As I'm rushed into the hospital, there's nothing but pain. Searing pain in my heart. My chest. My head. I'm struggling with myself, to stay awake. To stay alive.

Something jolts and I scream. Why was this happening? All I see is white. Not the white walls and ceilings of the hospital halls, just white. A blinding white light. I don't know what it is or where it came from, but I'm surrounded by it. It's all there is. All that exists in this world is that white, white light. It takes me over. It's all I see. It's all I feel. It's all I know.

No! Something inside my head screams. Don't let it take over! Don't let it win! Remember who you are!

'My name is... Sam.' I tell myself. 'I'm Sam Pride. Sam is short for Seraphina. I'm... ten years old. My parents... are Harry... and Liliana Pride. I... have a little brother. His name... is Lucian. Luke Pride. He's eight years old. I... I...'

I try to remember something else, but nothing else comes to me. All that exists is the light. The pain. The pain that screams in my chest and my head and my heart. It feels like I'm floating within myself. I can't wake up, and I can't move. It... hurts... so much...

Then something happens. The pain stops, although the light remains. I have a vision of an orb. A giant orb coloured all the colours of the rainbow. Surrounding it is a ring, which is bright and happy. I sense life, much life. I feel happy, content, belonging.

But then the orb splits into two. A purple orb, filled with negative energy; and a white orb, filled with positive energy. The ring also splits, but into six different colours and elements: red and fire, brown and earth; white and light; purple and darkness; blue and water; green and wind. And the happiness splits into six along with them. I feel like I've been split into six as well. I scream as the pain of being torn apart hits me. When it finally subsides, I see something else.

Three life forms hovering above everything. White, beautiful, and different. They all turn to look at me. One is a beautiful female dragon, like a wyvern. Another is a male dragon, also resembling a wyvern. But the last was different.

It is female, and is a mix of all sorts of different things. The body of a tiger, with the tail and back legs of a horse. It also has the scream of a wild brumby, as it shows when it screams at the splitting of the six attributes. She runs towards me, and I do nothing but watch at she looms closer and screams again.

But instead of attacking me, she turns into a silvery wisp. A silvery substance that finds its way into my heart. And all the pain that ever existed was gone. She... is a part of me. No, she is me. And I am her.

Something rustles behind me and I turn. My eyes widen as I see what's there. My... mother... father... Luke... They all smile and wave. I reach out towards them, but stop as they double over in pain. Luke starts crying, father screams ad mother collapses. Then they all disappear, and only smoke remains. I scream and try to reach them. But they're gone.

And they're never coming back.

Three years later...

I bolt upright in my bed. I'm sweating, and my hair is matted and messy. I feel my blood pressure rising and by heart thumping away in my chest. I'm breathing really quickly. So I take a deep breath, and slow my breathing and heart rate. I swing my leg over the side of my bed, introducing my long legs and penguin-patterned pyjamas. I slide my feet into my black ugg boots and stand up. I catch sight of myself in the mirror on my wardrobe. My hair is white, messy, coming out of its plait. I walk over to the mirror and stare at myself. The messed up girl with crazy hair. I sigh and pick up my school clothes, tiptoeing out of my room to the bathroom. It upsets my grandparents - my guardians - to see my hair when it's white, so I take a warm shower and calm myself down.

As I get out of the shower, I look at myself in the mirror. My hair is now its usual bright purple, matted from the water. I force a brush through it, dry it and brush it once more. It returns to its usual wavy state, falling to my hips. I take a hair tie and put it up in a high ponytail, like usual. Then I get dressed in my school uniform for a typical Friday.

"Good morning Seraphina," my grandmother says as I enter the kitchen. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Morning," I reply as I hunt the fridge for apple juice. "Some raisin toast would be awesome."

"Good choice," grandmother nods approvingly. She takes care of that as I pour myself a big glass of apple juice and sit down at the table.

"When will Dr Mason get here?" I ask reluctantly. Dr Mason comes every Friday to take some of my blood for testing. She's had to do that since I was released from hospital about two years ago. Well, having a heart condition doesn't help my case much.

"About eight," grandmother answers. I nod, and there's silence for a moment. "Do you remember Shiori Kazami?" grandmother asks suddenly.

"Yes," I answer. "Wasn't she the lady in the room next to me?"

"Indeed."

"Did something happen to her?" I ask frantically. I like Shiori, she was a nice lady in the same hospital as me.

"She went into comatose yesterday,' grandmother says sadly.

"Oh, no..." I don't know what to say, I just look down into my drink. "I should've gone to see her again," I say after a moment.

"I think we should have, too," grandmother agrees. "She would have liked to see you again, but Dr Mason says we're not allowed to take you on long trips."

"Screw Dr Mason," I mutter under my breath. Grandmother looks at me incredulously. "I mean, I don't get any freedom anymore!" I say loudly. "I don't get to go anywhere, I don't get to do anything, I can't even go a week without blood testing! It's driving me insane," I let out. Grandmothers looks at me quietly, allowing me to rant. I smile at her gratefully as the toaster pops. Grandmother butters it for me (she insists, and I know better than to question her when she insists something) as I take a sip of my apple juice.

"Here you go," grandmother puts a plate of toast in front of me as grandpa walks in.

"What's all that noise about?" he eyed me suspiciously and I grinned.

"I was trying to wake you up," I say sarcastically. "It's about time, too."

"Ha ha very funny," grandpa grumbles. He sits himself down at the table and begins reading the newspaper. As he studies I eat, and as I eat grandmother begins making some sandwiches for my lunch. Like I said, I know better than to question her when she does something like this for me.

Then there's a knock on the door and I groan, pushing my plate aside and banging my head on the table. Grandmother hurries to the door to let Dr Mason in, who strides into the room with her business-like jacket and skirt that's just above her skinny knees and high heels that look like they're six inches tall, all grey. Good god, I wouldn't wear those if someone got down on their knees and begged. At my wedding, I'm wearing simple slip-on shoes. Easy, comfortable, cause it's not like they'll be seen under the dress that grandmother will make me wear, right? I tilt my head and grin, seeing that she's having trouble walking in her heels on the carpet.

"Good morning, Miss Pride," Dr Mason says, setting down her... bag... of disgusting, medical STUFF... down on a chair. "You really shouldn't have your head on the table like that, all the blood will go to your head and you'll pass out." Yeah, yeah, I get it already. Straight to all the medical crap. I look up to the clock and see that it's 8:00:30 AM. Joy, joy, I get the blood sucked out of me and then I go to school and suffer through four hours (it's the last day before holidays!) of education. Well, at least we have IT today, that's a bonus. And sport! No, I'm not allowed to participate in sport unless it's basic exercises. No running, jumping, playing sports in general or any other kind of "excessively active" activities. (But I do field events in athletics, and I'm an emergency for 100m sprints and 4x100m relays. Not that Dr Mason knows that.) I also join in occasionally when we're playing baseball as the pitcher. That's not excessive, all you have to do is throw the ball and hope the batter doesn't hit it. And my PE teacher wants me to join in in basic warm-up exercises. That much I can do. But most of the time I just sit in the stands with my earphones blaring music in my ears and write. I only stop when Rose, my best - and probably only - friend, comes to tell me that the teacher's said something. My earphones are noise-cancelling.

"Good morning, Dr Mason," grandmother says warmly to the (annoying, bitchy, job-obsessed) woman. "Can I get you a cup of tea?" Leave it to grandmother dear to be polite to absolutely everyone, even the people she hates. Yes, she hates Dr Mason as much as I do.

"No, thank you," Dr Mason replies (at least she's polite enough to actually BE polite) as she pulls some equipment from her bag. Grandmother hurries to my room down the hall and comes back out with my MP3 player and headphones. Despite the two years of being poked and prodded by tubes and needles, in fact it's BECAUSE of those two years, I've developed a severe phobia of needles. Aichmophobia. Yes, it actually has a name, although it took a lot of web searching to come up with something other than "needle phobia." Grandmother searches for a song as I lean back in the chair and close my eyes. The headphones are gently placed over my ears and Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" blares through the speakers. Perfect choice, grandmother dear. I let the music envelop me and think of nothing else. This always works, as my awesome noise-cancelling earphones and the immense volume of the music cancels out everything else, and there is nothing else for the next approximately four minutes.

As soon as the song ends, grandmother takes the headphones off me and I look down to see that there is no needle in sight, only a cotton ball on my arm held down by a Band-Aid. Thank god. I breathe a sigh of relief and my head lolls back again.

Five minutes later, Dr Mason is gone (THANK GOD), I am relaxed and ready for school (with twenty-five minutes before I have to leave), and my breakfast is cold (goddammit. I was really looking forward to some raisin toast). So I sculled down the rest of the apple juice along with some pills and went back to my room. I go straight to my desk, where my laptop is waiting for me. I turn on the monitor and open the laptop. After I log in, all my stuff is still on the two screens, waiting for me to continue. I check my emails and my notifications on my favourite website before getting to work. I'm writing a story about monsters from another universe. But instead of them coming to Earth and attacking, the people of Earth go to their home and attack them. But the Ulac (the monsters) fight back, although they're losing - and badly. But one man in the army, Gene Smith, tries to convince the army leader to discontinue their attack. Not that the army leader listens of course.

I won't tell you any more, because that's where I'm up to. I'm almost finished (I think) according to my plans (but that could hange anytime now, knowing me) and then I'll have to go back and edit and revise and edit again before getting Rose and my grandparents to read it. They have been egging me to keep writing it whenever I get the chance, so that's pretty much what I'm doing. Plus, reading about Gordon Edgely in Sklduggery Pleasant is always helpful.

"Seraphina!" my grandmother calls. "Come on, time to go to school!" I look down at the clock on my laptop. Crap, that went fast. I turn off the monitor and unplug all the unnecessary cords (monitor, charger, mouse, speakers) and put them and the laptop in it's bag, along with the charger. I use the laptop bag as my school bag, because I only need a few books each lesson. I trudge down the hall and out into the kitchen, where grandmother hands me my MP3 player, and I put that in the bag, too. I slip on my school shoes and hug my grandparents before beginning the walk to school.

On the walk, I'm mainly thinking of the story, and how I would word the next little bit. About five minutes after I leave home I pull out my MP3 player and put the earphones around my neck, so that I can listen to music and still hear the outside world. Song, song... dammit Sam pick a goddamn song! Aha! "Rumour Has It" by Adele. Sounds good! I play the music and keep walking.

When I get to school, Rose is waiting for me at the front gate. "Morning, Sam!" she squeals and slings an arm over my shoulder and we walk into school. "How are you?"

I roll my eyes. "Pretty good, considering that I just had more blood sucked out of me," I reply, shuddering a little at the thought of a needle.

"Oh, you poor dear," Rose squeezes my shoulders and I shrug.

"Wasn't that bad," I say. "I had Bon Jovi helping me all the way."

Rose shakes her head. "How you got your taste in music, I have given up trying to guess," she says in a disappointed tone. "I do not understand how you can listen to that kind of music."

I imitate her, shaking my head and patting the hand that's over my shoulders. "I do not understand how you can listen to all the pop music that's around these days," I say sadly. "You disappoint me."

We look at each other, before bursting out laughing.

School starts off as it normally does. As usual, everyone asks me for help in IT because I spend a lot of time using computers, and I know a lot about them. Even half the teachers ask me for help a lot instead of going to the school computer man.

The bell rings to signal the end of period 1. I pack up my laptop and the cords (I used the one of the school's computers as a second monitor) and walk to maths class. On the way, I say goodbye to Rose, who heads for the Woodwork room. So, I'm a loner again. Joy, joy.

In maths, Mrs Taylor (I got the best and yet the most expectant, rude and loud maths teacher in the WHOLE SCHOOL) sets up some hard equations on the board which we have to complete. There isn't a time limit, which is good. I can work under pressure, I just don't like to. If I'm under too much pressure, I go through 5 stages of stress:

Stage 1: Abnormal sweating. (Which has happened multiple times)
Stage 2: Shaking/trembling. (This has happened quite a few times)
Stage 3: Hair turns white. (This has only happened once or twice)
Stage 4: Seizure.
Stage 5: Possible heart attack and/or stroke.

So, in other words, I'm an absolute freak. Stage 4 hasn't happened yet, which is good. I think I'm gradually getting better, but I can never be sure when too much stress is too much stress.

I finish before everyone else and Mrs Taylor checks my answers. She ticks them all and gives me an extra-complicated algebra worksheet. Wow. I'm 13, in year 8, and this looks like a year 9 worksheet. Nice. I finish that (which takes me almost all lesson) with people complaining left and right about how hard it is and why we're doing this and why can't they go out with Harry Styles or Ashton Irwin or something absolutely ridiculous like that. And then there's me, the lonely geek in the back row that's staring out the window. I check the clock and see there's five minutes before recess. 'Bout time. There's no point getting out my laptop with only five minutes left, so I stared out the window and thought about my story. About the monsters from another universe, and how humans warred with them...

A white dragon. Two white dragons. Two orbs, a deep purple one and a rainbow-coloured one. The male dragon hovers in front of the purple orbs, and begins to absorb its energy.

"The power," he roars, "I can feel the power!" He laughs insanely. "This is amazing! If I can harness the power of the Silent Core and the Infinity core, I will-" he is cut off as the orb begins to glow. He is being pulled closer towards it. "No. No! This can't be happening! No!" He is pulled into the orb, and both of the orbs begin to pulse with energy. The female dragon cries out as she fights to resist the pull towards the rainbow-coloured orb.

Then the energy pulses even more, and the rainbow-coloured orb is knocked away, spiralling through a portal that goes to an unknown place. And then this world begins to fall apart. The six pools of energy that were surrounding the orbs merge into one another, and the creatures that live in these places begin to war with one another. Fire, earth, light, darkness, water and wind no longer co-exist. Something terrible is happening, but nobody knows what.

"Sam? Sam!" A voice shakes me out of my daydream. I shake my head and tear my eyes away from the fluffy white clouds outside and look at the person who's talking to me. Joyce, a girl in my class is staring at me, concerned. We're not friends, but we're not exactly enemies either, like I am with most of the people in my year (my age doesn't really help my case much. I was born in January, before the cut-off date for school years, so while I'm 13 everyone else is 14. Joy, joy).

"Yeah?" I ask and Joyce smiles, gesturing to the few leaving people behind her. "Right! Sorry, I was thinking."

"There's a surprise," Joyce grins and leaves. "See you, Sam."

"See you," I reply and pack up my books.

"Seraphina," comes Mrs Taylor's voice from the front of the room and I freeze. "Did you finish the worksheet?"

I relax. "Yes, Mrs Taylor," I answer, holding up the sheet. "I did."

"Put your name on it and hand it up to me." No please, no "good work", no nothing. Just... do this. But I nod and carefully write my name very neatly on the top of the worksheet and give it to Mrs Taylor. "Very well then, you may leave," she says, scanning over the sheet. A lot of the kids groan or sigh as I leave the room.

"Hiya, Sam!" Rose's voice rings out down the hall as we proceed towards our lockers. As soon as we step outside the sky darkens. I look up, narrowing my eyes in confusion.

"That's weird," I comment. "The forecast didn't say anything about rain."

And then it starts raining. But, not raining water. It rains... cards? A few people in the yard reach out to touch one and they glow. I do the same, but when I grab a hold of one, I start sweating. Abnormally sweating.

Then my hands start trembling. And my whole body starts shaking.

I can feel pressure in my head as my hair turns white. The card falls from my hand and it begins to burn. I faintly hear Rose say my name before I collapse. I se stars in front of my eyes and blood pounds in my ears. My body jerks around involuntarily and there is a mass of pain around my heart. My back arcs as the pain reaches my spine. I try to scream to let out some of the pain but I can't control my body. Then there are cobwebs in front of my eyes as I subconsciously see people crowding around me. Then I feel my heart throb and I go limp.

Another throb and I thrash my arms around.

One last throb and everything goes black.

A/N: Yo guys, MorllyberNo.1 here!

First things first, this is the longest chapter I've written in AGES! I am so proud of myself!

Secondly, the last few paragraphs may be a little confusing if you're medically experienced. I did a little research and asked my dad, and that was me trying to describe a seizure. (It was easier than I thought it would be, thanks to my dad comparing it to a computer before it crashes. I can understand IT talk.) So if I did it wrong, please explain it to me and I'll give it another go.

The little daydream section in this story could also be described as an absense seizure by others, as she was staring into space (probably) without blinking for five minutes. Just saying (I do know a bit about these things!).

ChelberNo.1 might pick up on this, and anyone else who's into A:TLA, but this chapter shares a name with one episode of A:TLA Book 3: Fire. It just fit so well! XD

Well, that's about all. I hope you liked it, peace out!