The Fade

Chapter 2

                                Laying on the couch and staring into the darkness was somehow comforting. I thought about the past year, I thought about Kaylie, just like I had every night. I rolled over and looked down at Jordan sleeping on the floor. What goes through his head? What kind of place is he trapped in? But my biggest question was, why hasn't it spread to me? I live with Jordan, and it's bound to come any day. And why hasn't anyone at school gotten it? Why is it only Jordan and Kaylie? Sometimes you'd hear of someone having it, but it wasn't a terrible case. Most of the time it just went away. 

                             Jordan was only sixteen. Will he have to spend the rest of his life like this? He could never get a job. He could never fall in love. He could never raise a family. He could never really live.

                            I reminisced about the time when Kaylie first got it. "Kaylie, I love this song!" We had been up in her bedroom, laughing and screaming along to cheesy love songs. But suddenly, Kaylie had stopped and sat down on the bed. "Ah! I have a terrible headache." Kaylie smacked herself in the forehead, attempting to ease the pain.

                          "Kaylie, what. . ." My thirteen-year-old self hadn't suspected a thing. "Let's go downstairs and get some water." I had helped her stand up and we'd made it downstairs. We'd barely made it to the kitchen counter when she collapsed. "Kaylie!" I'd bent down and tried to help. She'd jerked away from me.

                      "Get away from me." She had been terrified. But not only that. She had been furious. I'd seen the fear and anger toiling inside of her. "G-get away." She panted. "JJ, what's happening?"

                     "I don't know! What IS happening?" I'd panicked. I didn't know what to do.

                      "They're here!" Kaylie screamed and punched the floor. Her knuckles came away bloody, but she didn't seem to care. "They're here, JJ." And all at once, she was calm. Her breathing had slowed. She recovered and stood up.

                     "Kaylie?" I put my hand on her shoulder. "What do you mean?"

                     "They're here. They're here. . ." Her eyes were glassy.

                      "What are you talking about? I-I don't understand."

                     "Jaylynn. The voices. The voices that Clarissa had."

                     "So that's what she had? I-I don't know what to do."

                    "There's. . ." She let out a shrill scream of agony. "There's nothing you can do." She grabbed her hair and pulled it. "It's too late."

                   It's too late. Those words echoed in my head as I stared at the ceiling. She had been right, it was too late. "Why doesn't anybody love me?" I asked the darkness. I knew it wouldn't answer, but it just felt good.

                   "Because you don't love yourself." A voice invaded the silence. A voice I had longed to hear. I sat up and felt a tear trickle down my cheek. I didn't want hope anymore and I didn't want to be sucked into believing that Jordan could hear me. I could see Jordan's back rising and sinking with each breath, outlined by the moonlight dripping through the window. Had he really spoken?