For being so early in the morning, Noah hadn't expected anyone else to be around. He would always wake up at six o'clock and most of the residents were heavy sleepers. There were no strict rules about getting up or going to bed, as long as they attended all mandatory meetings. Usually Noah would have nearly an hour of alone time in the grassy square – he enjoyed the fresh air – before anyone started emerging from the dorms. Yet as he walked downstairs, he found the hunched over form of Ollie Cox sitting on the bottom step.

Noah stepped around the young man but paused at Ollie's voice. It sounded croaky and rough. "Why didn't you step in?" Noah turned. Ollie had clearly been crying. His left eye was a dark hazy mixture of purple shades and stuck at a squint. "You saw, right? You saw Banks punishing him. Why didn't you stop it?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Noah turned back around. He did not think Ollie had ever spoken to him before, and Noah didn't feel like attempting a conversation with such a stranger. That kind of effort could be conserved for something else.

"Don't look away!" Ollie yelled, loud enough to make Noah wince. The voice echoed around the ground floor, a sure way to wake up the unfortunate residents. Noah slowly turned around again, and Ollie was pointing at his swollen eye. "This is just as much your fault as Banks. He saw you watching. You and Penelope. Neither of you did a thing." Ollie stood up and stood straight in front of Noah, eyes glistening. "You're one of the people who've been here the longest. Don't you have a responsibility to step in for us new guys?"

Ollie's frame was thin and while slightly taller than Noah, Noah didn't feel threatened. Didn't feel much of anything, really. Noah just shrugged again but didn't turn away this time. He'd rather not have Ollie yell out loudly again.

"I don't understand. This place is supposed to be state-of-the-art… it's supposed to help us. Yet the boy gets beaten by the staff, gets bullied because he's weak. They don't care about us. Ollie's so ashamed." Ollie, or rather whichever name it was – Noah had come to realize that this wasn't Ollie's day-to-day persona – jabbed a finger in Noah's chest. "People won't help if you don't help them."

"Could you make any more of a bloody racket!?" Coming down from one of the ground floor hallways, Conner Shepherd's eyes were dark and looked as if he hadn't had a wink of sleep. "Stop whining. It's no wonder the broad wacked you upside the head. If you keep at it, I'll give you a second one." Conner went to walk past but stopped at Noah's gaze. "And what do you think you're lookin' at? You gave me a look yesterday as well. Well, keep lookin'. See where it gets you." Conner sniffed before snapping his head towards the Ollie's persona, as if a sudden spark had come to him. "If you hadn't realised it yet, this place ain't no place to help anyone. This is a prison with fancy paint, that's all. Welcome to the madhouse, Cox, you won't find salvation here."

"You also walked past. You didn't even spare a look."

"'Cause I don't give a single shit," Conner spat. This close to him, Noah could see an almost feral look in the eyes of this man. It was like looking into the eyes of a starving wolf. As he talked, he bounced from one foot to the next, as if always ready to pounce on anything he deemed a threat.

"You'd care if Banks did the same to you," the persona spoke back defiantly. Noah made a note that he really ought to at least learn some of Ollie's persona's, if only to have names.

"Banks could try. Then she'd find that baton raining down on her head. You wanna stop getting bullied? You fight back. Rule of the jungle, kid." Conner snorted and suddenly swung his gaze back on Noah. "I told you, you keep lookin' at me I'd make you wish you closed your fuckin' eyes!" Conner flinched forward but if he had expected a reaction from Noah, he was sorely disappointed. Noah had a tendency not to react to people talking to him, either positively or negatively. After all, what was the point of being scared of something that might not even be taking place? With a final scoff, Conner stalked out of the dorms, kicking the door as he went and slamming it back behind him.

"I don't like him," the persona crossed his arms, frowning.

"…Nor do I," Noah said quietly. He felt he could spare the words.

"…I'm Owen. Ollie's a late sleeper." Owen offered a hand which Noah looked down at warily. "I'm sorry for attacking you. I get grouchy. You might not talk much but at least you don't talk like him." Owen's hand stayed hovering for a few seconds before he realised Noah wasn't about to grab it. "I get it. Not a fan of being social. I think you'd get on well with Ollie. I'll leave you to it. Just… Just think about stepping in sometimes, okay? I don't need it, but the kid and Ollie… They need people to look out for them. Like I said, you've been here a long time. You have a responsibility, y'know? Help begets help." Owen walked away back up the steps, leaving Noah alone.

The morning just had not gone to plan at all. Noah enjoyed his routine and that routine had been completely shattered.

"Oh my God, that was awesome!" And just like that, any hope of a quiet morning was gone, although Noah always appreciated Robyn's presence. She practically appeared out of nowhere, bounding down the stairs next to Noah, holding up her camcorder. "I caught that all on film. I can't wait to share it with Doctor Evans or his twin. Conner's crazy. I swear, I heard him howling before. I wonder if it's only when the moon is out," Robyn gasped, eyes bright with realization. "He's a werewolf, that makes so much sense!"

Noah left the dormitory, with Robyn following him as she expanded on her werewolf theory.

When the shouting echoed across the grassy square, Noah didn't think too much of it. Shouting wasn't the most unusual thing to hear around Hearthome. He cast a curious gaze to the doors of the administrative building, where the wild-eyed Conner Shepherd was surrounded by two of the orderlies, in fact Noah recognised them to be Banks and Sullivan in a rare case of working together. Each was holding an arm while Conner's teeth were gritted tightly, his face pale, eyes covered by loose strands of hair.

"Get your hands off'a me!" Conner's voice easily rang out, a snarl to his words. "You wanted me to answer your questions, I answered them!"

Standing at the door was Doctor Evans, anxiously stroking his goatee with one hand while watching Conner. Noah had never seen the Doctor uncertain on anything but the way he was looking at Conner was like a vegetarian being given meat for dinner.

"Are you scared of me, Doc? Scared of what I can do to you?!"

"Enough, Shepherd," Imogen Banks pulled down on Conner's thin arm and practically threw the man to the pathway. Conner's head hit the concrete pathway hard and the man grew still. Banks seemed surprised at her own strength and immediately cast Doctor Evans a concerned look, while Sullivan kneeled down next to Conner. Doctor Evans also walked over, his anxiety turned to echo that concern and their voices grew hushed enough that even in the quiet of the square they couldn't hear what was being said.

"She's getting out of hand," Robyn said, her camcorder trained to her eye as she watched the scene. "She can get away with something like that even here in the open. None of us can do anything about it but she doesn't care that we see it. Even the doctor just lets it happen."

Noah didn't respond. He was absently watching Sullivan try to pick up Conner and gesturing Banks to help. Banks seemed reluctant and her usual authoritarian face was filled with hesitation. Noah had never seen the tough orderly seemingly regret her actions, but here she almost looked… scared. Was she scared of the repercussions of possibly seriously injuring a resident, or was she scared of something else? Or in this case, someone else. The rumoured killer, Conner Shepherd. Anyone would be scared of that, whether it was fact or fiction.

Then Noah leaned forward without thinking, watching as if in slow motion. Conner was moving, not nearly as unconscious as Noah had thought. He wrenched the loose grip of Sullivan away and put both hands on Banks' chest, pushing her backwards. She fell back silently in surprise and Conner turned towards Doctor Evans. Noah watched it all as if in slow motion, taking in every action of Conner Shepherd, every heaving of his chest, every breath that left his lips. Then Conner let out such an animalistic roar that Noah nearly started to believe Robyn's theory that he was a werewolf.

It all sped up. Conner leapt up two steps and tackled into the doctor, knocking the man to the floor. There was a flash of pink and again for Noah it seemed all in slow motion. In Conner's left hand was a pink pen, snatched from the breast pocket of Doctor Evans. If Noah could zoom in his own vision, he knew what the text on the side of the pen would read. It was the pen that Doctor Evans had been given by his daughter. Conner's hand rose up, spun the pen in his fingers like a magic trick and plunged the pen down with all the strength of a hammer beating in a nail.

The spray surprised Noah as it spurted out from Doctor Evans' now burst right eye and spattered a crimson stain across the left side of Conner's face. Doctor Evans' feet twitched once and grew still and Conner's shoulders heaved. The yard had grown silent. Even Robyn had grown silent. Noah found himself doing what he usually did in situations like this and just watched.

Banks from the floor, and Sullivan standing, both stared wide-eyed. Neither had seen such brutality like this before. Conner slowly stood up, blood dripping from his right hand, spiralling down the cylinder of the pen casing and turned around.

Hearthome was full of people who the common folk would call 'crazy', or 'mad', or 'not right in the head.' Full of people that society had cast out and laughed at. Yet when Noah looked into those eyes of Conner Shepherd standing there having just likely murdered a man, he truly felt like he was looking into the eyes of a madman.

Sullivan was the first to act. He reached forward as if to grab Conner. When the pen entered his throat, Sullivan looked as if he didn't quite realise what had happened. His hands brushed Conner's shoulders, then moved to his throat, where the pen had torn a bloody hole. Sullivan grasped his throat desperately with wide eyes, stumbled two steps back and then collapsed into a bloody heap.

Noah watched in amazement as Conner's tongue slipped from his lips and lapped up a droplet of blood that had slid down his face.

The murderer twisted around and bounced on Imogen Banks, who was still prone on the floor, paralyzed. Without a weapon in hand, Conner's hands smashed down on the orderlies face and two thumbs pushed hard into her eyes. The murderous silence was broken now by Imogen's scream like nothing Hearthome had ever heard before. Conner put his whole body weight into his hands, digging deep into Banks' skull before her scream rattled into nothingness.

Imogen Banks' scream was like an alarm for the rest of the residents. Conner's actions triggered the people who were watching to stand up with their own screams and yells and start running away to wherever felt safe. Conner was already standing up, his wild blood-stained gaze swirling around the field.

"Oh my God, Noah… Noah, we should go. Noah!"

Even though Robyn was tugging on Noah's shoulder, he was morbidly fascinated as Conner started running, his arms loose, his feet pounding on the pavement. Conner ran down the grassy bank with a bench close by as if possessed and Noah saw that the bench was occupied by a frozen Ollie Cox who had been sitting with the bandaged Penelope, who was still holding the book she had been reading the previous evening in her hands.

Conner swung a hand like it was a bat and cracked it into the face of Ollie with enough force to send the poor boy tumbling off of the bench. Conner used one hand to grab Ollie by the hair, used the other on the back of his neck, and slammed Ollie's face into the side of the bench – not once, not twice, but repeatedly until Ollie's face became a bloody mess unrecognisable as a human face. Conner was letting out such strange sounds, a mixture of roars and shouts. Something in this man, this creature, had broken.

Noah felt himself pulled from the bench by Robyn who had surprising strength in her arms but still couldn't tear his eyes away as Conner leaped the bloody mess of Ollie to tackle into a wide-eyed Penelope. They both disappeared on the other side of the bench outside of Noah's view but Noah saw Conner's hand rise up with the crimson-bound book and then watched the book slam down repeatedly.

"We have to go, find some other orderlies, Noah, please, please," at the sound of her terrified voice, Noah finally drew his gaze away and found Robyn was crying, the tears rolling down her cheeks. Yet despite this she held her camcorder up with shaking hands as if determined to capture everything, not that she ever would capture anything with that camcorder. "Oh God… Oh God, oh God, he's coming!"

Noah felt strange as he turned. He suspected he ought to feel fear or at least something akin to panic but he didn't. He saw Conner rushing towards him, murderous intent in his eyes. Something in Noah also recognised that there were other orderlies emerging from the buildings at the sound of screams. An alarm was also ringing in the background now, an alarm used only in case of emergencies – usually escaped residents or when two residents were fighting.

When Conner reached Noah, Noah found that he welcomed it. Finally. Finally it would be over. All the uncertainty about the crash, of waking up seven years ago. This was how he could accept reality. Death was the answer, Noah realised that now. Conner barrelled into him and knocked him to the floor. For being so thin and gangly the man had such feral strength behind him. He was drooling and his eyes were wide with madness. There was no semblance of a man anymore. Noah suspected that killing Doctor Evans had broken Conner Shepherd.

Conner's hands latched around Noah's throat and started squeezing – hard. Noah felt no pain. He just felt sweet, sweet relief as he tried to breathe and found he couldn't. It wouldn't be long now. Not long at all and it would finally be over…

"Get off him!"

The camcorder smashed over Conner's head and shattered into plastic pieces. Conner grunted and fell away from Noah while Robyn stood there, panting, her hand bleeding, impaled with plastic shards. Her face was a mess of tears but also a sense of… courage. Courage Noah hadn't seen in a very long time. Noah hadn't realised that Robyn had it in her.

"You fuckin' bitch…" Conner's voice was rasping and seemed to fracture in his own throat. He leapt at her and this time Noah found himself taking action despite his inner instinct. He threw a foot up and kicked Conner in the side as he approached Robyn. Noah scrambled to his feet, shocked at his own action, and looked to Robyn. That feeling of relief was gone. Looking at Robyn and looking at her scared face Noah felt in him something of the old Noah, the Noah that had tried to save people all those years ago.

Saving people… Playing the hero… You don't do that anymore!

"Shut up…" Noah muttered to his own thoughts. "Run, Robyn, run!" Noah managed to cry just before he felt an extremely sharp sensation in his belly. Conner had moved with the speed of a hyena and used a large jagged piece of plastic from the camcorder to stab Noah in the stomach. Something that sounded almost like cackling emerged from Conner's lips as he dragged the piece of plastic across Noah's flesh.

The pain was searing and Noah fell backwards against the bench, clutching his stomach in agony. He waited for Conner to finish him off but the man's attention was again on Robyn. Robyn had fallen to her knees, her eyes still full of bravery but her body not following suit. The long plastic shard was still in Conner's hand.

"No…" Noah croaked, moving to stand up but only finding himself falling onto the grass face-first. Not like this… Not like this! He didn't want to welcome death anymore, not until Robyn was safe. "Stop—"

Conner did not stop.

Noah watched helplessly as Conner plunged the plastic shard into Robyn's chest. The sky was turning black as Noah's eyes struggled to stay open as he watched Robyn fall backward. Conner straddled her and plunged the makeshift knife into her chest again. This time it was clear, even as Noah's other senses faded. Conner was laughing… laughing like the feral madman he was… laughing… and that laugh permeated Noah's consciousness as it all turned black.

Noah had felt this feeling once before, back when he had his first Vision, back when he had thought he had died only to wake up. This time it was real… This time it was all over… He wished he could have at least saved Robyn… He wished he had acted, and not just watched… And in the last dying remnants of Noah's consciousness, he could hear that cackling of a killer…

Noah's eyes opened. He found himself staring at the roof of his bedroom. One hand went to his belly as the pain still lingered, but there was no mark on his flesh, no cut. A shiver ran down his spine. Something threatened to burst somewhere in the back of his mind. Noah stood up and walked towards the calendar. He put his finger at Saturday the 12th. It was marked. Sunday the 13th. Also Marked.

Monday the 14th. Unmarked.