White, everything was white. The young girl sat in the middle of the room, her eyes squinting to close out the brightness. The cold tile floor pressed against her body making her shiver. Her clothes were gone; all that covered her body was a thin white bra and underwear. Slowly she pulled herself to a kneeling position, she felt herself sway as if she were on breezy hill. She drew her arm in front of her face, her eyes studied the color the moved beneath her skin. The blue that once ran through her veins was receding, disappearing. Pushing herself backwards she fought down a scream. The blood in her veins was vanishing all over; she watched as the blue left her legs, leaving behind pale white flesh. She dug her nails into her palms, no blood came to the surface.

"Scared child?" A smooth voice asked. Trembling beneath the glaring brightness the young girl's eyes searched the room frantically. In the far right corner a black figure lurked. Legs neatly crossed and hands folded tightly together, the figure chuckled softly. In the silence that followed, the soft ticking of a watch rang throughout the room.

"I have something you want," the figure taunted. Leaning forward a black gloved hand touched the white tile, releasing a thick river of crimson. Blood pooled around the girl, staining her skin. She screamed trying to push herself out of the pool of blood but only to find that it kept getting deeper. She fell onto her elbows, a wave of red splashing onto her face momentarily blinding her. Blond hair clung desperately to her face as she struggled to get her footing. Soon she found herself struggling to keep her head above the blood that had now filled the room. A solid mass of red drowning out the white. She fell beneath the surface and found her lungs screaming for air. The blood seemed to encase her keeping her under. She began to weep inside, her mind trying to shut out all the fears that ran through her brain like wild fire.

"Addisyn! Addisyn wake up!" The name snaked through her mind, forcing the nightmare to cease. Addisyn's eyes fluttered open; the blue color came to land on her mother who was hovering over her angrily. Turning her head she looked at the clock, the red numbers flashing 7:35; she was late. In an attempt to sit up she felt her stomach roll, her eyes watered and she fell to the side of the bed, her dinner appearing in the trash bin in the form of vomit. Her mother's mood instantly switched and she began to rub Addisyn's back as she did when she was a child.

"Honey, are you alright?" Addisyn tried to force a nod. "Just stay home today. I don't need you passing around this bug, I will bring you some ginger ale before I head to work." Addisyn closed her eyes for a moment as her mother kissed her gently on the cheek. She took a moment to look down at her arm and found herself stifling a shriek as she noticed that her nightmare might not have been a nightmare.

"Why am I not dead?" She whimpered quietly. Her mother returned with her drink and kissed her goodbye. She listened for the sound of a car exiting the driveway before she began to study her nightmare come to life. Her skin seemed even more ghostly white without the blue swirling underneath. Shaking her head she picked up the phone that rested on the edge of her bed.

She quickly dialed in the automatic number, the call button warm under her finger tip as she pressed it. She felt herself holding her breath as the phone rang, the pauses in-between causing her to worry. A sigh escaped her lips as the familiar voice answered.

"Hello," he mumbled sleepily.

"Are you home?" She asked without hesitation. A loud groan rang through the receiver forcing Addisyn to hold the phone away from her head.

"Of course I am home," he replied. "I wouldn't leave you alone. I could feel your nightmare you know." Addisyn laughed, the sound cracked and dry.

"Come here please," she begged, her voice breaking. The dial tone emerged into her ear, making her ear ring. Addisyn smiled as her brother entered her room, his hair ruffled from tossing and turning all night.

"Alright, alright I'm here," he muttered, a smile creeping onto his face.

Addison moved to the side of her bed allowing him space to sit. He took the space offered to him graciously, stumbling slightly as his sock covered feet slipped on the wood floor. He turned to her, his cloudy eyes staring ahead. She smiled, although she knew he couldn't see her. A small whimper echoed through her mind, he flinched as though the noise had passed through his mind as well. She remembered her mother telling her one night why her brother was different from her. Addisyn had never understood as a young child why he needed a dog to guide him everywhere, why he used that long metal cane throughout the house. Her mother had explained to her that he was born that way, the doctors said he was blind at birth. As Addisyn grew the thought made her shiver, Avery had only ever known darkness, never experienced the light.

As a child Addisyn had been protective, lashing out at the young girls who taunted him, but she soon stopped realizing that it only hurt him more to know he was different. Avery was never truly accepted, girls snickered as he passed, noting the hairs that were out of place knowing that he could have never seen them. Addisyn always tried to take pictures of things with her mind for him, hoping that he could see through her, be able to experience what she so desperately wished he could. She knew he desired it much more then she did, but she liked to think that adding her desires for him would increase his chances of seeing.

"What's wrong?" He asked, she smiled and took his hand wishing that he could see how much they looked alike. She brushed her fingertips over his face, tracing his thick eyebrows and circling his eyes. He smiled as she did this, knowing that it was her way of comforting the longing for sight he always had. Dropping her hands she traced his veins trying to mentally convey the message of her blood disappearing.

"My blood is gone," she said simply, her breathing increasing. "That was what my nightmare was about, its just gone. I don't know how or why, but it is. Please don't think I am crazy." The black figure passed through her thoughts, but she kept him to herself for now.

"I would never think you were crazy," he said simply, a smile playing across his lips. "That would mean I was crazy too." Addisyn laughed, her troubles vanishing for a moment as she let herself savor this connection, let herself breath in the one person who completely understood and accepted her. Avery would learn of the black figure, but Addisyn didn't want him fretting if he it wasn't necessary. Tilting her head to his touch, she let him brush a hand over her head, a gesture he always did when she was upset or hurt.

"Avery," Addisyn mumbled. "What if I am dying?" She felt him stiffen, his hand dropped from her head, his lips forming a thin line.

"Don't ever say that Addisyn," he commanded. "You're not dying. We will figure this out." Addisyn nodded her eyes wandered to the doorway, almost inviting in the golden bolt of lighting that shot through the door. Avery shook his head as Benny, his seeing dog, leaped onto the bed. Addisyn laughed, thinking to herself of how Benny always knew when to act more of friend than a guide. Avery stroked his head absently, letting his fingers tangle in the dog's long golden fur.

"But what if I am dying," Addisyn felt her voice waver as she watched her brothers muscles ripple at her words.

"We will figure this out," he promised. "Together." Addisyn leaned into him allowing herself to take comfort in her brother's presence. Avery tilted his head onto hers; it reminded Addisyn how small she was compared to him. She remembered as a child having slow growth, the doctors claiming her to be a late bloomer. Avery shot up like a tree, his body growing inches ahead of hers. He seemed to stop growing last year, his current height coming to a rest at five feet ten inches, while Addisyn only grew to five feet four inches. She didn't mind the difference, she had always thought it fair that Avery have the height if she got the sight. Benny stretched across the bed, his tail thumping lightly against her purple and pink sheets.

"Tell me about the ocean," Avery asked, his voice tired. Her eyes lit up at the idea. Leaning against her pillows they split the bed, both laying on their sides facing one another. Avery propped himself up on his elbow, his cloudy eyes staring at something he would never see.

"Well," Addisyn began, her body sliding up the pillows for more comfort. "It's blue, but not a sad blue, like how you feel when the rain soaks through your clothes and its cold. It's the kind of blue that leaves you breathless, it's so vast and rich that you can look on forever. It fills your heart with hope and your mind with wander. Not only is it blue, but its endless. Some creatures of the sea can venture down to depths where the light no longer touches. There's only darkness."

"So the animals can't see either?" Avery questioned quietly. Addisyn saw the sadness in his face, reminding her of all the stories he had her tell him as a child. Sometimes he had days like this, where the world seemed as black as she thought he saw it.

"No, they can't," Addisyn whispered.

"At least I am not alone," he mumbled as his eyes closed, his body falling limp against the pillows as he slipped into sleep. Addisyn carefully crawled out of bed, holding her breath as she expected another wave of nausea. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she found that she no longer had that sick feeling. Wandering down the stairs she slowly made her way to the kitchen.

A silver knife on the counter gleamed at her, the glint of the sun bouncing off of the metal. Holding her breath she drew the knife over her palm testing for blood. Tears danced into her eyes as she saw no blood escaping from the shallow cut. Whispering seemed to echo through her mind, words that spilled secrets she didn't wish to believe. Putting the knife back where she found it she slipped back upstairs and forced herself to shower. The roaring water allowed her to cradle herself and cry without being heard by anyone trying to listen on the other side of the door.