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-The Voices-

The silver edge of the knife drags itself across his tender flesh, the pale skin splitting and turning crimson as he bled. Kieren whimpered softly to himself, his face contorting with pain as he repeated the movement over and over until his wrist turned numb. He tried his best to clean it up. To make it looked like it never happened. But it did happen. It happened and it made him feel better than ever before. He wish he wouldn't do it, he tries so hard to stop but when he does something happens that makes his wrist itch for a cut. But now its worse. His only friend is gone forever. Rick left and now he's not coming back. The thought had him in a death grip; cold fingers wrapping around his lungs and squeezing so hahis head and he stumbled. No. No. He couldn't go back. They didn't understand. No one did. He couldn't go he couldn't breathe. He shoved the knife in his pocket forcefully, wiping away the rivers of tears from his face with his sleeve before standing up. The blood rushed from

Now the tears were back, cascading down his face like waterfalls. Sobs shook his body as the silver of the knife shimmered against the glow of the torch. He slid back down, feeling no warmth in his small cave as his back scraped the rough wall. He roughly pulled his sleeves up, pressing the point of the knife at the centre of his wrist just below his palm. He tried to be clean about it but pure hysterics made his stroke shaky. He could only see blood. The other wrist was made quick work of. He sat slumped against the wall. He was still sobbing, watching the red liquid spill onto his lap and soak his clothes. Kieren felt the cold swallowing him whole; his senses numbed and bare. That's when he heard it. When his vision was blurring and his thoughts were fading, he could here the muffled voice of his father was breaking through. Hands grabbing him, shaking him, a cry of anguish and horror... The last things he felt before his eyes shut and a final worse slipped past his lips.

"Dad..."

Steve watched helplessly as his son closed his eyes. He frantically tried to gather him in his arms, picking him up and stared at the bloodstained knife left on the floor for a moment, tightening his grip on his beloved son. He ran and ran until he reached the house. It was chaos. Jemima was crying, Sue was hugging Kierens lifeless body like her life depended on it while Steve screamed down the phone for an ambulance. The neighbors were up, listening to the chaos as the sirens of the ambulance drew closer. The next day Kieren Walker was pronounced dead to the town of Roarton and his funeral was arranged within days. News spread like wildfire of his suicide. Bill Macy spouted hateful words of cowardice, while most others steered clear of anything to do with the Walkers. Jem was locking herself in her room, not talking to her parents not even once for a good two months,

Then The Rising happened.

-TIME LEAP; AFTER RISING-

When Kieren laid down in his bed that night, he immediately thought of Rick. Bill had killed him, because he stood up for him. Rick stood up for him. The thought gripped his chest and it hurt, oh God it hurt to think about it. If he was living he was be a bawling wreck. It was his fault Rick died all his fault, if he'd have just stayed away, if he'd have just let Rick be maybe he wouldn't have found his soldier with a knife buried in his skull. Kieren ran his hands over his face and sighed, trying to chase it all away but it stayed stuck in his head. Sitting up, he sat in his bed and stared at the wall with pain and sadness etched into his features but he made no noise. His family had suffered enough because of him. So, he sat and stared at the wall in silence for most of the night. There was no way he'd be able to sleep like this.

Eventually, when the clock beside his bed hit 12pm, something happened that broke the silence. It was a whisper. Very faint, like a breeze, but he heard it. He looked around his room half expecting to see someone sitting at his desk. He shook it off, passing it as a trick of the wind. He stiffened when a louder voice started talking; he couldn't make out any words but it was definitely speech. It sounded like a man outside in the street, his voice muffled by the windows. Slipping out of bed, Kieren walked over to his bedroom window and hesitated before moving the curtain to the side. The street was completely empty, not a person to be seen. Kieren didn't dwell to much on it and settled back down in his bed. He was seconds away from falling asleep when a deafening scream shot through his ears and he sat bolt upright like lightening.

"What the?!" He gasped and shot out of his room. He ran into his parents room first, staring at them in shock as they slept soundly in their beds.

"Kier?" He turned around and Jem was standing in the doorway to their parents bedroom with tired eyes and disheveled hair, "What the hell are you doing...?" She asked tiredly. He looked back at his parents and couldn't find his voice.

"You..." His eyebrows drew together in confusion, "You didn't hear that?"

"Here what?" She sighed and glared at him.

"That scream!" He exclaimed, forgetting about his sleeping parents. Sue woke up first to her sons yelling and begrudgingly looked at him through the darkness.

"Kieren? Jem?" She asked, her voice hoarse from sleep. Kieren ran his fingers through his hair and groaned.

"Don't worry mum," Jem said and glared even harder at Kieren, "He's just gone mental is all." She left with a swish of her hair and Sue sighed.

"Kieren what's wrong?" She muttered but Kieren shook his head stiffly.

"Nothing mum." His voice shook with a mixture of fear and irritation, "Go back to sleep."

He left their room quickly and once he was in his room he shut the door firmly and buried himself under the duvet of his warm bed- not that he could feel the warmth anyway. The pressure of the duvet was enough to calm his nerves. Though the strange voices didn't stop, they became more sparse and less frequent and he didn't hear the scream again. He fell asleep eventually, but he could only catch three hours sleep before he woke up again and the voices returned. He heard the odd word come into focus. He heard mentions of The Rising and... A voice uttering the name of his soldier kept reviving those terrible images he'd tried so hard to push away.

By the time the sun rose and the clock hit 8 o'clock, Kieren couldn't take it anymore. He jumped out of bed and hastily got dressed into his baggy clothes and rushed to apply his cover up mousse and contact lenses. He made his way downstairs and ignored the questioning looks his parents gave him as he messily pulled on his jacket before quickly moving to the door.

"Kieren? Where are you going?" Steve called from the kitchen.

"Out." Kieren replied roughly, shutting the door behind him.

He didn't come back until 8 o'clock in the afternoon. He came back and went straight to his room. Nobody went up to question him or bother him. He was left alone to face the voices.