“It’s coming! It’s coming!

” A man half-shouts half-coughs, holding his family close to him, then like
everyone else on the street, closes his eyes and braces himself for impact.

Nothing. We all open our eyes to see the huge, ash-coloured smoke floating into the atmosphere
and far away from us.

After a bunch of coughing and wheezing, the street is full of cries of relief. For now.

We shift around on the dry, cracked street which digs into our feet. Terrified, we hopelessly go back
to waiting for the next smoke of doom.

I just finish unpacking my bags when my phone rings.

I take the call and a scene of a busy family hovers above the screen, a TV playing in the background,
and a woman with knitted eyebrows standing in the centre. “Hi mum!” I exclaim.

“My new star! How’s it there? Wow, this new technology is amazing! I get to see you so clearly but
even your whole room!”

I smile at the nickname she gave me as soon as she realized that my name had a ‘pretty special
meaning’ according to her. I say, “I know, right? I’m so glad you’ve finally decided to use it. My
neighbor, _____, is really friendly and came to have a chat with me as soon as I moved here.
Apparently, she has asthma and she gave me an alarm that will alert me when she feels too unwell
and needs help. Poor thing. I wish it wasn’t preventing her from having a good life.”

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I take out the little blue screen with the caduceus symbol on it. Flashing blood red.

“Saera? You alright?”

I swallow. I’ve never had to do anything like this before. After taking a deep, shaky breath, I reply to
Mum, “Yeah, it’s fine. ____ said it has been happening often nowadays. It’ll be fine.” I turn and run
out the door. I say to myself, “It’ll be fine. She did say it has been happening often. Hopefully, it
won’t take too much of my time.”

“See ya, sweetheart!”

The pounding of my heart echoes in my head as I leave the room.

Even right out her door, I hear loud coughing noises.

I calm myself down, “Hey. Thud. The sound coming from the room sets my teeth on edge. I take
deep breaths in and gently push the door open, “______?”

Just darkness. Not a sound.

I walk in, and trip, falling onto something. My head pounds as I slowly turn to the object at my feet.
My hand by instinct comes to my mouth to suppress the scream.

Shaking, my hands fumble for my phone. 000. “H-hello? Ambulance s-services?”

An automated reply comes, “Sorry. Don’t try to call back. Emergency services are not available
anywhere anymore.”

“But…”

It automatically hangs up.

“Oh, come on!” I shout into the darkness.

Looking at her, I notice foam coming out of her mouth, and blood pooling beside her mouth. “Yuck!”

I tell her unconscious body, “Getting you to the hospital is gonna take too much of my time. You
know what? I should just leave you here.”

I turn around but come to a sudden stop when I hear the squelching noise of my shoes. Dark red
blood is spattered all over my right shoe. Probably from when I tripped over her.

“You’re not gonna leave me, are you?”

A memory of two bodies on the ground beside a damaged car rises and strong emotions rise to the
surface, but I shove it down. I blink away the tears threatening to overflow. No… I’m NOT going
there. Leaving nothing but emptiness inside.

*she comes back and sees her mother dead, feels numb, ringing in ears, doesn’t cry yet though

Scene: the smoke has just left in the beginning scene, and she cries, thinking of her mother holding
her…
“It’s coming! It’s coming!” A man half-shouts half-coughs, holding his family close to him, then like
everyone else on the street, closes his eyes and braces himself for impact.

Nothing. We all open our eyes to see the huge, ash-coloured smoke floating into the atmosphere
and far away from us.

After a bunch of coughing and wheezing, the street is full of cries of relief. For now.

We shift around on the dry, cracked street which digs into our feet. Terrified, we hopelessly go back
to waiting for the next smoke of doom.

I just finish unpacking my bags when my phone rings.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I take out the little blue screen with the caduceus symbol on it. Flashing blood red.

I swallow. I’ve never had to do anything like this before. After taking a deep, shaky breath,

I say to myself, “It’ll be fine. She did say it has been happening often. Hopefully, it won’t take too
much of my time.”

The pounding of my heart echoes in my head as I leave the room.

Even right out her door, I hear loud coughing noises.

I calm myself down, “Hey. Thud. The sound coming from the room sets my teeth on edge. I take
deep breaths in and gently push the door open, “______?”

Just darkness. Not a sound.

I walk in, and trip, falling onto something. My head pounds as I slowly turn to the object at my feet.
My hand by instinct comes to my mouth to suppress the scream.

Shaking, my hands fumble for my phone. 000. “H-hello? Ambulance s-services?”

An automated reply comes, “Sorry. Don’t try to call back. Emergency services are not available
anywhere anymore.”

“But…”

It automatically hangs up.

“Oh, come on!” I shout into the darkness.

Looking at her, I notice foam coming out of her mouth, and blood pooling beside her mouth. “Yuck!”

I tell her unconscious body, “Getting you to the hospital is gonna take too much of my time. You
know what? I should just leave you here.”

I turn around but come to a sudden stop when I hear the squelching noise of my shoes. Dark red
blood is spattered all over my right shoe. Probably from when I tripped over her.

“You’re not gonna leave me, are you?”

A memory of two bodies on the ground beside a damaged car rises and strong emotions rise to the
surface, but I shove it down. I blink away the tears threatening to overflow. No… I’m NOT going
there. Leaving nothing but emptiness inside.
Into the darkness
I walk in, and trip, falling onto something. My head pounds as I slowly turn to the object at my feet.
By instinct, my hand comes to my mouth to suppress the scream.

Looking at her, I notice that her lips have turned blue.

Scrunching my face, I tell her unconscious body, “Getting you to the hospital is gonna take too much
of my time. I should just leave you here.”

Suddenly, it’s not Tyla anymore. My sister’s face looks back at me, her skin as pale as when I found
her by the dented car a few years ago.

“No!” I scream. I try to hold her, but my hands go through her body. Looking back at the door I came
through, I see nothing but red. The dark red colour of blood. Her blood was everywhere now.
Everywhere I looked.

My breath was coming in short gasps. Emilee!

I wake up to find a pillow on my face, blocking my airway. Frustrated, I hurled it across the room.

“Are you going to haunt me for the rest of my life?” I shouted hopelessly, to no one.

Soon, with a magazine in hand, I plonked onto the sofa. I found myself looking for distractions. But
all I saw was her face and all the words seemed to merge together. Feeling dizzy, I put the book
away and leaned back, closing my eyes.

A sharp tap on the door brought me out of my doze, much to my annoyance. I yelled, “Come in
already!”

The door slowly opened, revealing a teen. Her bright, colourful dress a contrast to my dull, grey
room.

“I’m sorry for disturbing you, but your neighbor is my older sister. She died last night. Do you know-”

“Oh! I didn’t know. I’m sorry,” I interrupted, feigning surprise.

The poor girl left the room with a “Have a nice day!”

I tried to avoid thinking about it, but her innocent little sad face wouldn’t leave my mind. And it was
because of this reason that I finally left my room.

A group of investigators stood, blocking Tyla’s doorway. The teenager, on the other hand, was
shuffling to the other rooms in our floor and asking for information. Her tiny voice filled the air. I
looked after her in amazement. An aura of optimism surrounded her.

A memory resurfaced. A girl with a cheerful smile that could take on anything stood in front of me.
Well, almost anything… I shoved it away, blinking repeatedly. Tears threatened to spill, so I breathed
in deeply. After glaring at Tyla’s room, I go back into my niche.

That night, I tossed and turned, but nothing could stop the memory after memory that played in my
head. I took a deep breath in, and when I let it out, the tears that were on the verge tipped over.

I let myself cry for the first time in years after my little sister’s death.
__________________________________________________________________________________

I panted as I ran. My feet came to a sudden stop and I looked at the huge building standing before
me. Just for a moment, I hesitated. Can I even do this? I can just go back home, and no on would
ever know… I started backing away. No! I bring up Emilee’s face in my mind. If she was here, she
would encourage me to do what was right.

Determined, I run straight in.

The gavel in the judge’s hand was raised, and he was declaring, “As no evidence has been found and
the court and jury cannot come to a conclusion, unfortunately, Miss Texana Peacegleam, I must
declare that-”

“Wait!” I shouted running to the centre.

Every pair of eyes followed my movement, including the teenager, Texana’s exhausted ones. Before I
even got there, I was suddenly being dragged out by two police officers.

One of them hissed to me, “Young lady, you know the law. Interrupting a court case is a crime.”

“No! Please! You have to listen!” I looked over their shoulders at the judge and shouted, “I swear on
my dead sister, Emilee Highflower, that I am speaking the truth when I say that I am a witness to Tyla
Peacegleam’s death!”

The officers stopped. Gasps followed.

“Are you… Emeryn Highflower?” The judge leaned forward and and squinted at my face.

“Yes. I am here because I made a mistake.”

I stared at my shoes, before continuing. “I moved to my new room yesterday morning. Tyla was my
neighbour. She gave me this alerting device,” I say, taking out the little blue screen with the
caduceus symbol on it. “She said that she had a severe case of asthma and she would contact me if
necessary. Apparently, she didn’t want to scare her family, so she deleted all signs of it from the
hospital she had been to. A few hours later, there was a shrill noise coming from it, and it was
flashing blood red. I got to her room, terrified, and found her on the floor. I – I was selfish. I didn’t
want to help her. That’s why I ran back to my room after that.”

There was a pause, before the judge’s voice echoed across the room, “I must first apologise for not
having done a great job in bringing the light to the criminal who killed your sister. Second of all, I
congratulate you for your honesty. But you must know the punishment for the crime you have
committed?”

I nod and look at the last person I want to be able to see. Texana’s eyes were filled with grief. With
an apologetic smile, I closed my eyes. Suddenly, there was darkness. No. Nothingness.

When it was all over, I felt someone hold my hand. I didn’t have to see to know that it was Texana,
and something told me that she was smiling at me. I smiled back at her.

With Texana and Emilee by my side, I walked into the darkness, happier than ever before.