Disclaimer: I don't own jack. The only thing I lay claim to is the crazy it took to write this shit.


Author's Note (obviously): Whelp, here's the next chapter for all of you. So, I'd say something along the lines of 'I hope you enjoy this new chapter my most awesome readers ever!' but that's not really my style. So instead, I'll just say FEED, MY PRETTIES! FEED! ...Yep, that's how we do it in Lima Heights. Anyway, thanks for the three who left reviews. Reviews would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside if I had a heart. Which I don't. But I like to pretend so leave a review anyways. Also, to those of you who felt offended by my 'You are an Asshole' note in the first chapter, I say this: get over it. I already have.


The quiet was almost unsettling. It was as if I had unknowingly walked into a vacuum-sealed space where sound didn't travel as it should. All I could hear was the rapid beat of my heart and labored breathing. I swallowed thickly, still panting. Weakly, I used the railing to pull myself unsteadily to my feet. I groaned, relieved that the earsplitting noise had disappeared. Looking around in a daze, I came face to face with the bluest eyes I had ever seen.

I jerked back in surprise, the metal railing cutting sharply into my back. Eyes wide, I gazed into the blue depths set back in a regal face. I traced the line of a proud nose, curved across delicate lips, and down a defiant chin. A mess of blonde hair framed it all.

I watched, feet rooted to the floor as the woman took a step closer to the glass that separated us. She tilted her head to the side curiously as she studied me, much like a house cat would when faced with a mystery. Slowly, almost like she knew any sudden movements would break this spell I was under, she pressed the palm of her hand to the glass between us. In a trance of some sort, I found myself walking forwards, my hands sliding away from their death grip on the railing. As I closed the distance at a snail's pace, my left hand rose from its place at my side and haltingly reached to lay my hand upon the glass right over the woman's own. My fingertips just barely came into contact with the barrier between us when I hesitated, pulling away slightly.

My hand suspended in the air uncertainly, I asked in a whisper, "Who are you?"

Those blue eyes melted impossibly soft at the sound of my voice. "That is the wrong question," she seemed to say and though I could barely hear her through the glass her voice seemed to ring clear through my head. This strange occurrence would have no doubt startled me if I hadn't been so focused on the way her lips moved to form the words.

"What's the right question?" I wondered aloud, not really paying any mind to the words coming from my mouth. My hand inched closer yet again.

A sad smile pulled at the woman's lips. "Why, oh why, does the Banshee shriek?"

Once again her words resonated more so from somewhere in my mind rather than my ears and, without warning, the bubble that surrounded us popped.

Sound came rushing in and I flinched back from the glass, throwing myself as far away from the barrier as possible. My back once again impacted hard with the scaffold railing and I winced. My grimace increased as a horrible, high pitched screech echoed across the cavern walls. I clamped my hands over my head to protect my ears against the shrill sound, my eyes and teeth clenched tightly. Peeking my eyes open, I noticed the woman was no longer at the glass.

"There you are!" a gruff voice boomed from my right after the disembodied shriek had trailed off. I turned to see a highly annoyed Dr. Stein standing at the bottom of the closest staircase that led to the upper floor. "Come on—" I heard him growl before the rest of his words were cut off by another awful wail. We both cringed, clenching our teeth. Already I could feel a dull throbbing behind my eyes that foretold the inevitable onset of a migraine. Without waiting to see if I moved to follow, the doctor turned on his heel abruptly and began to heave his heavy frame up the steps.

Throwing one last glance towards the spot the mysterious woman had once stood, I trailed after Dr. Stein. We continued down the walkway, the screeching steadily growing louder the closer we drew to the source of the noise. Ahead, I could make out the form of Mr. Knowles standing near a particularly large cubicle, his expression one of rapt fascination. Although my hands were pressed hard over my ears, it did little to block out the god awful noise. Dr. Fouer approached us with a goofy smile that hardly fit the situation until I noticed the earplugs nestled in his ears. He handed the two of us our own pairs and I quickly made use of them. They had an immediate effect and blocked out the worst of the screaming. I sighed in relief.

Both doctors ushered me forward even though I was entirely unsure if I was mentally prepared to discover what was making such an unnatural screech. It was a sound I had never heard before and the feeling it evoked inside me was dread in its purest form. Unfortunately, the deep seeded need to sate my curiosity had me dragging my feet forward until I stared in horror at the thing—monster—behind the glass. The creature was a dark, hooded figure that levitated above the ground as it flew about the cell in a frantic frenzy. If the thing had a face, it could not be seen under its tattered cowl.

"Banshee!" Mr. Knowles yelled to be heard over the shrieking once he took notice of my presence. His eyes gleamed in the artificial light.

I nodded slowly, still not able to tear my eyes away from the monstrosity before me. My boss had been right when he said everything I thought I knew about the world was about to change. How was this possible? How did such creatures exist in the world—my world? The same world where I worked a nine to five job, earned a steady income, and paid taxes.

"Isn't she fantastic?" Dr. Fouer shouted, bouncing on the balls of his feet. I shifted uncomfortably. That definitely wasn't the word I would have used to describe this thing. "This hasn't ever happened before! We're all witnessing our Banshee's call for the first time!"

I was jostled from my gawking at the thrashing, screaming figure inside the cell, finally taking notice of the growing crowd of people in lab coats eager to get a look at the Banshee. Most of them we're jotting down notes or using recording devices to capture the moment. All of them wore looks of fascination.

'Why, oh why, does the Banshee shriek?' A whisper echoed in my head. I would have thought it a memory of the words that strange woman had spoken to me until the same voice answered, 'A warning to all of those you can't keep!'

I had had enough.

Before I could even make the conscious effort, my feet were already carrying me back in the direction I had come from. There was a certain insistency fueling my escape, some instinct yelling at me to get out of here. No one noticed as I slipped away from the crowd and bounded back down the stairs. With each level I descended, the urgency grew. It was as if there was some clock counting down the time and I didn't want to be here when it reached zero. Suddenly, I wasn't moving fast enough. I kicked off my heels, shimmied up my formal skirt and began to run. My eyes trained intently to the floor, I didn't dare to look up and see inside all of the cells I rushed past. Not even the cell where I had encountered the strange woman, though I could almost feel those blue eyes upon my back. My heart was beating madly in my throat and my legs burned but stopping was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

The whispers were back, urging me to turn here or run that way. For some reason unknown to me, I didn't question them. Relief flooded through my veins as I arrived at the thirty fifth floor without getting lost but I wasn't in the clear yet. I had to make it to the elevator. Again, the voices in my head hummed where to go. I was flying down the main pathway, absentmindedly thinking of how grateful I was of the years I spent cheerleading in high school, when I abruptly collided into someone.

I almost jumped out of my skin.

The whispers fell silent.

I jerked away from the person and stared into the bewildered eyes of Mr. Knowles' receptionist. The blonde's eyebrows knitted as she took in my wild appearance. I watched her mouth moving but no sound issued between her lips. I was confused only for a moment before I realized I was still wearing earplugs.

Clearing my ears, I heard Quinn say again, "Dr. Lopez!"

"What?" I didn't mean to snap but the word fell from my lips tersely.

"I asked why you were running," Quinn replied exasperated, her tone turning defensive.

"I just—" I stopped short. How did I explain that this place made me feel like I was drowning? That I was hearing voices in my head? That I just knew something terrible was going to happen? "I just need to get out of here."

The hard look in the secretary's eyes softened a bit, but not by much. "Hey, look," she said carefully, patting my shoulder almost awkwardly in an attempt to help ease my nerves. It didn't work. "I know this is a lot to take in but you get used to it."

I leveled a blank stare at her.

"Well, maybe not completely," she corrected herself. "But you have to remember this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You have the chance to study a new frontier. Study creatures never seen before. Just think about it, Doctor. Imagine all the opportunities."

And I was. The scientist in me was altogether fascinated by the little I had seen since I had arrived and I knew there was so much more to discover. This was beyond my wildest dreams and the possibilities were virtually endless and, yet, I couldn't shake off the bad feeling I got from being here.

Quinn must've been able to tell I was still undecided. "Look, just follow me. I'll get you something cold to drink. How does that sound?"

I shifted uncertainly on the balls of my bare feet, looking over my shoulder at the chrome doors of the elevator just a few yards away. Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself and turned to follow Quinn.


I found myself sitting at a small table in a common room on the thirty-sixth floor. Sipping slowly from a bottle of water, I watched Quinn who sat across from me as she continued to eye me expectantly. Now that I was sitting down in a relatively normal space that looked like any other employee break room, I felt like I had my wits about me once again. No voices, no screaming. Just the comforting and familiar sound of the refrigerator kicking in.

"Better?" the blonde receptionist inquired, breaking the silence that had descended between the two of us.

I swallowed the cool liquid in my mouth before answering, "Much."

"So, what had you so spooked anyway?"

I paused. I still wasn't sure if I should tell her about the whispers I had heard in my head. What if Quinn thought I was crazy? It wasn't like she knew me well enough to believe me. So, instead, I muttered, "That thing that was screaming its head off. The Banshee or whatever."

"Right. Dr. Berry was texting me about that a few minutes ago," She said, her gaze going unfocused as a barely discernible smile quirked the corner of her lips. Narrowing my eyes, I took another sip of water. Quinn seemed to snap out of whatever little daydream she had going on as the plastic bottle crinkled from within my grip.

"Anyway," she cleared her throat softly, "I guess that means you know a little about mythology then."

"What do you mean?" My left brow rose with the question.

"I mean the Banshee. The reason it was screaming. That's why you freaked out, right?" Before I could deny knowing what she was going on about, the blonde just continued talking. "You really shouldn't worry. The Banshee screaming could have been from a number of things. I'm sure it was just screaming because someone that works here has an ailing grandmother that will be passing away soon."

I frowned. "I really have no clue what you're talking about."

Quinn sighed and began to explain slowly as if I were some incompetent child, "Banshees are believed to wail when someone is about to die."

The receptionist continued to explain but I tuned her out as my mind wandered. I recalled the words that I had heard echoing in my head as I stood gawking at the Banshee earlier.

Why, oh why, does the Banshee shriek?

A warning to all of those you can't keep!

The rhyme made sense now, though I still didn't understand why I had heard it in the first place. Obviously, the most sensible conclusion was that one of the creatures in here was putting voices in my head. And I had a good feeling I knew exactly which one was the culprit. It had to be the blue eyed…woman? No, that wasn't right. She obviously wasn't human though there was nothing physically different about her that set her apart from a normal person.

"So really there's nothing to worry about."

I only caught the last sentence Quinn spoke but I nodded as if I had heard the entire thing.

"Now," the blonde said as she stood gracefully from the table, "I have to go grab some paperwork so you can look over it and see if it's to your liking. Do you think you'll be alright by yourself for a moment?"

I scowled darkly at my boss's receptionist. Just because I freaked out a little doesn't mean she has to hold my hand the entire time we're down here. "You go do that," I growled threateningly.

Quinn only sauntered out of the room, seemingly unaware of her offense. The door clicked shut behind her and I leaned back in my chair with a deep sigh. Holding the cool water bottle up to the side of my head, I closed my eyes and willed the headache I was experiencing away.

I had just come to the decision that I'd sign the paperwork that would instate me as the lead scientist here at the Colony when the red behind my closed eyelids suddenly turned dark. With a jolt, I sat up and opened my eyes, my knee jerking and slamming the underside of the table. It did no good though. My eyes were open yet I couldn't see a thing. The darkness was all consuming to the point that I couldn't even see my hands when I held them right up to my face. My mind was spiraling with all the possibilities that could cause this power outage, when a piercing scream tore through the darkness from somewhere beyond the room I was in; this particular scream though was entirely human.

Suddenly, more just like it began to join in and with a gasp, I fell to the floor, the chair I was sitting in falling sideways and clattering against the linoleum floor impossibly loud. On the verge of hyperventilating, I scrambled backwards blindly across the floor until my head and shoulders hit something solid. It only took a moment before I determined I had run into the refrigerator. The cries continued as I edged my way around, managing to wedge myself in the space between the wall and fridge. I pulled my legs close to my body and pressed my face into my knees.

I startled as I heard running footfalls clanging against the metal scaffold and coming closer to the break room. I held my breath as they quickly advanced closer, my heart beating impossibly loud. I couldn't stop the small whimper from escaping my lips as whoever was running was now right outside the door.

The footfalls continued past, the loud clangs fading in the distance.

The breath I had been holding blew out of me all at once. Another scream, this one much closer than the others. Because of its proximity, I could make out the terror and alarm mixed in with the horrid cry before it was cut off abruptly. The suddenness of which it was interrupted made me realize that something terrible had befallen the owner of the scream. With that realization, something inside of me fell away and I knew I was about to lose it. I could already feel the heavy sobs threatening to bubble up from my throat and I knew they would be loud and uncontrollable and whoever, or whatever, had cut off that earlier scream would hear me and, therefore, find me.

The first sob wracked my chest as it tore through me and I slapped my hand over my mouth and nose to muffle the noise. More followed, each one growing in intensity and soon, they'd turn into shouts for help whether I wanted them to or not.

My sobbing stuttered and paused when I heard a faint whisper. It only took me a moment to realize that it was coming from within my own head once again, though this time it was different. Instead of a multitude of whispers, it was only one single voice that was impossibly soft. I still couldn't make out the words but the way it spoke was calm and almost musical; like hearing the sound of wind chimes carried by a breeze. Before I knew it, my breathing was finally slowing to its normal rate and my heart didn't feel like it was trying to beat out of my chest.

I suddenly didn't feel so alone.


-MAGIC
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