Cassie had faced rejection before. Rejection letters from art galleries, silence from job interviews, critiques from strangers on the internet who thought her work was either too gloomy or too weird. But none of it had prepared her for the ice wall that was her neighbor.
It started with a plate of cookies.
A peace offering. A friendly gesture.
Cassie stood in the hallway holding the mismatched dish, warm chocolate chip cookies slightly overbaked because she'd lost track of time sketching. She knocked twice, her heart pounding.
Silence.
She knocked again, more firmly.
Still nothing.
She was about to leave when the door creaked open just an inch.
Her heart leapt. She smiled.
"Hi! I'm Cassie. I live next door. Thought I'd say hello and bring..."
The door closed in her face.
Cassie blinked.
"Okay," she muttered, eyebrows shooting up. "Rude."
She turned on her heel, grumbling all the way back. The cookies would go to Janey.
Only Janey wasn't home.
She had gotten a call that morning. Her mom, who'd been sick on and off for the last year, had taken a turn for the worse. There wasn't enough money for a plane ticket, but Janey managed to catch a long-distance bus.
Cassie helped her pack. Janey's usual snark was subdued.
"I hate leaving you here alone. Especially with you jumping at every shadow lately."
"I'm fine. You need to go."
Janey hugged her tight. "If the neighbor murders you, I expect a detailed ghost text."
Cassie laughed, but it was weak.
Now, the apartment felt too empty.
She worked through the day, trying to focus on her sketch commissions. She barely noticed how often her eyes drifted to the wall they shared with the neighbor.
At night, she couldn't sleep.
She sat up, restless.
That's when she saw it.
A faint light from under his door. Not the usual warm hue of bulbs. No. It flickered. Like candlelight. Like... fire.
Something compelled her to move.
She left her apartment and stood before his door again. The same one that had been slammed in her face. Her eyes drifted downward.
It was cracked open.
Her fingers moved before her brain did. She pushed it.
It swung in silently. The inside was dark, too dark. Not pitch-black. Just... wrong.
Cassie didn't call out.
Something glinted in the darkness. Her eyes adjusted, and she saw it, an altar. Ornate. Covered in relics that pulsed with a subtle glow.
One in particular drew her. A bone-white staff, etched with markings. It shimmered as if calling her.
She stepped closer, breath shallow. Her fingers stretched out
And touched it.
Light exploded.
She was ripped from her body.
She stood in the middle of a desolate street. Rain fell in heavy sheets, but she felt no cold. Car horns blared. Lights glowed red and gold.
Her heart raced.
Cassie turned and saw her own body was lying there. On the ground. Blood pooling from her chest. Eyes open. Lifeless.
She tried to scream, but no sound came out.
A figure approached. Clad in black from head to toe. No umbrella. No fear.
The crowd moved around him, unaware.
His presence chilled the air.
She looked up at him and saw herself reflected in his cold, glowing eyes.
Then
Darkness.
She woke with a scream, back on the neighbor's floor. Sweat drenched her. Her chest heaved.
A hand gripped her throat.
Cassie choked.
He was above her.
The neighbor.
But no longer merely cold and aloof. His eyes were glowing gold, lit from within like twin stars. His expression was devoid of humanity.
He lifted her by the neck, one-handed. She dangled above the ground.
"Foolish mortal," he said, voice deep as the underworld.
She gasped. Clawed at his hand.
"You touched the relic. You looked into your own end."
Her vision dimmed. The edges blurred.
Then he dropped her.
Cassie collapsed, coughing violently, tears streaming down her cheeks.
He stood over her like a phantom made flesh.
"You shouldn't have touched that," he said, voice deep and emotionless.
Cassie whimpered, shivering in fear. "What... what did I see?"
"Your death."
Her mouth went dry.
"I... I don't understand..."
"You're tied to me now," he said. "The moment you touched the relic, you opened the gate."
"Gate?"
"To the other side."
She stared at him. "Are you saying I'm going to die?"
He turned his back. "No. Not yet."
"Then what.."
"You've seen death. It's seen you. Now it won't look away."
She stood shakily. "Who are you?"
He hesitated. Then, barely above a whisper: "Your death."
Cassie backed away in fear.
"You've opened your third eye," he said. "Now death sees you."
She forced out, "What... are you?"
He turned slightly, cloak shifting like shadow. "Yama."
She blinked through tears. "The god of death?"
He gave her a long look. "Not a god anymore."
She shook her head. "What did I see? Was that real?"
"Yes. It's a possibility. One of many."
"I died. I saw myself...dead."
"And now you walk the path toward that vision."
She stared at him, terrified. "I don't want to die."
"Then you shouldn't have touch what wasn't yours."
She pushed herself up. "What happens now?"
"You're marked. They will come."
"They?"
"The dead. The lost. The damned."
Her skin went cold.
Yama's eyes faded to a duller glow. "They'll see you as a gate. They'll beg. Haunt. Possess."
She backed away.
"No l can't...."
"Then you'll die."
He turned and vanished into the shadows of his apartment.
Cassie staggered home, locked every bolt, and collapsed in a shaking mess.
She sat on her bed hugging her knees.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Janey: Mom's stabilized. I'll call tomorrow.
Cassie stared at the screen.
She wasn't alone.
Something was watching her.
She didn't sleep. Every shadow whispered. Every creak sounded like a footstep.
At 3:33 a.m., she saw it.
A figure at the foot of her bed.
Eyes hollow. Mouth open. Whispers dripping like venom.
"Help me..."
Cassie screamed.
It vanished.
The next morning, she looked like she hadn't slept in days.
And she hadn't.