Will- 2

                                    

                                          
"Adam..." I whisper to the figure beside me, which is spread across the bedside, limp as a corpse. 
                          
	It's 5:30 AM. He doesn't want to speak with you right now, even if you were to inform him the house were burning down around him.
                          
	"You don't know him," I respond to the voice in my head, clutching the little blue stone under the covers. It appeared in my bed this morning, but the voice has been going since Wednesday, the second day of school, late in the afternoon. Usually, this is what's known as a bad sign.
                          
	I know more than you think.
                          
	"Well, admittedly you are a voice in my head that knows my name and everything about my life,  convinced I should keep critical information from my loved ones... wait, are you my anxiety?" I ask.
                          
	What? No. I'm speaking to you through the rock. I'm an alien.
                          
	I smile, knowing I've at least baited it into giving me this much information. I can feel it frowning back from behind the stone. It's funny, the way I can feel it there even though it has no physical presence. I can imagine something sitting on my bed, like a small cat, and when it shifts, I can feel it pressing down on my chest. "Are you invisible, too?" I whisper.
                          
	Not for long.
                          
	"Will?" croaks Adam from across the room.
                          
	My breath catches in my throat as I hear his blankets shift, and my eyes rove over to the clock, which proudly displays 5:45. Shit, I hadn't actually meant to wake him up. I can apologize, now, or I can leave. I remain totally still, pretending that I was sleeptalking, and Adam shifts back away. When his breathing grows shallow, and I'm entirely sure he's asleep, I step out, pacing out of the room and accelerating as I hit the stairs. I turn on the kitchen lights and pretend that this was my plan all along. I can catch my disheveled reflection in the window, full of fear. 
                          
	There's a dark crease in the window. 
                          
	"That's you," I say, pointing to it, defiantly. "What do you want me to do about all this? You know that you have me cornered. I can't get rid of the stone, and my life is... okay, so my life is perking up, so I'd prefer if you didn't abduct me, plus, Adam would come for me, and he'd murder you. And Amanda! Both of them!"
                          
	The girl you just met would come for me and murder me, the voice muses. 
                          
	"Yes!" I exclaim. I drop my voice. Every kitchen appliance in the room leers at me in red, electric light. I begin gathering things for pancakes as I explain, in a quieter voice, "I don't know what you want, and I think I'm excited, on one front, that something this crazy is happening to me--"
                          
	That's good. That's a good start, Will.
                          
	"--but I also don't know if this is magic, or I really am just going crazy," I say. "I mean, I haven't tried to show or tell anyone yet, but in my life? There's no one to tell."
                          
	The voice wisely doesn't bring up my twin. The version of me reflected back in our kitchen window looks sadder than me, as if he might want to extend some comfort. I reach out to press a hand against the window, which is now cold as space. My fingers move over to the crack, that nebulous bit where the world has given up altogether, and I dip my fingers in. On the other side, I feel something warm press back, and feel comforted, like receiving a hug from my parents. I think I might want to cry.
                          
	I'll be coming for you soon. Can you be patient for me? The voice asks. I know you must be afraid, but I promise that this is all for a good reason. Will, you're special, always have been, and this is the year things are going to look up for you. You are going to save the world.