Cold. That's all I felt. I opened my eyes and then everything came back to me. I had heard noises from Jakes room, come upstairs and then I was hit with a horrible sensation. But as my vision came into focus, I heard a loud banging from nearby.

"Reagan!?" Someone yelled.

The voice I heard screaming my name from behind the door was so soothing, so familiar, and yet I didn't feel relieved.

Maybe it was the panic I heard in this voice. But I couldn't do anything, I was stuck laying helpless on my brother's floor. Even stranger, I felt so tired. Like I'd just run a marathon and a half. On top of that, my head was killing me. Which was weird, because I hadn't gone upstairs with a headache at all. In fact, I'd never felt one that was this bad.

I was feeling many emotions. Shock, happiness, sad? And then, a new emotion kicked in. Fear.

I saw a girl with long black hair, she couldn't have been older than 10, walking towards me. She was giggling, almost like she was taunting me.

I found myself suddenly gasping for air and the girls laugh grew louder in my ear. And then panic went through me.

I'm dying. I kept thinking over and over. I thought about all the things I'd never get to say to anyone and then my mind went to Jake. Oh, poor Jake. How was he going to make it without me? No! You're being stupid! You're not dying! I told myself.

Suddenly, the door burst open and my hero ran to my aid.

Michael. My hero was Michael.

He ran to me and just cradled me in his arms.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

I was speechless, so instead, I just nodded. I knew there was no way he'd believe me if I told him what I had just gone through.

Regaining my strength, I sat up in his lap.

"What a day." I laughed weakly. Even scared I still managed to embarrass myself.

"I never expected to see you here," I said.

"I guess I owe you an explanation." He said feebly.

"You saved my life." I insisted. "No explanation necessary."

After a few more minutes, I was back to my full self. I stood up, looking around Jakes room.

"Whoever did this is messed up," I said.

"More than that." Micheal agreed.

It wasn't until I turned around that I realized how close we were. His lips were so close they were almost touching mine. So many thoughts ran through my head. My secret crush for him, the fact that we were so close it couldn't have been on accident, and how much I had wanted this moment to come true.

Not able to help myself, I grabbed his face and pulled it to mine and kissed him with all the passion I had been keeping inside since we'd met. And even though it was quick, it also felt like it lasted forever. But just as quickly as I kissed him, I backed away and I waited.

Waited for him to start yelling at me. I waited for him to ask what the hell was wrong with me. But he didn't. He just..... Smiled.

"In the years I've known you Reagan Cobblestone, I never thought you had a thing for me." He laughed breathlessly.

"I'm... Sorry." I said sheepishly. You fucked up! I thought. Now he probably won't ever talk to you again!

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"Well... because I thought you were seeing someone. And... I didn't think you felt that way about me." I replied.

"You're right. I was seeing someone." He emphasized the 'was' part. I still hadn't been told who he was with, but I decided to ask later.

"So, what now?" I asked.

He laughed. "No clue."

After our exchange of words, we headed downstairs. We hung out for a few hours and caught up, but then he told me he had to leave and I was alone again.

Afraid that something else would happen, I decided to just go to sleep on the living room couch and wait for Jake to get home.

After a long and rejuvenating nap, I was awoken by the front door opening. This time I wasn't just hearing things.

"Hey, Jake!" I said happily.

"You feel ok?" He asked.

"Yeah! You'll never believe who I saw today!" I smiled widely, filled with euphoria.

"Who?" Jake laughed.

"Michael!" I chirped happily.

My brother laughed. "Oh yeah, he told me all about it." But then, he looked serious. "I... uh... Have to go study."

He quickly bolted upstairs.

Shrugging off his comment, I sat up and got to work on making dinner. Tonight I would make Jake's favorite, spaghetti, and sausage, but only because I was in a good mood.

When I finished cooking dinner, I called Jake down and he came down looking worse than awful. If he had looked like a zombie this morning, he looked way worse now.

"Jake, you're so pale!" I said, alarmed by how sick he looked.

"Yeah? And what do you care?" He growled.

That wasn't my brother. Couldn't be my brother. His voice wasn't so piercing. So bone-chilling. And then, the monster pretending to be my brother laughed.

"I'm fine! Jesus, can't you take a joke?" He laughed.

Laughing with him, but feeling uneasy on the inside, I handed Jake his food. And that's when I noticed his hands. They were shaking violently as he tried to sit down and eat.

"My god! Jake, what happened!?" I asked, seriously concerned about my brother's health and safety.

But he didn't answer, instead just stared at the plate. His expression was so frightening that I doubted even Hulk Hogan or the Rock himself would want to mess with him.

And what happened next is forever scarred into my memory.

He suddenly stood up, and now I could see his whole body was shuddering. Scared for both of us, I tried to calm him down.

"Just... Just calm down, Jake." I tried to say calmly.

He picked up the plate and tilted it, allowing the food to spill onto the floor while wearing the most wicked smile I'd ever seen in my life. But something in my gut told me this wasn't my brother! No way it could be! He'd never act like this!

"Who the hell are you?" I bravely walked a step closer.

He didn't answer, just kept on that evil smile. And then, the unthinkable happened.

Jake fell down and began to violently seizure.

I ran to his aid, trying to hold him down while at the same time trying to dial 911. I thanked the heavens when the operator answered on the second ring.

"911, what is your emergency?" The male operator asked.

"My name is Reagan Cobblestone! My address is 1730 year lane! I need an ambulance for my brother! He's having a seizure!" I shouted as I held Jake down as best I could so he couldn't hurt himself.

"We're sorry, the number you have dialed cannot be reached at the moment." An automated voice responded.

"What the fuck!?" I threw my phone across the floor and picked up my brother, cradling him in my arms just like Michael had done for me.

When it ended, I carried an unconscious Jake over to the living room couch and was greeted by the front door being knocked on.

I opened it to find Jaime standing there.

"Hi!" She smiled. "Jake told me you guys still lived here! It's so great to see you!"

She would be oblivious to what had just happened, that much was obvious.

"Come in," I said weakly, pointing to the couch.

When she saw Jake, she ran over to the couch and sat down.

"Wha... What happened?!" She was staring at me with a look of desperation.

"I wish I knew," I said truthfully. "He wasn't being himself and then..." I briefly paused while trying to decide what to leave out and what to tell her. Protecting Jake was my top priority. "He... He passed out. Had a bad fever. He's ok now."

She instinctively ran her hand over his head.

"Had? No, he still has one. Pretty bad too." She sighed. "Can you grab me some ice, a cold, damp towel, and some lemon juice for his nerves?"

"For his nerves?" I asked.

"Yeah!" She paused. "Oh, that's right... I never told you. If you don't protect them the fever could damage them."

I ran to the kitchen and grabbed what she needed. As I walked back into the living room, she was inspecting the rest of him. I felt better having a nurse-in-training to help with my brother.

"Has he had a seizure recently?" She asked.

"Uh....." Still trying to protect him, I didn't say yes. "I don't know. Why?"

"Well, because his muscles are tense as hell!" She looked slightly angry. "Jesus, Reagan! No wonder... ugh, just help me!"

As she went to work helping Jake, I stood back and watched while wondering if now was a good time for me to call Michael.

An hour later, Jake regained consciousness and by that time Michael had come over per my request.

"What... What happened?" He asked as Jaime held her hand to his head.

"Now that he's ok, I'm gonna go." She said and kissed his cheek before leaving.

Michael frowned and looked at his phone before telling us that he had to go as well.

When we were alone, I sat down next to him and planned on letting him confide in me.

"What's the last thing you remember?" I asked.

"I... I remember coming home. I saw you, asked how you were. I went upstairs... And... And...." He began to look so scared I just wanted to hug him and never let go.

"Hey, hey, it's ok! You don't have to say anymore." I said soothingly. "And, I believe you," I said.

My brother looked in shock, and I knew why. He was so used to people not believing a single thing he said, just because of his age, so it must have been an earth-shaking moment when I told him I believed him.

"You... You believe me?" He asked.

"Yeah, I do." I smiled kindly.

We sat together for a few hours and he seemed so much better that I was hopeful things were going in our favor. And even better, he ate my food and loved it!

I decided that whatever had happened must have been caused by a lack of food or something. All I cared about was making sure it didn't happen again.

"I... I think I'm gonna go to bed." He said as he yawned.

"Alright." I smiled. "I'll be up soon."

I waited until I couldn't stay up anymore and then headed up to bed. As I lay in the comfort of sheets, I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched.