4 Chapter 1

After the words appeared, shouts and cries erupted. Kylie clung on his brother tighter than ever, as Kyle did the same. Jackson screamed, and jumped back like the book was about to swallow him whole.

Sheena stared holes on the book, trying to make a rational explanation. But nothing came. Shock, fear and excitement?

Yes. It was definitely the wrong time to be excited. In fact, she shouldn't even feel excited at all. Everyone around her was either crying, screaming or just plain frozen. Yet, she still felt excitement through her veins, drowning the fear and worry out of her system.

Ever so slowly, she stood up and crawled towards the book.

"Sheena! Get back! What do you think are you doing you idiot!?" Kyle hissed as Jackson made an attempt to pull her back, but Sheena dodged his hand.

"It's trying to help us, can't you see?" She said in a whisper. Scared that the book might actually try something if she spoke any louder.

"It stabbed my sister! It's trying to kill us!" Sheena knew Kyle didn't mean to scream, he was just afraid. She was too, but she can't let this opportunity pass.

"This could be the way for us to get our answers. Trust me" Sheena turned around to look at them. The siblings were still grabbing each other for dear life While Jackson had relaxed a little bit, he was still alert and cautious.

"Just trust me Okay? If anything bad happens. Run" She didn't wait for any protests. She couldn't risk any rejection.

Slowly as ever, she reached towards the book that was full of words. Placing it on her lap, she gulped as she traced at the now dried blood of her friend. No new words appeared as she tried talking to the book, a fail. She tried writing on it with a normal pen, a marker, a dip pen. But the ink just slid off like the paper was made of plastic.

"Why isn't it working!?" Sheena groaned.

Everybody was gathered on the living room. After some convincing, Sheena finally dragged the three into leaving Kylie's room. Sheena was the only one who was atleast trying to get results. She surfed the internet, yet nothing appeared.

Just as she was about to give up Kylie spoke, garnering everyone's attention.

"It responded to my blood, didn't it? What if we give it more of my blood, use it as ink?" It did make sense and at the same time, it didn't. Nothing was clear. But it was their best bet.

Slowly, Kylie sliced her finger with a kitchen knife, letting her blood drip in a small cup.

"Okay okay, that's enough now!" Kyle grabbed Kylie's hand and handed the cup to Sheena.

Carefully, she dipped in the dip pen, coating the tip with the red substance. Copper filled her nostrils as she carefully wrote on he book, a simple greeting.

'Hello?'

'Hi'

They gasped. Afraid yet determined, she tried again. Writing swiftly to prevent the blood from drying.

'Who are you?'

One by one, words started to appear until it filled up the whole page. She skimmed over the words before reading it for the others.

'I have no name, form, and body. I am nothing. I do not know how, where, knor who created me. My only purpose is to help humans who broke the order'

"The order? What the heck is that?" Jackson voiced out. Sheena wrote the question, also anticipating the book's answer.

'The order. It's a topic that can't be spoken very freely. Are you sure you would like to know? Once I tell you, you can't back out. You can't go back to being oblivious. Choose wisely, humans'

It was silent for a moment. Everyone was contemplating their decisions. It was weird that they were taking this new experience very easily. Yes, it may seem that everyone was calm and collected. But under the hard exterior, swirling emotions troubled Sheena and she knew she wasn't the only one.

"Are you guys sure? This can change everything we ever knew" Sheena asked her friends-family, as she eyed them one by one.

"Yes. We need to know" Jackson was the one who spoke this time. Sheer determination was present on his face, encouraging Kyle and Kylie who also nodded, finally coming closer and sitting next to the book.

Sheena released a breath as she wrote,

'Yes'

'Very well. The order. It is not a question that should be asked in what, instead. It's a 'who'

"That's It?" Kyle asked, baffled. Sheena tried to write again, but the blood washed out, not leaving a trace.

"Why isn't it writing?" Sheena asked as she tried again only to get the same results.

"I'm scared" Kylie whimpered. In each and everyone of them, Kylie had the weakest heart. She often got scared and seing her like this, it pained everyone. Especially her brother.

"Its gonna be okay. Everything alright" Kyle hugged her sister tightly. Sheena knew it was far from okay. A book talked to them. A BOOK. It was not normal by any means. Nothing was normal.

What if everything was a lie?

"We need to stick together from now on. Something is not right and we need to figure it out" Jackson made the move and picked up the book, closing it.

Time seemed to fly as it was already turning dark outside. Sheena stood up and went to the kitchen, making something for dinner. She haven't checked her phone since yesterday. She didn't know why, but she felt that it wasn't safe to tell or even call her parents. Strangely, she couldn't trust them with this kind of information.

_

Placing the plain sandwiches on the kitchen island, she called up everyone. One by One, everyone sat and silently ate. She didn't know if they were too shocked to talk or are they actually trying to make a plan.

"Sheena" Sheena looked at Jackson who was already looking at her, brows furrowed.

"Yeah?" She placed down her half eaten sandwich and gave her whole attention to the boy across of her, silently nodding for him to continue.

"What do we do?" It broke Sheena's heart. Seing her best friend trying to hold himself together. Jackson's facial expression never faltered. But the crack on his voice was enough to tell that he was also afraid.

I don't know,  She desperately wanted to say. Because she didn't know what to do. She didn't know anything. It frustrated her to the point that she wanted to cry.

But she didn't. She wanted to be the strong one. She wanted to be the shoulder that her friends can lean on. So instead of submitting to her fears, she looked them all in the eye and said,

"I have a plan"

It certainly took everyone's attention. She noticed the way their eyes brightened, how their spirits seemed to lift.

"Do you guys remember when we bought chicken? When Kyle and Jackson found the red-eyed-human-looking-thing?" Sheena got a series of nods and hums.

"At the bakery when we were waiting for the library to open, the cashier was weirdly staring at us. No, it wasn't the checking-me-out type. It was like he was observing me and Kylie. Like we were some bugs under a microscope"

"Okay..? I don't see why that is related to our paranormal encounter?" Kyle spoke up.

"I'm not finished" Sheena sighed and continued. "At the library, Kylie, do you remember running outside my car while I was still driving?" And before Kylie answered, Kyle beat her to it.

"You what!? Kylie, do you have any idea what would happen if you fell the wrong wa-"

"Can you please shut your over protective mouth for a second!? We're in a middle of a very serious conversation. Seriously Kyle, jeez" Kylie hissed at his brother. Kyle remained unmoving, emotionles.

It concerned Sheena and Jackson. Kylie never shouts at his brother. Kylie doesent know, but Kyle cares for her dearly. Whenever Kylie was out with friends, Kyle would always rant to Sheena, saying that they should take care of her or else.

He never did say what he was going to do if they ever hurt her sister.

Sheena made a mental note to talk to Kylie later.

"So I ran while the car was still moving, and I remember stopping infront of a particular book. I didn't know how I ended up there, something just called me to come closer" Kylie confessed.

"When you asked me to return the book I took, I had an.. encounter with a little girl" Sheena shared, garnering the attention of everyone. "We didn't talk. She was giggling in a corner, reading a book. So I taught It was normal, because she's a cute little girl that was probably enjoying her book" She paused," but I read the tittle of the book. It said, how to eliminate humans"

Jackson chocked on air and the siblings stared at her in shock.

"First of all, why the heck is there even a book named like that? And why the hell is the little girl excited to know how to eliminate everyone?" Kyle was rambling. It would've been cute, really. If it wasn't for the atmosphere and topic weighing down on them.

"Think of it like this, Kyle. She was reading a book about humans. That's the first and possibly the best clue we have" Sheena explained as if she was talking to 6 year olds . She expected some reaction of some sort. Maybe even a little enlightenment will shine through their eyes. Yet they remained clueless.

Sheena sighed.

"Really? Guys? Please work with me here" She said, exasperated.

"If she reads a book about humans, then..?" Sheena asked.

"She's an alien?" Jackson muttered. It wasn't the answer she was expecting, but she took it.

Kyle smacked Jackson's head as Kylie laughed, wiping imaginary tears from her eyes.

"Ahh that's a good one, Jack. And I'm a potato, eh?" Kylie sat upright.

"Actually, you aren't wrong" Kyle started, and was met with a smack.

"... he's actually right, you guys. Kind off" Sheena trailed off. Jackson's face changed into shock, then a smile took over, as if really amazed with himself.

"Wait what?" The siblings said at the same time. Wondering if Sheena was actually a genius or just plain crazy.

"Well, tell me if you've seen a human with glowing red eyes, and is absolutely thrilled to die at a young age" Sheena deadpanned. It was the best theory she could think of. She knew it probably sounded absolutely preposterous to others ears, but it's the only thing that can make sense at the moment. Right?

It was silent, once again. And Sheena found that silence always came when they were talking about this messed up thing that they managed to tangle themselves into.

"I believe you" Jackson was the first to talk. He believed Sheena with everything. Sheena was almost never wrong. She was the smartest person her knew. It couldn't hurt to trust, right?

"Okay. I believe you too, Sheena" Kylie said, glancing at her brother. Sheena trained her eyes at Kyle, who was still staring at nothing.

"If this is all real, if your theory is correct," Kyle looked at everyone, his next words making the others chests constrict with pain and fear.

"Our whole life has been a lie"

_

"Its not a lie" no one left the living room. Instead, they decided to just rest for a moment, giving their bodies a moment to take everything in. They were peacefully lounging when they decided to play a game, and Kylie was now trying to defend herself and her pride.

"No way. You wouldn't do that. There's actually no way!" Sheena laughed whilst clutching her stomach, like the other two.

"I did! Seriously!" Kylie defended, hurt and amused.

"You, you gave a kid your Gucci wallet that had atleast a thousand bucks on it because you wanted to be nice?"

"Hey! I can be nice too!" Kylie pouted.

"Kylie! You basically gave a child money worth more than my monthly salary!" Sheena laughed at her best friend's dumbfounded face.

"Wait, wha-" Kylie got interrupted by a knock from the door. The others looked at each other with questioning gazes.

"Did you guys order something?" Jackson asked with raised brows. Everyone shook their head no.

"That's weird. We don't get visits often" Kyle stood up and walked towards the door and opened it. Sheena didn't know what shocked her the most, Kyle running towards them after slamming the door shut, or him announcing the words that were written on a piece of paper.

"We see you"

"Kyle?"

"Yeah?"

"Nothings written on the paper"