**Alex**

_Two hundred and fifty-five_

I cut of mid sentence and looked around to see who had said it.

Me and my friends were sitting outside at a cafe downtown, chatting idly. It was a nice, sunny day - so normal.

Many other customers were looking around as well.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” my friend, Mia, replied. “It was probably nothing.”

_Two hundred and fifty-four_

“Definitely not nothing,” said Emily, my other friend, twisting around to find the source of the voice.

_Two hundred and fifty-three_

It was louder now. A hollow, emotionless voice, not quite male and not quite female.

_Two hundred and fifty-two_

It was almost robotic but something about it seemed human.

_Two hundred and fifty-one_

A voice counting down. It was clear it wasn’t someone in the cafe.

_Two hundred and fifty_

Some others stopped looking around as they too realised it was not being spoken aloud.

_What is he doing?!_ I thought. Of all his bad ideas this has got to be _the_ worst yet.

_Two hundred and forty-nine_

“Where is it coming from?!” Emily exclaimed.

_Two hundred and forty-eight_

“Cover your ears,” I told her.

“What?”

_Two hundred and forty-seven_

“Cover your ears and tell me if you can still hear it,”

She cupped her hands over her ears.

_Two hundred and forty-six_

“It’s as clear as before,”

I didn’t say anything, I didn’t have to.

“It’s in my head,” Emily murmured.

“It’s in all of our heads,” Mia said once she realised what was happening.

_Two hundred and forty-five_

The cafe erupted into chaos. People shouting questions, phoning others, I even saw one man slam his head into a wall, presumably in a futile attempt to rid himself of the voice.

_Two hundred and forty-four_

“What is it counting down to?!”

“Who’s doing this?!”

“Can everyone hear it?!”

_Two hundred and forty-three_

“What’s going to happen?!”

“It’s a sign from God! He’s going to punish us for our sins!” I almost snorted at that. He may have been many things but he certainly wasn’t God.

_Two hundred and forty-two_

“How is this possible!?”

How was this possible? He’s never been this powerful before and it didn’t sound anything like him. And what reason would he have for doing this?

I heard another voice - quieter and unmistakably his - and I knew no one else had heard it.

_It’s… not… me!_

He sounded in pain, like it was a struggle to place the words in my head which it had never been before.

_Two hundred and forty-one_

I grabbed my bag, swung it over my shoulder and ran from the cafe, ignoring Mia and Emily’s calls after me.

_Two hundred and forty_

When I got to my apartment building it was in chaos, I took the stairs as there were dozens of people waiting for the lift in varying degrees of panic.

_One hundred and eighty _

I don’t think I’ve ever ran home so fast.

I shoved my key into the lock and threw open the door, letting it slam behind me as I rushed in.

_One hundred and seventy-nine_

“Cameron!?” I called. “Are you here?!”

He needed to be here, if he wasn’t here I had no clue what I was going to do.

A quiet, exhausted voice came from his bedroom, “Alex—”

_One hundred and seventy-eight_

He cut off with a pained groan and I ran into his room.

_One hundred and seventy-seven_

My brother was sitting on the floor, clutching his head, his face contorted in pain.

_One hundred and seventy-six_

He groaned and I knelt down beside him. “Cameron!?”

_One hundred and seventy-five_

He brought one hand down and gripped my arm.

“It’s not me,” he whispered, “I swear I am not doing this—”

_One hundred and seventy-four_

Cameron cried out and dug his fingers into my arm. “It’s not me!”

“I believe you,” I said, “everyone can hear it.”

Or at least that’s the impression I got from the very confused and very panicked people I saw on my way over here.

_One hundred and seventy-three_

“I can’t do that!” he whimpered.

“I know,” I said. “But you said you were the only telepath?”

“The only one—”

_One hundred and seventy-two_

I resisted the urge to pull my arm away as his nails tore at my skin.

“The only telepath I know of,” he finally managed.

_One hundred and seventy-one_

_One hundred and seventy_

_One hundred and sixty-nine_

_One hundred and sixty-eight_

_One hundred and sixty-seven_

_One hundred and sixty-six_

_One hundred and sixty-five_

Each number was accompanied with a groan or even a cry from Cameron and it hurt that he was being hurt and I could do nothing more than hold him.

_One hundred and sixty-four_

“What is it counting down to?” I wondered out loud.

“I have no idea” he said, “it just—”

_One hundred and sixty-three_

This time a scream escaped him and I pulled him closer.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, unsure what else to say, “it’s going to be okay.”

“It’s not okay!” he snapped, “it hurts so much and I can’t stop it or get it out of my mind! I can’t do _anything!”_

His words echoed in my head—

_One hundred and sixty-two_

—and turned to a scream.

I yelled and let go of him, grabbing my head as his pain was forced into my mind. He pulled out of of mind so sharply I was left gasping for breath.

“I’m sorry!” Cameron cried. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!”

“I know you didn’t,” I panted.

_One hundred and sixty-one_

He grabbed his head again and curled into a ball.

_One hundred and sixty_

He screamed and fell onto his side.

_One hundred and fifty-nine_

I pulled him to his feet, he was unsteady and leaned on me to stay upright. I held him tight.

_One hundred and fifty-eight _

He collapsed into my arms and i manoeuvred him so he fell onto his bed.

_One hundred and fifty-seven _

I sat down next to him.

_One hundred and fifty-six_

“It’s going to be okay,” I repeated.

“You don’t know that,” Cameron said, “we don’t even know what it’s counting down to.”

_One hundred and fifty-five_