Lana Arwen Lazar was sixteen years old. She had survived the FAYZ. Barely.

It had been nearly a year since what was known as the FAYZ came to an end. It took Lana a while to get used to not having to be terrified all the time. She had lost her powers, she was no longer starving, she no longer needed to be afraid. But there was something dark still attached to her. Something that was eating her alive. Chewing on her mind.

Lana knew that the gaiaphage no longer had a connection to her mind. Still... she felt like there was something there anyway. In the back of her mind.

Six months ago Lana had tried to commit suicide.

Well, maybe suicide wasn't quite the right word. Lana didn't think she was trying to kill herself. But that's what the doctors had concluded, and her parents had agreed that there was something still not right about her. And that's how she ended up here, in a mental health facility for young adults.

Lana wasn't trying to kill herself though. She didn't know exactly what she was trying to do. She just wanted to make sure she was really alive. She had to be sure that she was here, now, alive. Awake. She had to make sure this wasn't all just a dream. That she wasn't still trapped in the FAYZ.

So she took a knife from her parents' silverware drawer on night. It was a pretty small knife, probably a knife used to cut vegetables. It had a very sharp point though. She had taken the knife in her hand and stared it down, feeling numb.

She remembered taking the knife with her right hand and placing the very tip of it to her left wrist. She remembered a sharp pain shooting up her left arm and a ringing in her ears. And that's it. She couldn't remember what happened after that until she woke up in the hospital hooked up to an IV. She had lost a lot of blood apparently. Her left arm was stitched up.

She hadn't meant to do it. She thought she would just be able to heal herself. She was The Healer. Lana The Healer. She had the power to heal with her touch.

She had told her parents this and they both agreed that the best thing for Lana was to be locked away, here. In this hell hole.

Lana wasn't crazy, she didn't belong here.

Still, she could not argue against her parents' belief that she needed to get help.

So here she was, sitting alone in her prison cell.

Well, it wasn't exactly a prison cell. It was just a normal bedroom with two twin beds, a bookshelf, a closet, and oh yeah, bars on the windows so no one could escape.

Lana was laying on one of the twin beds (she was lucky enough to get stuck with a roommate) reading a novel when she heard a knock at the door. Reading. That was the most exciting thing she had done all day. There wasn't much to do here. She would have group time in the mornings after breakfast when everyone would sit down together in a circle and talk all about their crazy thoughts and feelings. Lana usually kept quiet about during group. But that didn't stop the stares and murmurings that happened whenever Lana walked into a room.

Yes, even here everyone knew who she was. They had all known about the bubble called the FAYZ. Everyone on the planet knew about that. And Lana was sure that aliens knew about it too. That's what the gaiaphage was anyway. Some kind of alien.

So in here, Lana was some kind of celebrity. This made her avoid people even more. She tried as best she could to ignore the dirty looks, the whispering, everything. Lana behaved as best as she could so she could get out of here as fast as possible. She took her medication every day, never caused any trouble with other patients, said please and thank you and smiled at the nurses.

Lana looked up from her book as she heard the second knock on the door. The door was open, but everyone knocked here, just to be safe.

A nurse was standing in the doorway.

"Lana, how are you feeling today?" She greeted. This is how all of the nurses greeted the patients.

"Good," Lana said. She forced a smile like always. "I'm good."

The nurse nodded. "Well, it looks like you have a visitor today. You'll have to come to the front desk and sign him in."

Visitor? Him? Lana wondered if maybe her dad had taken the day off of work to come and visit her. This was most likely not the case though. Her parents had rarely come to visit since dumping her off here. Grandpa Luke came once... Who else would it be? She no longer had any friends.

Lana set her book down on her night stand and followed the nurse down the hall. Lana stared straight ahead and willed herself not to look in the other patient's rooms as she walked past. She hated making eye contact with the other patients. She hated the stares and the murmurings.

Soon enough they walked around the corner and into an office that was near the front entrance of the building. Another nurse was sitting at the front desk. A young man stood just on the other side of the desk.

"Hey Lana," the boy said.

That voice...

It made her heart crumple inside. It had been so long...

Lana stared in shock at the boy standing just a few feet in front of her. She thought what she was seeing was just a hallucination at first. Seeing him in someone else. It wouldn't be the first time. Lana had seen him everywhere for the past year. Only it was never actually him. Just her mind playing tricks.

But this time her mind wasn't tricking her. There was no denying it as he stood just in front of her. Shoulder length dark hair, dark eyes, tanned skin, cocky smile. She would recognize him anywhere, anytime.

Sanjit.

Lana heaved a sudden, violent sob. In shock. She quickly brought her hand to her mouth to keep herself from sobbing out loud.

"I know it's been a while..." Sanjit started. But he didn't get a chance to finish.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Lana was on him before she even knew what she was doing. She hit him on the shoulder. "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST SHOW UP HERE OUT OF THE BLUE AFTER AN ENTIRE YEAR OF SILENCE! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU!" She hit him again and before she could hit him a third time, she was quickly pulled away by two nurses. One at each arm grabbing and dragging her back.

Sanjit smirked a little. "You haven't changed much..." Then he tried to reassure the nurses. "Hey, hey, hey... It's all right. It's okay. Lana's just in a bit of shock. It's my fault. She didn't know I was coming here." Sanjit looked pityingly at her then. He looked like he was in pain.

Ha! The nerve of him!

He had no right to pity her. He had no right to even be here. If Lana had had her pistol again...

But those were the old days. She wasn't in the FAYZ anymore. She was here now.

Lana sucked in a breath. Here. Now. Not the FAYZ.

Stay calm...

Stay calm...

"Maybe you should just leave," One of the nurses said to him.

Lana quickly calmed herself down. She stopped struggling against the nurses. "No, it's fine," she said. "It's fine. I'm sorry." She knew she had overreacted. But still. She couldn't believe he would just show up here with that smug little smile on his face!

The two nurses looked at Lana suspiciously. Of course. They probably thought she could be a danger to Sanjit.

She probably would be, but she wanted an explanation. She wanted to know why he hadn't tried to contact her at all since the end of the FAYZ. The last day of the FAYZ was the last day she saw Sanjit since today. Right now.

Lana sighed heavily. She said calmly, "He can stay." She met Sanjit's eyes once again. And she felt herself breaking on the inside.