Kai woke up choking, gasping for air.
It felt like he had drowned in some unknown subconscious depth—pulled under and only just dragged back out.
The ceiling above him was white. Too white. A harsh, buzzing light hummed softly overhead, and the sharp smell of antiseptic burned his nose. For a moment, he didn't know where he was. Panic surged through his chest, his heart hammering wildly.
He tried to sit up, too quickly. The room spun, a wave of nausea crashing over him.
"Kai—hey, slow down."
Warm hands gripped his shoulders, steadying him before he could topple. Kai's eyes darted sideways, wild and unfocused, until they locked onto the familiar face.
Noah.
Relief crashed into him so hard it almost hurt. Without thinking, Kai reached out and grabbed Noah's hand, gripping it like it was the only thing keeping him anchored.
"You're okay," Noah said, though his voice wavered. "You passed out. You scared the hell out of me."
Kai swallowed. His throat felt dry, scraped raw.
"Hey… what happened?" Noah asked gently. "I mean—after everything today, anyone would be shaken, but… are you okay?"
"I don't know," Kai said quietly. He paused, the silence stretching between them, heavy. A shiver ran down his spine as the vision resurfaced. "I had this… vision. And it wasn't good. I saw things. Horrible things." His face drained of color.
Noah stiffened. His eyes searched Kai's face, wide with a mix of concern and curiosity. "What? What do you mean?" He shifted closer, lowering his voice. "A vision how?"
"They lied," Kai whispered. "They've been lying to us this whole time." What happened—it definitely wasn't a bear. I'm sure of it. I don't know what it was, but the vision felt like the truth. Like something we're not supposed to know. Like the town's past." He pressed a hand to his head. "Maybe I'm just exhausted. Maybe it's the sleepless nights."
Noah's frown deepened, confusion etching lines across his forehead "Then what was it?" he asked softly. "What you saw, I mean."
Kai opened his mouth to answer, but footsteps echoed in the hallway, freezing him in place.
Kai glanced at the door, then back at Noah, his eyes wide and distant. "Let's meet up," he breathed. "At the park. 4pm"
"The park?" Noah blinked, then shrugged. "Might be a little tricky with everything going on, but… sure. I'll be there. Just… be careful, okay?". He gave Kai a light, playful punch.
The door opened.
The school nurse entered, followed by a police officer—and a woman with tired eyes and familiar features.
His mother.
"Kai," she said, rushing to his side. "Oh, thank God."
"Mom," Kai managed, his voice cracking under the weight of it all. He clung to her, but his mind was elsewhere, the vision's shadows lingering.
She held him close, brushing his hair back with trembling fingers.
The nurse offered a polite smile. "He experienced severe shock. Given today's events, it's understandable but there are no physical injuries."
"Shock?" his mother echoed, pulling back slightly to look at him.
Kai nodded, numb.
After that, forms were signed. Voices murmured low, fragments of conversation drifting—questions about the "bear attack," reassurances that everything was under control. Noah was instructed to head home; his father had arrived, waiting in the hall with a stern expression.
As Kai was guided out toward the car with his mother walking by his side, he glanced back.
His eyes met with Noah's.
He nodded once.
---
The car ride home was quiet.
His mother kept glancing at him through the rearview mirror, as if she were afraid he might disappear if she looked away for too long. Her face was tight with worry, and Kai could tell—without her saying a word—that she regretted the move. But they'd had no choice. His father's job had decided that for them.
When they got home, his father arrived earlier than usual. One look at Kai was enough to make him sigh deeply.
"You're staying home for a few days," his dad said firmly. "No arguments."
Kai didn't argue.
His father stepped closer and pulled him into a brief, careful hug. "I'm really sorry you're going through all of this," he said gently. "Are you okay?"
Kai nodded. "I just want to go upstairs and rest. I think I'll feel better after."
"Okay, dear," his mother said, her voice thick with concern. "Call me if you need anything."
Kai headed up to his room, leaving his parents behind, their voices low and strained. He paused at the top of the stairs when he heard his mother whisper that she wished his father hadn't taken this post. Kai exhaled shakily.
He hated the thought that his terrible luck—his constant brush with frightening, traumatic events—might tear his parents apart.
That evening, he lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting the minutes until 4 p.m.
When his alarm rang, he sat up abruptly. He grabbed his phone and jacket, then moved quietly to the window. Outside, his eyes traced the pipe running down the side of the building. He glanced back at his locked bedroom door, making sure no one was there.
Guilt twisted in his chest.
If he told his parents, they wouldn't let him go. And neither would Noah's dad.
Kai climbed out the window and jumped down, landing softly. The cold air bit at his skin, but he was grateful for his jacket. He moved quickly through the streets, heart pounding.
When he reached the park, Noah wasn't there yet.
Kai waited, pacing, nerves buzzing under his skin—until, a few minutes later, he spotted Noah running toward him.
"Sorry for the delay," Noah said, breathing hard as he jogged up. "It took forever to get my dad off my back before I could sneak out." He straightened, hands on his knees, then looked at Kai. "So… how are you feeling now?"
"Better. I guess," Kai replied.
They walked side by side along the park path, though Noah kept drifting a step ahead. After a moment, he slowed and turned to face Kai.
"So," Noah said carefully, "what did you want to tell me? The thing you saw."
"Oh. Yeah." Kai glanced around.
A little distance away, a woman sat on a bench, gently pushing a child on a swing. She looked tense, like she hadn't wanted to come out at all—like the town's fear had followed her here.
"It was horrible," Kai said quietly. "I'm still… pretty shaken." He let out a weak chuckle. "Sometimes I think I might actually be losing it."
He walked ahead and dropped onto a bench. Noah joined him.
They sat in silence—the kind that pressed against Kai's ears. He rubbed his palms together, trying to steady himself.
"I saw myself in a forest," Kai began. "Under a blood moon. There were hooded figures—standing in a circle, cha—"
He stopped.
The sky flickered.
Just for a second.
Kai blinked hard.
"What did you see?" Noah asked, pulling him back.
"I—I saw them chanting something, and summ—"
The blue sky above them burned orange, like a sunset stretched too thin—wrong, distorted. Dark shapes tore through it, twisting and spiraling. They looked like shadows ripped from bodies, screaming without sound.
Kai's breath caught.
The park wavered.
He looked around.
Noah was gone.
So was the woman. The child. The swings stood perfectly still.
"Noah?" Kai shouted, panic clawing up his throat.
No answer.
The trees blackened, bending inward as their leaves crumbled into ash. The ground split beneath Kai's feet—dry, cracked, lifeless. In the distance, buildings loomed like hollow shells, scorched and abandoned, as if something had passed through and drained the world dry.
Dark, soul-like shapes filled the air—hundreds, maybe thousands—ripping free from the ruins and spiraling upward, as if being harvested.
Kai stood alone.
No people. No life.
Just him.
He wanted to run. To scream. To move.
He couldn't.
His feet were glued to the ground.
Then he felt it—that same icy drop in temperature he'd felt in the principal's office. A wind rushed past him, though nothing touched him. He saw nothing… but he felt something.
Something wrong.
Something dangerous.
The park snapped back into place.
Blue sky. Green grass. The woman. The child. The soft creak of the swing.
"Kai?" Noah said urgently. "Hey—look at me. You good?"
Kai tore his eyes from the sky, his chest heaving. "Did you see that?" he whispered.
"See what?"
Nothing. The sky was normal again. Empty. Innocent.
Kai swallowed, his throat burning. "Nothing. Never mind."
He took a shaky breath. "When I passed out… I didn't just faint. I saw something. A place. People. A ritual." His voice dropped. "And something consuming them—like what happened to the principal."
Noah frowned. "I think you're just really stressed. You need rest. What you saw could've been hallucinations."
He shrugged, though the motion felt forced. Noah had never been the supernatural type. To him, everything had a reason—something science could explain if you looked hard enough. And if science couldn't explain it yet, then it simply hadn't caught up.
It wasn't that he didn't believe Kai. Not really. After everything Kai had been through, Noah just wanted to be there for him—to steady him, to keep him grounded. Still, a small, unsettling part of him couldn't stop wondering.
Because curiosity lingered.
And somewhere deep down, buried beneath logic and reason, a part of Noah wondered if Kai might be telling the truth.
Kai shot to his feet. "I know what I saw!"
The woman turned toward them, startled.
"Hey—relax," Noah said quickly. "I'm not saying I don't believe you. It's just… right now, you shouldn't trust everything you see. Not after everything you've been through."
Slowly, Kai sank back onto the bench. "Yeah," he muttered. "I guess so."
The wind picked up, cold enough to raise goosebumps along his arms. The trees groaned softly, their branches creaking like old bones.
Maybe I need to see a doctor...
Or maybe something had already seen him...