Hello! As I thought, this would be delayed. Apologies for that. But here it is!

Claires POV

Eve is alive, it was a dizzying sensation. The last time I saw her, she looked so broken, so close to the end. I heard the story of how they got her to critical care, and I couldn't quite believe it. Michael believed in her and here she is.

I stood close to her hospital bed, along with Shane and Michael on either side. The duffel bag rested on the chair that was meant for visitors. She hasn't woken up yet, but everything seemed normal. She was recovering.

"Thought I lost you there, Eve." I whispered, adjusting her blanket around her. Last time I saw her I had to be dragged away. She's my best friend, and I couldn't imagine life without her. She still hasn't woken up, but the small fact that she is here at all was reassuring.

I left her with Michael, a seemingly permanent presence near her hospital bed. I sat down beside Shane on one of the waiting chairs and sipped my coke, and welcomed the sugar.

"Eve seems better." Shane mused, sipping his own coke.

"Yeah." I yawned; it was a very long day. Slowly but surely I could feel the exhaustion pulling at me, and my stomach rumbled silently.

"So you finished work. Did Myrnin...?" He trailed off the question, looking at the bump on my head. It was all a blur to me, but a few things did stand out.

"Yeah, he's alright now, as alright as Myrnin can be. It was so strange, something knocked out everyone in the room." I picked at the metal opener on the can, thinking.

"Today was sure exciting. I didn't think they would let you go for a while." Shane joked, but got serious quickly. Amelie would have probably kept me until I figured it out and managed to wake him. I couldn't imagine what she would have done to me if I hadn't succeeded.

" Exciting is one word for it. It was so rushed and intimidating, and at the end of it... well it was strange. It was like an explosion of dark shapes swirling from Myrnin and just blocking everything. It felt like I've gone blind, cut off from everything. Then I just woke up." I touched the bump on my head, which was better but still stung sharply.

"I haven't questioned anything in this town for a while, I just learn to roll with it. At least everything worked out, and you're fine." Shane sounded concerned, but he always was, about me. I knew what he was saying was true, nowadays we just work whatever crisis we have on our hands.

"That's one way to look at it." I reply, looking straight at him. He looked tired, but still the tanned person I knew too well. This whole idea of taking it easy isn't that easy after all.

Myrnins POV

I ran down the steps to my lab, its seems so long since I stepped foot in here, but couldn't have been longer than a few days.

I was confronted with piles of my stuff on the floor, it was worse than last time. Maybe I should get a maid to clean up around here, but then can I trust someone in here?

I picked my way into the centre of the lab, shuffling stuff with my shoes. It wasn't the mess that bothered me, it was simply the fact that I couldn't get to the workbenches easily. I could run over these piles easily in the dark, but a clumsy human could trip over all too easily. It seems like I can never win with my housekeeping.

I started to put some of the trinkets away, to try to make the lab more recognizable. It may have always been in a mess, but at least a recognisable mess. I picked up some of the glass shards that were lying on the floor surrounded by a clear liquid when I heard it.

Something fell.

Immediately, I stood up straight and took in my surroundings, listening for heartbeats, sniffing the air for any sort of scent. I also listened, and for a moment I could hear everything, even the pipes that ran inside the walls of the lab.

But it was nothing.

Just a fallen box.

It lay on its side, empty. I couldn't mistake it, I heard the air whistling slightly as it sailed to the ground, the impact of cardboard crushing against the floor. But nothing. No-one is here. It was me and my crazy mind, but this wouldn't have been the first time I've seen something unexplainable.

Everything, in the end, is answered.

I turned away from it, just for a moment, and looked back at it again. It was still there. I don't know what to expect, maybe for it to sprout legs and walk away, with all the chemicals spilled on the floor. Ah yes because that would be plausible, I can already imagine the lab report.

I went back to my work, the babble in my head distracting me from what I really needed to do. And so was the laughter. I wasn't laughing, and the noise before was overshadowed by my own thoughts. The laughter wasn't deep or menacing; it was light and floaty, like champagne bubbles that tickle your nose.

I turned around, again, but I didn't need to. They were already there.

"You're never sure of what's real, aren't you Myrnin?" A dark silhouette stared at me, beside a pair of blood red eyes. The red seemed so full of life compared to the emptiness of its neighbour, and they seemed to twinkle and tease me without saying any actual words.

"You could say that." I shot back. It was a hallucination, I could tell. Things from your head don't form in the real world, not for real. I guessed there would be some side effects from being woken up, but I wasn't focusing on mental.

"We would know very well." The womanly voice came closer, and I didn't flinch. She wasn't real, she wasn't here. She stood a few inches away from me, a mass of black, not even a person, no features to distinguish who she is apart from the shape of her body and the hollow eyes. Like a 3D shadow.

This would be over soon, it always is.

I only flinched when her hand closed around my wrist.

Hallucinations aren't supposed to do that.

Another chapter finished! How was that? Oh poor Myrnin is in trouble again :(

I hope you guys enjoyed and review!

Oh, college for me is starting again, I'll try to balance things out,but there should be regular updates for you guys! Till next time!

~Cheesepuffzapper xx