoughts are all over the place, but most of them are blurry. I press my lips together. It hurts just to think about my thoughts.

But more than anything, I feel cold.

I shiver involuntarily and hug myself for warmth. I sit up, staring into the darkness ahead of me called my bedroom. I feel myself blank out from my thoughts suddenly, and raise an eyebrow. When I shiver once more, I fall back onto my bed, wrapping myself up tightly in my bed sheets.

I frown as I shiver one final time. My eyes close as I take a deep breath, relaxing my muscles again.

My head throbs from a headache, but I'm long asleep to care.

...

I walk into the conference room the next morning, narrowing my eyes at my newfound headache. I set Michelle's file down on the table and rub my temples, my lips weighing into a frown. I groan as I lean back in my chair, taking a deep breath.

"Didn't sleep well?" Audrey asks as she and Laurel walk in. When I glare at her, she only smirks in response.

I shake my head. "More like I slept with a throbbing head," I grumble, rubbing my temples again. I sit up straight when the female Sovereign and Altruistic sit down in their seats. I sigh in defeat, "I woke up in the middle of the night with my head suddenly throbbing softly. I didn't realize that it'd grow overnight."

Laurel looks at me sympathetically. "Do you need any Tylenol?"

I think for a moment. "No. But if I do, I'll ask," I reply, smiling at her.

Audrey is the first to change the topic. "What are we going to do with Michelle over there?" she asks, pointing at my folder.

I shrug. "We could keep searching for things in the folder," I begin. I pause, shaking my head. "But I think we have to look at what kind of injuries she died from." When I see the glisten of anticipation flash across Audrey's eyes, I quickly add, "Or maybe look at the autopsy report. That could work as well."

Audrey shakes her head. "We can look at that afterwards- maybe compare that to the actual photos. Just to make sure that the autopsy report is accurate."

I nod in awe. That was actually a good idea, but I won't admit it.

Audrey stares over my shoulder. "Hey, Mr. Wallace." I tense up involuntarily when he walks up to the conference table, a furry eyebrow raised. Audrey simply dismisses the officer's confused expression. "Could you broadcast Michelle's death photo?"

I shake my head at Audrey's directness. "And may you get us a copy of her autopsy report? We want to compare the actual photo and the report to see whether or not the report is true. We also want to see the actual wounds that she died from."

Mr. Wallace's eyes widen. "The autopsy report I can get." He then turns to Audrey. "But I don't think you want to see the death photos that the police took. I don't think you should see them," he adds quietly.

Audrey shrugs. "How bad can it be?"

I frown as I recall Audrey just turning away from David's photo when that was projected. I then stare at Mr. Wallace. "Audrey, what if it's really bad?" I ask, suspicion evident in my voice. I then recall how I was shaking when we saw his death photos.

Audrey just stares at me. "Don't you also want to see the photos? We have to get them over with. And we need more to research from."

I sigh. Audrey has a good rebuttal. Turning to Mr. Wallace again, I say, "I think we'll see the death photos, please."

Mr. Wallace sighs. "Don't say I didn't warn you, girls." he then exits the room, only to come back a few moments later with the autopsy report. Sighing exasperatedly, he then walks over to the projector and presses a few buttons. On the computer beside the projector, Mr. Wallace types a few things in. After pressing a final button, he nods towards the screen.

We all glance up.

One look at the photograph before us, and chaos breaks out.

Laurel screams, fainting instantaneously. Audrey shrieks, jumping back a bit. Hissing foul words, she snatches the autopsy report out of my hands, glueing her eyes to the piece of paper, not even reading it. She specifically avoids the photo in front of us.

I bite my lip, trying to keep my mouth shut. Then I make the big mistake of glancing up at the photo again.

Before I know it, I'm screaming.

A female corpse is covered head to toe in blood and cuts, making her almost unidentifiable. Patches of skin are ripped away from her body, muscles showing. Her neck is bent at a ninety-degree angle. Her clothes are soaked red with her blood- no one can tell what color they were before she was killed. Two bloody lines cut her face in a X fashion. Black footprints are seen all over her body as she lays in a crumpled heap, signalling that whoever killed her also walked over her, or kicked her repeatedly.

As my mind processes what I'm seeing before me, I find myself screaming again, this time falling backwards from shock.

Not even a full minute passes before the conference room's doors burst open, and the three boys rush in. "What happened?!" Fitz asks as he rushes towards me, grabbing me by my arms. Hoisting me up, I look anywhere expect the picture in front of me. I force myself to look at Fitz's teal eyes instead, and then struggle with keeping myself from not dazing off into his eyes.

I open my mouth to explain, but I'm cut off when Benen screams, "Laurel!" He quickly runs to the unconscious Altruistic, shaking her softly. Finally, Laurel stirs awake, smiling softly at Benen. I see her eyes widen when she remembers what happened.

"We were looking at Michelle's death photographs," I say, my voice quivering slightly at the memory. "Trying to compare the autopsy report to the actual picture."

"Death photograph?" Fitz questions. He glances up in confusion. Then his eyes widen as he exclaims, "What is that?!"

Benen's sudden yelp also signifies that he's seen the photograph as well. I look down just in time to see him fall back, his face white like a sheet.

Donovan's mouth moves rapidly, but no sound comes out. Instead, he storms over to Audrey and grabs her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Don't stare at it longer!" he remarks, glaring at her.

Audrey doesn't reply, but glowers at him in silence. But still, she complies and doesn't turn away.

Meanwhile, Fitz glances up at the screen. He takes a step towards it before turning around completely to face me. "It seems as if the murderer wanted to make the corpse unidentifiable," he says. Fitz then runs a hand through his hair in frustration, his face slightly paler than usual.

I nod, silent from shock. As my mind pictures the dead body again, I shudder, hugging myself tighter. "So the killer decided to disguise her with-" I pause, turning away from Fitz. Swallowing the bile on my tongue, I take a moment to take a deep breath before facing a rather concerned Percipient. I shake my head. "I'm not going to finish that sentence," I say instead.

Fitz's face becomes more concerned as he steps towards me. "Sophie- you're really pale," he says, causing my eyes to widen. We should turn that projector off," he adds, momentarily staring at Mr. Wallace.

Donovan nods in agreement, not taking his eyes off of the pale Audrey.

Almost involuntarily, I gaze over Fitz's shoulder to see the horrendous photograph of Michelle again. And just like that, my vision becomes blurry and spotted with black. I close my eyes to only see red. The bleeding X on Michelle's face, and her body just covered in blood. Everything feels really light, as if I'm weightless. Stop it, please, I plead. Turn it off.

I then close my eyes, hoping that the darkness will take the photo away. Yet still, I feel lightweight, like a feather. I relax my muscles so I can feel truly weightless. I can hear my body just begging to crumple in a heap, just like Michelle.

The only thing that's holding me up is some strings... No, scratch that- someone's arms.

A sharp pain blossoms at the back of my head, causing my vision to instantly clear up. My head throbs more violently this time as I find myself staring up at Fitz as he hold me by my waist. I clench my fists to cancel out the pain in my head. "...blood..." I manage to whisper, my eyes daring to look at the photo another time.

Fitz realizes what I'm trying to do and moves his head so I'm staring at him again. "You apparently blacked out for a few moments," he explains. His expression then tenses as he adds, "That officer-"

"Mr. Wallace," Audrey corrects, earning a glare from Donovan.

Fitz shakes his head. "Mr. Wallace turned the projector off while you were beginning to pass out. So you can't look at the picture anymore. I wouldn't let you, even if it was still being projected." His glare signifies how serious he is.

I open my mouth to respond, but my headache throbs intensely. Instead, I just close my eyes in silence, leaving myself in darkness.

One surge of pain- Michelle's laying in a heap, dead.

Another rush of agony- Michelle's covered in blood from head to toe. Almost unrecognizable.

The third wave of pain- a bloody X marks the face.

X marks the spot.

And my legs finally give out.