Once I arrived at the hospital I finally got my mind off the surrealness of all things. Especially the chaos happening around me, and the chaos of my own head. While walking to the emergency room door, I try to think of what I’m supposed to say to the person at the front desk.
“Hello, how may I help you,” I was questioned as I walked up to the front desk of the emergency room.
“Yes… Ummm….. I actually followed an ambulance here. There was a man in the ambulance and he was hit by a car,” I replied awkwardly.
“Okay. Well, the ambulance just arrived and soon you’ll be called to the back only when he’s in better condition,” the nurse behind the desk said with a sincere smile.
As I waited, I looked through Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, but only 2 hours had passed. Eventually, I fell asleep.
    Out of nowhere, I hear a loud shriek. I gasp at the thought of myself harming anyone else. I abruptly stop my white rental car and turn on my hazard lights. I, then, instantly jump out of my car and see if I hit something.
“O-oh my g-g-god,” I said with a shocked tone.
“What h-happened,” a strange man said with agony in his voice.
He looked almost angel-like. Fair skinned with brown curly hair; along with his hazelnut brown eyes. What did I just do?!?! I thought with more concern, than worry.
I quickly bend down to ask “A-a-are you okay,” with some worry and fright.
The man with fair skin moans in pain. I didn’t know what to do, or say for that matter. Suddenly a thought popped into my mind, I need to call an ambulance. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?! So, I then alter my position trying to find my phone.
Once my hand caught my phone and before I could dial 911, I felt that something had caught my arm. I look at the man on the ground and his hand wasn’t on my arm. I instantly get a shiver up my spine and in that moment I know exactly what/who had me. As my anxiety starts to rise, I feel the hand turn into a claw. The claw’s grip enclosed my arm, and I suddenly couldn’t feel my arm.
I feel a slight tug at my upper arm, and I close my eyes; because I know what’s going to happen next. Soon enough I feel pavement under my back and a slight gust of wind. I feel that the wind has stopped so I assume t,hat it’s okay to open my eyes. As I slowly tear open my eyes. As my sight is adjusting to to sunlight, I see a blurry figure hovering above me. Soon enough I see the figure clearly, IT’S THE MAN I RAN OVER!!! He sighs and kisses me on the forehead.
I then feel shaking…… “Hello…. Miss. Can you hear me?”
“Huh,” I sheepishly say; I then start to wake up and yawn.
“Miss…… The man you ran over is asking for a woman of your description,” the male nurse says as I stretch.
“Okay. Well, just give me a second. I need to stretch. By the way, My name is Claire,” I responded quickly.

After I stretched, I went to find the male nurse that originally woke me up. After 5 minutes of trying to find him, I finally just decided to ask the nurse at the front desk.
“Hello. I was told that the man I ran over was asking for someone of my description,” I said eagerly. I wanted to finally understand what happened.
“Hello. Yes. You were supposed to meet me at that door,” the male nurse that woke me up pointed out. I walked over to the door the male nurse pointed at. Right as I was about to open the door the male nurse did so for me.
I swiftly walk beside the male nurse, and he points out which room the man I ran over was in. When I near the man’s hospital room I hear a male voice saying “She was about 5 ft 3 inches. She has caramel brown hair, and had blue-gray eyes.” I stood frozen at the door as the male voice finished describing my physical features.
OH CRAP!!!! Why was I the one being described?!?! I screamed to myself. Right as I have control over my body, I hear footsteps walking towards the door. In a moment of panic I try to walk away, but a man calls out “Hey!! You there….” I slowly turn around and walk back.
“H-hi. I-i-i’m Claire. I-i was the person w-who accidentally ran over t-t-that man that was just describing m-me…” I stuttered. I fumbled around trying to think of words to say.
“Oh…… Mr. Charles did describe your physical features. Come, I’ll ask him if it’s you he’s looking for.” The man grabs my arm and leads me into Charles’ room. Right before I could say anything, I heard a deep gasp.
“How did you find her so fast,” Charles questioned. Right before the tall man holding my arm could say his first word, syllable, or even his first letter.
“She was in the hallway,” the tall man blurted, while still holding my arm tightly.
“Why did you hit me with your car,” Charles said with an enraged tone.
“I-i-i-i didn’t m-mean to,” I said awkwardly and then immediately burst into tears. Then, the tall man let go of my arm and I fell to my knees. I couldn’t hold back my tears, every tear fell from my face, landed on my knees, and soon enough I was in the fetal position. At that moment Charles sent the tall man away and got out of bed. He quickly reached the spot where I was on the hospital floor and covered me with an extra blanket.
Once I felt the blanket over me I held my tears long enough to see Charles in front of me in the fetal position. Charles was just watching me sob, like a baby, in the middle of his hospital room’s floor. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop crying. Hours dragged on and eventually I fell asleep.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Charles was still in front of me and he too had tear stains on his cheeks. He too had fell asleep and still was. I didn’t know if I should wake him up or let him sleep. I proceeded to think it over while I stared at his physical features. After a while I got lost in my looking at him, that I forgot to decide to wake him or let him be.
Soon enough Charles starts to wake up. My brain goes into panic mode and I pretend to be asleep. Once Charles stretches he looks at me for a while. Eventually he kisses me on my forehead and I start to blush. As he got up and walked away my cheeks grew to be as red as a rose. I got tired of acting like I was asleep and decided to ‘wake up.’ As I ‘wake up’ I hear Charles’ voice boom at me saying “Oh…. I didn’t know you were awake.”
I quickly reply with an awkward “I.. uh.. Just woke up.” There’s a few moments of silence.
“By the way, I’m sorry about last night. Now that I look back at it, it’s pretty embarrassing,” I say trying to be apologetic.
“It’s understandable. I was very harsh,” he announced. I didn’t know what to respond with so I quietly watched him. He stood gazing awkwardly around the room awaiting my response. As I watched him, he noticed that I saw every move he made.
    Right as I start thinking, I remembered the dream I had when I slept in the waiting room. I curse under my breath. I quickly scatter to the door and say “I’m sorry, but I really have to leave. I hope you get better. I’m, again, sorry about yesterday. Bye!”
    “Oh, well at least let me buy you dinner when I get out of the hospital,” he shouts right as I’m about to open the door.
    “Yea, definitely,” I quickly pull out some paper and a pen and write down my number. I then quickly hand it to him and scamper away.

I run out of the hospital and see questioning glances from the people I pass. I finally reach my car, buckle up, and quickly get back on the main road. No matter how fast I drive I can’t get to my hotel fast enough. Well, looks like I’m staying in town for a while longer, I thought to myself. I just hope I have enough money to get through the week. I hope there are some jobs that I could take for now. As I drive to my hotel I keep an eye out for Tari.
Once in the parking lot, I cautiously run to the front desk inside the building. I saw there wasn’t anyone at the front desk, so I look around, for anyone or a bell for service. After many minutes of looking around I hear shifting steps. I emotionally prepare myself for Tari running straight at me. As I’m waiting to be eaten alive, I squeak and a deep voice says, “Oh. I didn’t know we had a customer. How can I help you?”
“Oh….. u-u-uh…….. Y-y-you weren’t w-w-who I-i expected,” I said trying to not be too awkward, but failed.
“Did you make a reservation,” the man politely addressed.
“I didn’t. Do you have an extra room for a week,” I hurriedly questioned.
The man opened his computer, typed, and found that there was 1 room left. I paid for my room and the man finally asked the one question I figured he’d ask. “Why did you scream when I walked into the lobby?”
“I’m so so so sorry. I don’t have a logical answer for you, because if I told you….. you wouldn’t believe me,” I tried to explain.
“Just tell me. You’d be surprised at what I’ll believe,” the man said reassuringly.
“Well, there’s this creature that’s hunting me,” I whispered while shaking.
“What is this creature called,” he questioned curiously.
“Tari,” I said with a shiver.
The man said “I believe you….”but he then trailed off. “I’ll tell you why I believe you, but you must never tell anyone,” the man continued. “Okay….” I said firmly, but kind of puzzled and the man immediately took a hold of my arm and dragged me into the basement.

The basement door had 5 to 10 locks on it. I sent a questioning look at the old man. Right then I got a text message that says, Hey Claire. This is Charles, the man you hit with your car. I’m going to be released from the hospital tomorrow. Can we meet up at lunch?
I quickly type my response, Definitely!! Where should I meet you? Before I get another message, the man takes my phone and says, “You better be paying attention.” He then puts my phone on vibrate and hands it back to me. I then quickly put away my phone. I guess I’ll have to reply to Charles later, I think. I let out a big sigh and the man had already unlocked all the locks and is waiting for my attention.
I look up and he opens the door to the basement. As the door slowly opens, my anxiety level rises. Once the door was opened, I saw 5 people lounging around in an amazingly big basement. The basement had everything, even rooms. All 5 people look at me then to the man, about 2 or 3 times. All the sudden they all start questioning the man. The man makes their chaos eliminate itself. The man turns to me and says, “I’m sorry about the fuss. I’m George and they are: Sven, Sean, Felina, and Sharyl. My brother, Terrance, is upstairs. Plus one of our members is in the hospital right now,” George explained. “You’ll meet Terrance and Charles tomorrow. We all are being hunted by Tari, just like you” he continued.
Sven has blonde hair and hazel eyes, along with a punk style. Sean has black hair and blue eyes, with a rebel look. Felina looks like a regular girly girl, with brown hair and brown eyes. Sharyl has brown hair with hazel eyes, along with a nerdy vibe. George, was bald, a gray beard, and blue eyes; with a business-man style.
    “Okay, so you all hide here and Tari hasn’t found you,” I questioned with disbelief.
    “Basically, we all started out just like you. The exact story. We all are related in some way and the more of us here, the longer Tari doesn’t find us,” George explained. “Do you know who you’re related to,” George continued and I let out a huffed sign, then looked to my toes.
    “I don’t know who my parents are. I was adopted and my adoptive parents wouldn’t let me have contact with my birth mother. Then there's my birth father, he's dead. Plus I’ve been running since I was 18,” I tried to explain without getting emotional. I look at everyone in the room and everyone had tears in their eyes or was crying. Felina and Sharyl we hugging and had tear stains on their faces. I look at Sven, Sean, and George and their eyes are filling with tears. I look them once over again and pull out my phone to check the time. It’s already past midnight, and I have 3 new messages.
    My messages were from Charles and my old friend, Olivia. My messages from Charles read, Meet me at noon at this little cafe called Cafe Latte.
    It’s right across from Hotel Grimace. I replied with a simple, Okay, I’ll meet you there.
    My message from Olivia read, Hey girl. I know we haven’t talked in awhile, but I heard you were in Brownville, Maine. I was hoping we could meet up for lunch sometime this week. I hadn’t seen Olivia since I darted from graduation. I didn’t know what to say, because she and I had a falling out right before graduation. The day before, we made up, but then I left and didn’t tell anyone why. I was too embarrassed because Tari found me. So, I just left the text alone, I figure she’s mad because I left.
    I look back at everyone and they were just staring at me, all the water works had cleared. I cave and say, “Sorry I was checking the time.” Everyone nodded and went back to sit down. Eventually, I was the only one who was still standing and at the door. Felina waved for me to join them. I glanced at everyone and what about the door, I questioned myself. I slowly walk over and sit by Felina. Once George noticed that I joined he remembered that the door is still open.
    George jumps up and runs to close the door. George closes the door and lets out a big sigh of relief. Everyone turns to him and claps. In light of the situation I join in and smile, like I’m a part of the group and have been my whole life.

About 2 in the morning I finally ask where I can sleep. George shows me the empty room in between Felina’s room and Charles’ room. Then it hit me….. George was talking about the Charles I know, wasn’t he? After a couple mins of thinking, I finally change and go to find George, to know if he was talking about the same Charles I know.
    I walk out of my room and ask Sean where George would be. Sean didn’t know. Everyone else was in their rooms and I finally just gave up and decided to ask Felina.
    I walk up to Felina’s door, knock, and say “Felina, can I talk to you?” Felina opens the door and pulls me in her room.
    “Spill,” she says patting her bed for a girl talk.
    “What do you mean ‘Spill’,” I question
    Felina responds with, “I know you know Charles. How’d you meet him,” she eagerly awaits my response.
    “How’d you know? Plus I don’t even know if it’s the same Charles,” I say with tons of question.
    “We all have talents. Mine just so happens to be mind reading. I know it’s the same Charles. Only because I’ve gone through your memories,” she quickly explained. “So, spill,” she continued and waited for an answer.
    I tell Felina everything. Even about my dream, plus when Charles kissed my forehead in the hospital. Afterwards, I wait for everything to sink in and Felina sits there staring at me with shock. As her face returns to normal, I quickly add in about Charles saying to meet him at the cafe.
    Felina sits there, again, in shock. I wait for a response and she doesn’t move, it looks as though she’s not breathing. Kind of statue like, and for a second I panic.
    “Felina,” I said worried and trying to get her attention.
    Felina immediately snaps out of her statue ways. I breathe a sigh of relief. Felina asks, “What happened? Did I space out?”
    I quickly nod. She shakes her head to keep from getting dizzy.
    “What just happened,” I say with fury, keeping in mind that others are asleep.
    “Chill……” Felina says with a scream and dodges a lamp heading for her head. “What the…..” Felina curses.
    “What just happened,” I say with a squeal of terror. Felina gasps and a huge smile appears, slowly, on her face. She then replies to my question with, “You just used your ability!!” In that moment I start to zone out and imagine all the horrible possibilities that could happen.
    I back away to the wall. Once I hit the wall I slide to the floor, and start to whimper with fear. I pull my hands to my face and I suddenly get to a quiet sob. Felina walks over and sits beside me.
    Felina starts to whisper, in a calming voice, “Claire, what’s wrong?” I try to stop each sob as it enters my throat. Felina awaits her answer patiently, as if she knows how I’m feeling. I choke each sob and eventually find the words to say.

“I-i can’t do this…… W-w-why must e-everything be put o-on me? I-i-i don’t understand,” I say choking down my sobs with every breath hurting my lungs.
    “I know, I know” Felina says with a sigh. “I said the same thing when I first got here. We all have,” she continued.
    “I don’t want to be like this……” I sobbed. “I don’t know why everything terrible must happen to me,” I continued with a deep breath in between each word I said.
We sit in silence for what seems like hours. Felina finally says, “Maybe…..” then trails off. I smirks and then continues with, “You just need to control it. Maybe we should work on that tomorrow.”
“Maybe…” I say weary. I immediately jump and say, “Oh no!!!”
“What now,” Felina says with disgust.
“I can’t tomorrow!! I have to meet Charles at noon. Ugh!!”
Felina sighs and slowly climbs to her feet. “Then I guess we better get to sleep if you want to learn before you have to get ready to meet Charles,” she says as I stagger to my feet.
I sigh and walk towards the door and glance back. “I’m sorry……. About everything,” I say as I take my leave. I turn back to the door and walk out of the room. I walk out of the room and everyone abandoned the space set before me. I leisurely walk straight to my door and enter only to see that someone riffled through my belongings. I sigh and give up, only because I had been through so much anxiety today. I push off the clothing that had been displayed on my neatly prepared bed. I don’t bother to change and clumsily climb into the fairly warm sheets. Suddenly I’m taken by the darkness that is sleep…..

As I lay unconscious, I hear loud banging to my left. I never knew that one sound could be so loud. I growl in disgust of the thought of getting up. Then I adjust my sleeping position to where I am most comfortable. The loud noise stops and I can rest peacefully again. Bang!  I heard it from in the depths of the living space. I walk slowly to my door and hesitantly place my hand on the handle.
I tip-toe to the side of my door. What’s happening, I think as I slowly open the door. Once the door is to the point of when I can see everything in the living space, I look the open floor before me and see a man standing in the living room. The figure is wearing, what looks like, black clothing. I as start to, silently, freak out, the figure looks around at the doors. It doesn’t even bother to study my door like it does the other rooms. Almost like it knows that this room was once vacant. I quickly question everything, as I continue to watch the figure. The figure heads for the light switch and I slowly close my door to where I can still see the living space.
The figure reaches the light switch and I close my eyes to prepare for the instant light. I see light flicker as it reaches my eyelid. I slowly open my eyes and see that the figure disappeared. I let out a relieved sigh. A shadow appears and I gasp.
The shadow appears startled and walks to the other end of the room. It was a somewhat familiar angel-like male. He walks with confidence and is dressed in familiar clothing. He turned around and I immediately know why he was so familiar. I try to move my eyes, to make sure I’m not hallucinating.
His angelic features are so bruised. I never thought that we’d meet here, until after the coffee fiasco. I start to breathe heavily and the door squeal is gut wrenching. He becomes unsteady and frightened. I pull my hand to my mouth and keep from moving once more. He then sees the crack between the wall and door, where I stand. He slowly approaches my newly found room.
I step aside so he won’t notice. The door slowly slides open and there is a quick, yet awkward, moment where his face almost met mine. The door moves further and his hand reaches for the light switch. The lights flicker to life and he immediately recognises my physical features.
“What are you doing here?!?!”
“George said I could sleep here. Why are you here, Charles” I say with a stern look.
Charles gasps then says with worry, “Are you being hunted too?”
I glare at him mischievously, “Being hunted by what?”
He starts to frown and lowers his head. I can’t help but chuckle. “I’m joking,” I say with a quick pause. “I am being hunted by Tari.” He looks up and sees that at that time I’m being serious.
He perks up and says, “You should probably go to sleep.”
“That was my goal, before you walked in. Especially since you made tons of noise.”
“Oh…….. Sorry. Goodnight then,” he says with a smirk.
“Goodnight,” I say as we are to leave one another and meet again in the morning. I turn off the lights and walk back to my bed. I drag myself underneath the covers and dig a comfy place to sleep. So, I once again drift to the darkness that is sleep.

As I sleep in peaceful bliss, something forcefully hits my door. I suddenly see light behind my eyelids. I groan and reposition myself to where I have my eyes on top of the pillow. Once I’m about to drift off, my blanket sweeps across my body and to the floor. I shiver from the loss of warmth. I guess I have no choice, but to get up. I slowly open my eyes and light blares into my pupils.
Suddenly my pillow flies from beneath my head and hits me in one swift motion. The pillow continues to hit me, so I move to cover my fave from the pillow. Soon enough, I catch a glimpse of who is hitting me with the pillow. My mind slowly processes the familiar figure……. The figure the turns into George. He starts to realize that I’m awake and stops the one sided pillow fight.
“Ah….. I see you’re finally awake. Felina wants you in the living space in 5 minutes,” he says bluntly. I groan and pull myself to my feet. I wobble for a minute and push George out of the room so I can change.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I say while leaning my back on the door. I pull myself to the pile of clothes on my floor and search for something comfy to wear. I find one of my band t-shirts and some yoga pants. I quickly change and, practically, run out my door and into the living space.
As I jog into the room I see Felina setting up training equipment. Once she notices that I’ve exited my room, I get tackled by her person. As I gravity takes it’s toll I see my whole life flash before my eyes. My back is about to hit the floor, so I brace myself. I wait for the crash of gravity to inflict my back, but it never happens. I slowly move my head to where I can see the ground and get a fear of gravity not working. I try to keep calm, but my nerves take over.
Soon enough gravity works once again, and we fall 5 feet to the floor. I hesitate before I stand up and then pull myself to my feet. Once I’m stable, I see Felina looking at me with shock.
“What,” I say.
“I didn’t think that was going to work, but it did,” Felina says with shock.
“Wait!!!! You planned that,” I say with rage.
“Yeah,” Felina says with a chuckle.
“What?!?! Why,” I scream at her.
Felina chuckles once more and walks away. I think about following her, but instead I make a beeline to my room. Once in my room, I close the door and lean my back on it. I need to calm down, or something might hit someone in the head.
“Maybe, I should go for a walk,” I say with a pause. “Or that’s not such a good idea,” I continue. I throw out all my worry and decide to go on a walk anyway. On my way outside, I see that no one was there. I continue my fast paced exit and George catches me before I can lay a hand on the hotel door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m going for a walk,” I say.
“That’s not a good idea….. Maybe someone should go with you,” George suggests.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good option,” I confess.
“Why is that?”
“When I get angry or upset, everything goes haywire. It’s best for everyone’s safety that I just go alone,” I explain.
“Yeah. I’ll get Charles to go with you anyway. It’ll give you two the chance to get to know each other.”
“Well, funny story. Charles and I have already met,” I say awkwardly.
George nods and walks away. A few minutes later he comes back with Charles. Once Charles recognizes me he pulls his mouth into an all teeth smile. I giggle and scan him from head to toe. He’s also prepared to go from a walk.
“Hi,” Charles says with a big smile.
“Hi,” I reply without making eye contact.