EDDIE'S POV

Everyone in the house knows. Everyone in the house has heard of my episode. Everyone at school, all the teachers, they all know of what happened.

Except they don't know the real story.

The entire school is under the impression that I had an allergic reaction to some food, choked, and fainted.

I guess it's better they believe that than know the truth. For if they ever find out about my dream… I don't even know what I would do.

Patricia has been fragile since I woke up this morning. She doesn't understand, and she's frightened. Since people have found out about the alleged 'reaction', they've been offering her condolences, and she's snapped back at them. I don't blame her. I can't imagine how she feels, people trying to make her feel better when they don't know the first thing. She's angry, but out of confusion.

She hardly leaves my side and is unusually quiet. In the corridors, I always feel her hand in mine, her head against my shoulder. In class, her chair is planted as close to mine as possible, with only inches of separation. She doesn't want there to be any separation. Throughout each period, she's so close that I can hear her sniff and cry to herself constantly. It crushes my heart to see her so fragile and broken. She's crystal shards that have been dropped repeatedly onto the ground into nothingness.

Very rarely today does she speak to anyone. She only talks to me, but words are few and far between. They're simple fragments, like, "Drama. Let's go," or "c'mon, this way," and each is uttered in a low whisper in my ear.

I decide to take her to lunch off campus so she can escape for a while. I haven't gotten the chance to explore much around England outside of school, so I take her to the first place that pops into my head - the restaurant I took her, or who I thought was her, to get to know my dad when we first got together. Patricia had sent her twin sister Piper instead so she'd seem sophisticated in front of my dad. The memory replays in my mind, making me smile. It was so long ago, and my Patricia has changed so much since then.

"Where are we going?" Patricia whispers.

"You'll see," I say mysteriously and smile at her. I look to see what her reaction is - I expect a smack or an eye roll - but her head is just buried in her chest. Her lips are pursed in a thin, tight line, and she doesn't look at me.

"That's it. Forget the restaurant." I pull off of the road and park on a small patch of grass. "I'm getting the feeling there's something more to this whole situation, and you're in no shape to go out in public," I say as sweetly and gently as I can.

Patricia finally looks up at me and begins to cry. And cry. And cry. I'm just glad she's finally letting it out. Patricia isn't one to show her emotions; she hides them inside of her and lets them build up. I let her cry into my shirt for as long as she needs. When she slows down, I cup her face with my hands and gaze into her eyes.

"Tell me. Tell me everything. Tell me what you feel, what's wrong, what I can do to make it better."

The brave girl I know wipes away the tears and breathes deeply.

"I thought I lost you, Eddie. I thought you… died. You slipped away from my grasp and I thought you were gone forever. People keep telling me things, saying that they're glad you're feeling better, and it's a good thing you're ok because we make a good couple. A good couple. Can you believe that? They don't know the story at all. They don't know what happened. All they care about is our image. They don't want our reputation tarnished. Apparently we're all high and mighty and people need that. It's disgusting. They have no respect, no thought about what I may have actually felt like. What I do feel like. I almost lost you forever, and now we know there's some fatal evil that's trying to take you away from me. I don't know what to do."

I feel myself begin to tear inside. I knew Patricia was frightened, but I didn't realize how shocked she was. I didn't exactly get to see what I had looked like, the way Joy had described what happened when Patricia was out of sight, but it must've really taken a toll on Patricia. Whatever she saw frightened her, threw her over the edge. It broke something inside of her, and I don't know how to fix it.

I kiss her. "Look, I never saw exactly what you saw, but I know you better than anybody, and I know it hurts you more than you care to admit, and that makes sense. But don't listen to anyone at school. They don't know what really happened, and they don't love you like I do. Like you said, they care about image, not feelings."

"Did you… did you just say you love me?" Patricia's red, watery eyes widen and her lips curl upwards slightly.

"Yes. Yes, yes yes, Of course I did! How could you think I don't love you? I don't just 'like' you because you're my girlfriend. You're not. You're something more than that, something special. I can't explain in words what you mean to me. I love you."

Patricia dives in for a kiss. When she does, I hear that voice in my head. The woman's voice. It screams in agony, as if it's on its death bed. I realize that the dream may have been meant to scare me, and the whispers of me losing Patricia were a facade.

"I need to tell you something," I say abruptly. I rush into the story of my dream. I observe her expressions as I tell the story to make sure I am not hurting her. Instead, she nods in understanding as if she expected this was what I suffered through.

When I arrive at the part about her, I clutch her hands tightly and speak slowly to make sure she's comfortable with me continuing. She's brave; her smile wavers, but she keeps listening.

"Ok," is all she says. I heave a sigh of relief. Sharing the story with KT and Fabian is one thing, but sharing it with Patricia gives me strength, courage, bravery.

"I wish we could stay here all day," she says.

"Why not?"

Patricia eyes me skeptically.

"My dad will just think I've gone home feeling ill and that you went with me. He kind of knows that I'm the Osirian, and he'll understand. And as for Victor and Trudy? They'll think we're still at school. So as long as we get home before say… 4:30 we should be in the clear."

"And that's the Eddie I remember from two years ago," Patricia teases. "But yeah. I like the idea. How about we go into town? You took me to America once, so now it's my turn to show you the English sites."

"Buckle up. Let's do this."

Everything is going perfectly until the giant hooded thing decides to jump on my car.