Melony had left on Thursday, Sylar had slept most of Friday, waking every now and then for some water, but then falling right back to sleep. On Saturday, all Autumn could do was sit in the living room and listen to the clock ticking.

There was nothing on tv to watch, and even the internet was dead(she'd even done a web search for "Sylar" out of sheer boredom, but came up with nothing but a brand of watches). Leaning back on the couch, she wondered if it was possibly for someone to die of boredom--or impatience. After four days of lying in her bed, the only she'd learned about the strange man was his name, and the suspense was killing her. Every part of her wanted to know everything about the stranger, but there was always the nagging feeling that if she knew, she'd regret ever helping him.

The annoying sound of a ringing phone shook her from her thoughts, and she rushed to the kitchen to answer it, "Hello?"

"Hey! Geez, are you ok? You sound like hell." Melony spoke on the other end, and Autumn let out a small laugh, relieved to finally be communicating with some. "No, I'm fine--just sleep deprived. How are things in Petrelli-ville?"

Mel snickered, "Fine, thank you very much. Nathan and I have wrapped up everything important, so we're just kind of chilling here until monday."

"Chilling, huh? Is that a political term?"

"Oh shut up. What's new with you?"

I'm harboring a potential criminal in my bed! Autumn shrugged, "Nothing much--I'm just kind of enjoying the peace and quiet. I miss you though."

"Aw, I miss you too. But you hate peace and quiet."

"I know, but..."

A loud clattering sound stopped the conversation dead, and Autumn nearly dropped the phone.

"What the hell was that?!" Melony gasped.

"Um...uh..." Autumn struggled to remain calm, "I think a raccoon got into my room again. I gotta go--bye!"

"A raccoon? Wha--?"

Autumn clicked the phone off and threw it down, ignoring it clattering to the floor as she rushed to her bedroom where she found him kneeling beside the bed, her side table knocked over beside him.

"Sylar!" She ran over, kneeling beside him, "Sylar--what are you doing?!"

"I thought...I could walk." He coughed slightly, "Guess not."

"Come on, try again--I'll help you." She held onto his arm, groaning as she helped him stand. He walked across the room and back, stumbling only twice, before he collapsed back onto the bed, groaning softly.

"Not so hard, right?" She asked, and he stared at her so incredulously that she had to suppress a laugh, "Sorry. Are you hungry?"

He shook his head, his eyes already beginning to close again. She smiled softly, kneeling down to fix the bedside table. She set the lamp upright and began restacking the pile of books, when suddenly he spoke.

"That book--" He began, pointing, "You've read it?"

Eyebrow raised, she picked up the book and held it defensively against her chest as she stood, "Yes. Why?"

"It was fascinating, wasn't it?"

She took several steps back, unsure why herself, "Yes--I thought so."

"Why did you read it?" He asked. The pained look in his eyes was gone, replaced by a mischevious glaze.

At that point, she knew she should be afraid. But she wasn't.

---

Sylar stared up at her, eyebrow raised slightly as he cocked his head to the side. He wasn't strong enough for this--he knew that--but he also knew from the look in her eyes and the way she clutched the book in her arms that she had something to hide.

"Why did you read it?" She asked. He shook his head, "I asked you first."

She laughed humorlessly, "Why all the questions, Mr. Sylar? You're the one lying in my bed, half-dead and unwilling the explain why."

"You haven't asked me why."

"Well then, why?"

"Because I was stabbed with a 16th century Japanese sword."

She smirked, "I asked why, not how."

He chuckled, returning the intense gaze she held so calmly, "I'm lying here, half-dead, because they all think I'm the villain."

Still clutching the book, Autumn sat down in the chair beside the bed, "What are you talking about?"

"The book." He said, pointing, "I thought I was special. I was given false hope of being someone who meant something. When it turned out to be a lie--can you imagine how it felt? To be put on a pedestal for just long enough to get used to it, only to be knocked off seconds later...back into the primordial filth I came out of?"

She looked away for a moment, and he wondered if she did know how it felt. She swallowed, looked up again, "What did you do?"

"I got angry." He smiled faintly, remembering it all, "Angrier than I'd ever been. Rejection pushed me to the brink--so I decided if I wasn't already special, I would become it."

She shook her head impatiently, waiting for him to continue.

"I killed a man. I took his life. I took what made him special. I made it mine."

It wasn't fear he saw in her eyes--nothing of the sort. Intrigue. Curiosity. His tale had sparked something within her, and she leaned forward, eyes locking with his as she lowered her voice to a quiet whisper, "What can you do, Sylar?"

He stared at her, smirking deviously as he raised his hand, twitched his fingers, and sent her flying across the room and colliding into the wall, the copy of Activating Evolution falling from her grasp.

---

Laughing sadistically, Sylar let out a mock groan of pain, "Sorry--but you asked."

Standing up, Autumn held the back of her head, too preoccupied with the evolutionary miracle to even think about the pain that throbbed in her entire body, "My God--you're telekinetic."

He nodded silently.

"There has to be more..." She stepped forward slowly, "If you killed one and took his gift, you had to have taken more. One kill isn't enough. One power..."

"Stop." He interrupted her, "It's your turn."

She froze, wondering if it was even worth trying to fool him.

"Don't try to stall," He said, "Don't try to lie. You have a power. Show me."

He was direct, she acknowledged with a smirk, and she wondered what happened to the sick, weak, dying man whom she'd helped to walk only minutes earlier.

"Every time it happens, I'm...angry." She confessed, "Incredibly angry."

"You can do it." He coaxed with a devious little smirk on his lips, "Show me. Get angry." He watched with intense fascination as she clenched her fists, gritting her teeth as she thought back to so many years ago.

"It was...the day after our parents..." She took a deep breath, "I was late to school. Melony was driving me, and she'd had to stop by the...morgue to sign some papers. When I walked into the classroom, the teacher pulled me aside. She was such a bitch. She got in my face, arguing with me about my tardiness. The next thing I knew she couldn't breathe..."

Sylar raised an eyebrow, and the next thing he knew, she was right beside the bed, leaning forward, hovering over him. She breathed in deeply, her eyes locking with his, and the next thing he knew, he was gasping for breath. He felt his chest tightening, his eyes burning as he tried to breathe and simply couldn't.

Before he could toss her aside again, she let out a groan and stepped away from him, breathing deeply. Sylar coughed, gasping painfully to draw breath back into his lungs as he stumbled out the bed and stood on his own two feet, ignoring the physical pain and weakness he was still fighting to overcome as he reached out and grabbed her around the throat.

"Are you gonna kill me?" She asked through gritted teeth and strained vocal chords.

"Do you want to die?"

"I've never lived. Only existed." She gasped, "Rephrase the question."

His grip tightened, and she closed her eyes as she awaited death. But then he let go, falling back onto the bed and laughing softly.

"Lucky you--" He whispered as he leaned backwards, "I'm too damn exhausted to kill." He closed his eyes, mumbling softly to himself as he drifted off to sleep, leaving Autumn in a dazed aftershock of power and confusion.