Luca wakes up to the weak light of dawn filtering through his window. He blinks, groggy but restless. A dull ache pulses behind his eyes, the remnants of last night's dream still clung to him like cobwebs. Rubbing the sleep across his face he freezes, it's still there, cold silver, simple and heavy as regret.
He frowns, twisting it off his finger, a faint shiver runs down his spine as he places it back on the desk for a moment. He can't explain why it feels like he's turning his back on something far more dangerous than it seems.
"Again those feelings" Luca groans feeling irritated "stupid, it's just a ring" without turning back to look at it he walks away feeling stupid thinking maybe a miracle would happen, just anything different but nothing just stupidity "making me hallucinate more so" he scoffs and goes on with his morning routines after all he's supposed to be at school soon he can't be late. Kissing his mom goodbye after a long process hiding his bruises he was glad he was as good as new nothing for his mother to get suspicious over.
Like planned he manages to escape Sam and his bully friends and walk in the class sighing in relief or else he would've been a target like always. Just as he made his way to his table he was wide eyed more like shocked, there he was Hope, sitting on their shared desk with a smile on his face when he noticed Luca like he's been waiting for him forever.
Not minding him he sits down just beside him as an awkward silence fills between them no one speaking a word, "uh....hey" "am sorry" they both speak at the same time making Luca look at him an apology is what he wasn't expecting. "For...what?" he asks "for not helping you, for..." Hope's voice cracks, he clenches his fists and looks up, the raw honesty in his eyes cutting through Luca.
"I've always been a coward. I let them walk all over me because I was afraid but then...you came. And for the first time I wasn't alone. I had a friend" the word 'friend' hang in the air like a fragile glass ready to shatter.
Luca felt his throat tighten, he knows what exactly Hope means. He remembers sleepless nights, the laughter that always felt just out of reach, the weight of isolation that smoothered by every moment of joy. The difference was he was fighting it alone but now he had him.
"We are the same" he say quietly.
Hope meets his gaze, a flicker of hope in his tried eyes "yeah" he whispers "we are". Hope being the clingy type pulled him into a hug as Luca hugged him back equally tighter, the bullies still loom like storm clouds on the horizon, but the emptiness doesn't feel so crushing anymore, they have each other now. And that's something.
"Now we have a serious problem, they tore our assignments we have to do it again, I got a warning from the professor but he was kind enough to give us a few days" Luca stressed "don't worry am here now we will finish it before the week ends" Hope assures and Luca smiles "of course we will" and now they were back to joking it was not boring anymore.
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Later that evening, the day was well spent, the two walking out the school with smiles on their faces caring for nothing but just them or they should really care what's going on around them "shit they are here" Hope pulls him somewhere behind a pillar and Luca is confused till he hears that annoying voice "come out here you two idiots" Sam shouts just across them as they hid "guess will never escape them completely" Luca agrees on that too "but we can run?" he looks at Hope who widens his eyes in excitement "of course we can" they both held hands and look to their exist and the distance between them and Sam "ready?" Luca asks Hope who nods "with you yes" with that they both make a dash for it running as fast as they can as Sam curses behind them but they just ran while laughing.
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In the middle of the night Luca lies awake in the dark as moonlight spills through his window. His eyes burn from exhaustion but sleep refuses to come. He stares at the ceiling heart beating a restless rhythm. His thoughts wander, his mind leads to the same place, the ring. It waits on his desk, gleaming softly as if mocking him. "Why can't I stop thinking about you?" he mutters sitting up and rubbing his face with his hands.
His fingers itch to hold it again, the temptations too strong. Finally with a sigh of defeat, he gets up and slides the ring onto his fingers.
It felt like he just blinked and he's no longer in his room. The bridge stretches before him again, endless and ancient. The fog coils like living shadows and somewhere far ahead the gate gleams with a malevolent light.
"Come closer" a voice beckons dark and velvet smooth. Luca shivers. The voice-, it's not distant anymore, like it's inside him pressing against the very core of his being.
"Cross Luca" his feet refuses to move. Every instinct screaming at him to run. "What are you afraid of?", "you're already here, you've opened the door" a soft laugh dark and seductive dripping with promises of power, pleasure and something far more dangerous.
The fog tightens it's grip pulling him forward step by agonizing step "is...is it finally happening?" Luca wasn't sure if he should be afraid or excited to find out what is on the other side. His body doesn't seem to respond to him any more like it's being controlled by some an invisible forces now that he thinks about it, he doesn't feel ready to cross over, the voice though trying to pull him starts to feel irritated if he could put it that way
"You belong to me now. And I don't know patience"
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