I came to myself all at once, and all at once I remembered what had happened. I wasn't overly concerned, since nothing hurt that bad. My chest was sore, but no stabbing pains jabbed me when I moved, so I decided to open my eyes. I was met with the sight of a plain, stone ceiling. I sensed a presence to my left, and rolled over.

George: wearing a crumpled blazer, and a wrinkled white shirt. Tired, partly closed eyes gazed at me through cloudy lenses.

"Morning, Lucy." He said wearily.

"What time is it?" I asked, "And get me some water." I was parched. George handed me a glass on a small table next to the bed.

"Around four," He said, "In the morning." I gulped the water down eagerly, and breathed deeply once I'd finished. I Felt slightly hungry, but nourished somewhat now that I had drank the water, so I decided to sit up.

My chest twinged, and I hissed, but struggled upwards, so I was leaning against the headboard. I was in a long, rectangular room. There was a curtain on one side of me, but just past George I could see a bed, it was empty, and just beyond it a white sheet, hanging from a rail about eight feet of the ground. Through the thin white fabric I could see shadows moving around.

"The infirmary?" I asked, although I already knew the answer.

"Yeah," George sighed, "We didn't know what to do, so we brought you here."

"About that, what happened?"

"You passed out." I rolled my eyes,

"Evidently."

"And then you started turning blue." For a moment I didn't say anything, then,

"What?"

"Your neck, it was blue. I undid your top button," He said, picking at his own for emphasis, "And the skin there was blue too, but darker." My hand went to my throat, indeed, my top button had been undone. When I looked down though, my skin was it's normal shade.

"So you brought me here?" I asked.

"Not quite. While we were looking, Lockwood noticed something. You weren't breathing." I didn't move. "Your heart wasn't beating either."

"What?" I managed, "But, but I'm here aren't I?"

"Lockwood was panicking, so was I, and we didn't know what to do. I knew that without air, and a beating heart, a person could only survive about five minutes. So I decided to attempt CPR." His voice had gone quiet, and I had to lean forward to hear what he was saying, "And, miraculously, it worked. I was amazed. We carried you here, and the nurse took over. She gave you a shot, and took a pulse, then said you'd be alright, and we could stay if we liked." He gestured around himself, "And here we are." I don't know if was because it had recently stopped, but my heart was pounding wildly.

"I almost died." I said.

"Yes." He confirmed.

"Where's Lockwood?"

"A teacher came and asked what happened, and he went to go explain. Should be back soon."

"And he's okay?"

"He's shaken, we all are."

"Fair enough. What's he going to tell them?" He shook his head,

"I don't know." For a time there was silence. Heavy silence. I had almost died, almost never breathed again, almost never spoke, or laughed, or smiled again. Almost never thought again. I felt oddly disconnected, and at the same time very alive.

My stomach rumbled loudly. I frowned, and threw off the sheet covering my legs. It was time to get some food.

I stood up, and wobbled, leaning dangerously towards the right. My chest hurt, and it hurt badly. I took a step, it didn't hurt too bad.

"Lucy, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to find some food." I was also testing myself, to see if I was okay. I didn't know what after effects CPR had on a person, but I wanted to know I could still walk. I could at least do that.

"Sit back down, I'll get something." As much as I wanted to argue, my legs trembled, and my body felt heavy, so, regretfully, I sat back down. George stood up, and left, shutting the curtain behind him.

I laid back on the bed, and put a hand on my chest, where it hurt the most. I pushed gently, and gasped as pain stabbed through me. I took my hand away in a hurry, and closed my eyes. I wondered if my bruised skin beneath my shirt was blue, as it had been before.

was chilly, so I got back beneath the thin blanket, and curled up on my side to conserve warmth. Eventually I got relatively comfortable, and cleared my mind as best as I could.

"Lucy, Lucy!" I pulled the blanket over my head, and very nicely told Lockwood to leave me alone.

"Goway." I muttered.

"I can't go away until you get up, do you want any food?" I was hungry, but I was to tired to care,

"No." I grunted. "I want to sleep."

"You have been sleeping. For hours, wake up."

"How many hours?"

"Um… Including when you were unconscious? Or not?"

"Not."

"Four straight hours."

"I'll get up on one condition." I consented, "You find me something to do, and I'll get up."

"Oh that's easy, you can work on the homework you missed." I opened my eyes and threw my pillow at him. Lockwood was not sitting as straight as usual, and his grin looked forced, his eyes were tired, but nevertheless he managed to dodge my pillow with lithe grace.

"I haven't missed anything, the school day just started."

"Then you could play a game with us! After we catch some shut-eye of course. We get the day off since we've been up all night."

"If you're going to nap then why did I have to get up?" I asked, and sat up.

"Because you're doing well, and the nurse needs you out of here, apparently somebody broke an arm." I sighed, and stood up. My body didn't protest as much as it had before, I still trembled a little, and each step made my chest hurt, but I managed to make it to the library without to much trouble. Lockwood followed me, occasionally attempting to sound lighthearted, but mostly just sounding exhausted.

Inside the library George was sitting in a sagging leather armchair, reading a book. Lockwood, and I sat in the couch across from it. George put his book on the coffee table.

"Finally, what took so long?" He asked us irritably,

"Lucy didn't want to get up." Lockwood said, and yawned. Yawns spread, as was the way with yawns, so soon George, and I found ourselves yawning as well.

"These two days have been some of the most exciting days of my life." I said. "And I've only been here two days."

"It's been much more exciting since you got here." Lockwood said, and looked at me. He seemed to tired to smile, but his eyes gleamed.

"I can't tell whether that's a compliment, or an insult." I replied drily.

"Compliment, definitely." He said, and closed his eyes. "It was boring around here before, but now…" He trailed off, and threw an arm over his eyes.

"So you're feeling okay, Lucy?" George asked me. Peering at me a little too closely for my comfort. I shifted my weight,

"Yeah, tired, and sore, but I'm alright."

"Good." He too, closed his eyes. But instead of leaning back elegantly, he slouched down into the worn leather, all but vanishing into the chair. I sat there, in silence, watching the morning sunlight from the window creep across the floor.

"George?" I said, I wanted to ask him if he'd found out anymore about, as he called them, visitors.

There was no response.

"Lockwood?"

He stirred briefly, and turned on his side, so he was facing me. I watched as his lips twitched briefly.

Bored, I stood up, and began browsing the library. I had never been an avid reader, although I did enjoy the occasional adventure novel. I managed to find a suitable book, and sat back down next to Lockwood, who was now completely sideways, feet hanging off the end of the couch. I opened my book, and began to read.

Two hours, and forty pages later I closed the book, and set it on the side table. My eyes felt heavy, and my limbs like lead. I threw an arm over my eyes, to block the morning light coming in through a tall window. I closed my eyes…

It was a good day. The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The bell rang, and I came out of school, smiling. It was the weekend, and I was free. My backpack was heavy, it bounced on my back with each stride.

"Lucy!" It was my friend, Julie, a pretty enough girl, with long black hair, and an easy laugh. "Come to the library with me!"

"Of course!" I said, and fell into step beside her. "What are you doing this afternoon?" She shrugged,

"I dunno, maybe I'll watch a movie. Why? Want to do something?"

"Something like that. Why don't we get some tea?" Julie smiled,

"Your treat!" We were in front of the hair salon when we saw our other friends, Steph, and Norris, they were in the fencing club with Julie, and I. They were running, and we jogged to catch up to them. Norris looked back and smiled, Julie was faster than I was, and she reached them before I did. They were crossing the street, and I almost caught up to them when it happened.

A bus, shining brightly in the afternoon night came around the corner. I saw the look of fear on my friends faces as they turned in surprise. The bus hit them. I saw their bodies fall to ground, as the bus drove on.

It was purely luck that I was the bus driver's face. It was my fencing coach, Jacobs, and in his face I saw nothing but surprise. Then the vehicle was gone, it had vanished as quickly as it came. And I was standing there, next to the limp bodies of my friends, and classmates.

And the only thing I could thing to say was,

"Guess I won't be needing to get your tea after all."

The days afterwards could only be described as hell. I spent a week at home, officially I was 'recovering from trauma', although most of the time was spent answering questions about Jacobs. After the seven days were up, I went back to school. I walked to school, went to class, and walked back. I didn't go to the library after school, or the small cafe next to it, the only place where we could get decent tea. It was awful.

It was a cloudy winter day, and I was almost at the crosswalk when I heard my name.

"Lucy!" I looked around, but didn't see anyone I knew, so I kept walking. "Lucy!" I shivered, and glanced around again.

There was the low rumble of a car coming, mindful of what had happened to my poor friends, I stopped, and waited for the automobile to pass. And waited. And waited. The rumble died.

"Lucy!" The voice called again. I put my hands over my ears, and shook my head vehemently. "Lucy! Lucy, get out of the way!" It screamed. I ran all the way home, clutching my head.

I always heard the voice after that, I only heard it near the crosswalk where my friends had died, and it only ever said a few things: My name, and to get out of the way.

"Lucy!"

"Lucy."

"Lucy."

"Lucy."

I opened my eyes. I was still on the couch, I had fallen over sideways, so my face was right next to Lockwoods.

"Lucy." he whispered. He was still asleep, and as peaceful as ever. I, on the other hand, was coated in a cold sweat, and my jaw was clenched. I relaxed with some difficulty, and sat up, wincing at the pain in my chest.

George was still in the sagging chair, in the exact same position as he had been when I began reading my book. I quick peek at my watch, revealed it to be around noon. My stomach growled.

I put a hand on Lockwood's shoulder, and shook gently.

"Lockwood." I said. His dark eyes opened, and met mine.

"Lucy?" He asked,

"Who else?" I said, and smiled tiredly, "Let's go get some lunch."