He felt Sage come over to him, and she helped him to the bed. He fell off the bed and to the floor again, feeling helpless. He looked over at the door, and saw his Grandmas dead body once again, as perfect as he had sawn it the day she died. He scrambled to get up, and in a frenzy, grabbed the ground where the corpse lay. The body disparaged as his fingers touched it, and turning around, he saw the shadow figure looming over him, grasping the bloody knife. He pushed at the air, but the figure did not move, Kaydens hands just went through it. He looked over again, and saw a casket, with the words "Here lies Bertha Dragoon" embroidered on it, with the figure spreading ash over it. He stumbled to the ground, shaking, as shadow figures, lots of them, gathered around, holding his Grandmothers lifeless body by the hair.


Not knowing what else to do, as the screams of his Grandmother filled his ears, he began shaking terribly, and crying softly to himself. And he didn't cry often, but he felt helpless, as if there was nothing he could do. His mind was certainly playing tricks on him.

@Sage Miller

Sage felt utterly useless because she couldn't help him. She went over, hearing him cry, and wrapped her arms around him as she cried silently herself. She knew they needed to talk to someone about this and she wasn't honestly sure who or when that was going to happen. But right now he was suffering from PTSD, she knew he was and she wished she could help.

"I'm sorry Kayden, I'm so sorry" she said and looked at him. "We're going to be alright, okay? We have each other and that's all we have right now so we have to stick together. I love you Kayden" Sage said and wiped some of his tears away from his cheeks as her own cheeks began to get wet with her tears. She sniffled and smiled softly at him.

She wanted to give him hope, she needed to, because then she would be just as sad as he was, but she needed to try and make him feel better. For both of their sakes. After a while they sat there in silence before she got up and held her hand down to him "do you want to sleep in the bed with me?"

Kayden wiped his eyes, angry that he had made a fool of himself. He grabbed her hand and stood up. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me." He stood up, and hoped that her parents hadn't heard what had happened. He rubbed his face, and laid down on the opposite side of the bed. He didn't know wh this was happening. His Grandpa had served in world war 2, and he had symptoms of PTSD, but these usually included him staring off into the distance for hours and hours upon end, then suddenly jolting, and yelling in fear. Grandma would always go and comfort him, and it would end up fine.

Kayden was afraid he wouldn't end up fine. He was only 11, and he had witnessed what would probably be the most traumatic experience of his life. He grabbed Sages hand under the covers, and came to the terrifying realization that he no linger had any adult figure in his life. Perhaps John, but definitely not her mother. He wondered why her mother was so dead set against it. It seemed odd, but he decided not to question things, and tension seemed thick between them.

@Sage Miller

"It's alright, I'm here for you" she said and hugged him tightly. "Let's get some sleep, I'm tired" she said and laid down on the pillow and yawned. He could do whatever he wanted but she was exhausted and she needed to get better and get rid of her cold. Staying awake all the time wasn't going to help with that.

She slept alright the rest of the day and night. She wasn't even hungry, she just wanted sleep. She tossed and turned, and woke up very sore and seemed to be slightly more sick than she was yesterday. But the medicine was helping, she just needed to stay in bed all day and stay away from her mother and Delilah so they didn't get sick. She didn't care what Kayden was doing, she was too sick.

She woke up and looked around, her father came in with some food water and gave it to the both of them, and he kept his distance, knowing that his daughter was suffering from a cold and he couldn't risk to get sick either.

Sage smiled and that led him and sat up and drank her water and ate the food, she didn't realize how hungry she was until she ate a few bites.

Kayden hadn't slept well last night.After the hallucinations that had troubled him, he mostly just laid there in fear. He knew he had been making a fool of himself, but the images were so real. He sat up, and looked at Sage. She didn't look well, her face was pale, and her eyes were red. She had a plate of food next to her, which Kayden didn't touch, knowing she must be extremely sick. Kayden wiped his eyes, and decided he felt considerably better than yesterday. He wondered what they would do today, with Sage sick. They still had about three more weeks till they had to be back at Hogwarts. He had the three hundred dollars stored away, and would use them for tickets on the Hogwarts express.

He had gotten over the hallucinations for the moment, but didn't know what to do now. It's not like he was ready to go and face Sages mother without her, that would be a horrible desicion. He also didn't want to leave Sage. Then again, he risked getting sick. He decided he didn't care much, as he cared more about being with her then he did getting a cold.


@Sage Miller

"Get out, I don't want you to get sick. Go play with Delilah a little bit, she needs a new play buddy" Sage smiled at him. "I'll be alright, I promise" she said and looked at the door when she saw red curls, Delilah was peaking into the room.

"Are you sick Sage?" The little girl asked.

"Yes dear girl, don't come in here. I was just telling Kayden maybe he should go play with you while I get better. Would you like that?" Sage said, now not giving much of a choice for Kayden.

Delilah came in and went over to him and tugged on his arm "oh please please please will you play with me? We can play whatever you want" she begged Kayden.

"Out you go, both of you" Sage said and shooed them out.

Delilah grabbed Kayden's hand and pulled, tugging him out of the room and down the hall to the toy room. There was a big castle doll house in there, and a lot of toys. Some cars, others were dolls, and baby dolls. Delilah was excited and she wanted to play with someone, otherwise she was going to get bored, and that wasn't pretty.

Kayden had kissed Sage on the forehead as he left, which got a loud, "EWWWWWWWW" out of Delilah. Kayden laughed and let Delilah pull him to the play room. They went inside, and there was a multitude of toys, princess wands, (which Kayden wasn't sure if they were real or not) and costumes surrounding them. Kayden sat down on the ground, and Delilah stared at him for a moment. Finally, she spoke. "What do you wanna play? I've got superheroes, princesses, and race car drivers." Kayden shrugged. "Whatever you wanna do I guess." She did her interesting stare thing again, then stood up. "Let's play princess's and Knights." She rooted through a bin, and pulled out a foam sword, and held it out to him. "You're gonna be the brave knight that rescues me!" Kayden nodded.

She began looking through the bin again, and pulled out a princess costume. She slipped it on over her clothes, and gave it a twirl. Kayden clapped ceremoniously, which brought a slight giggle out of Delilah. They began to play, Kayden fighting dragons and whatnot. Delilah was great fun, and enjoyable to be around. She was always in an upbeat mood, and always willing to have fun.

@Sage Miller

Sage could hear how much fun they were having, and that's when her father came into her room and sat in the far end of the bed. "Sage darling, you would never lie to me would you?" He asked her.

"Of course not Papa, what is wrong?" Sage sat up.

"What happened to Kayden's grandmother? I was walking to check on your sister when I heard saying some things about her."

Sage's face dropped "I'm not going to tell you, Kayden doesn't want others to know" she looked sad.

"Sage, if you don't tell me then I can't help him, you want to help him don't you?"

Sage nodded and bit her lip nervously. "Someone broke into the house and killed her, Kayden and I found her like that." She started to cry.

"It's alright dear, just rest alright? I'll talk to him before bed" he nodded and she did too before she went back to sleep and the father walked out. He looked at the end of the hall, seeing Delilah and Kayden playing. He smiled and started walking away, on his way to get advice on how he could adopt, and help someone with PTSD since he didn't know how.

Kayden walked into Sages bedroom, and flopped down on the bed next to her. He was exaughsted from running around with Delilah, and he needed a break. "How can such a small girl have so much energy?" He said, looking over at her with a smile. She looked a bit better, and the medicine seemed to be working. Her farther had came out as he went in, and he gave him and almost pitiful glance. The sun had risen by now, and it was eleven A.M , around time for lunch. He wasn't really hungry though, as the events of last night had really destroyed all hopes of him wanting food.

He sat up, and looked over at her. He wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how she would react if he did. "Um, if it's not to much of a bother of me asking, why is the relationship between you and your mother so... strained?" He knew certain things were hard for her to talk about, and he would try not to overstep his bounds. Sunlight was filling the room, and Kayden changed into jeans and a T-shirt, praying Delilah wouldn't peek in and go on another rant about "cooties."

@Sage Miller

Sage laid there. She was too busy being lost in her own world and was staring at the ceiling. His words made her blink but she didn't stop looking up. When he asked of her mother she turned away from him, not wanting to answer but he needed to know. "Mother's always been that way, but I've noticed more this year when I got my letter from Hogwarts. After that she always grew fond of Delilah, praying and hoping Delilah wasn't going to end up like me. A Muggle-born witch" she said and buried her face into her pillow and crying silently.

After a while she stopped crying and just fell asleep, only to be woken up by more nightmares worse than she'd ever dreamt. She didn't even want to think about them they were so horrific. The thought of Kayden or Delilah getting hurt, it made her fear the worst and made her anxiety rise even more.

Kayden might be suffering from PTSD, but Sage was now suffering from paranoia, and it make her shake uncontrollably. Now whenever she thought of something terrible happening to the people she loved, her hands would begin to shake, and now only triggers and thoughts would start it. She had no hope that anything was going to get better.