It was a rainy night.

At the forest, there was a boy running.

It was Eljin Robertson.

He was running while trying to look behind him, but he wasn't being followed. At least, he couldn't see anyone following him. He was breathing heavily, his breath fighting against the cold air as his feet continued carrying him deeper into the forest.

He clashed with a tree.

The impact should have stopped him.

It didn't.

He stumbled away from it and continued running.

Another tree.

Another collision.

Still, he kept going.

The forest, to him, had started to feel like it had covered the whole world. The trees weren't just surrounding him anymore—they were becoming everything. Every direction looked the same. Every path seemed to lead deeper into the same darkness.

He wouldn't find a way out anymore.

Even though he knew the way out of the forest.

He had been here before.

He knew exactly where the exit was.

But somehow, the forest knew that too.

"Wait for me, Eljin."

A voice.

Behind him.

Deep inside the black darkness of the forest.

Eljin stopped breathing for a moment.

Whenever he heard that voice, it was as if his soul craved escape from his body. As if something inside him wanted to leave before the rest of him could understand why.

But there wasn't any stop.
There wasn't any escape.
There wasn't any hope.
He turned around.
Beth appeared in front of him.

Eljin fell onto the ground.

She was dripping wet, her white dress covered in dirt and rain. Her hair clung to her face as she stood there silently.

And to Eljin, her eyes seemed to be glowing.

But they weren't.
They were just eyes.
He knew they were.
Didn't he?

For a moment, the forest disappeared.

The rain became softer.

Eljin saw himself and Beth together.

They were kissing as the rain fell upon them, their bodies close, their faces almost disappearing behind the falling water.

It was beautiful.

It was warm.
It was—
Eljin blinked.

And found himself on the ground.

The rain was falling into his eyes.

His tongue was gone.

His fingers were gone.

A strange mark sat upon his chest, carved into the skin as his blood mixed with the rain beneath him.

He tried to scream.

Nothing came out.

Beth was still standing before him.

She held an axe in her hands.

She looked down at him.

And for some reason, she smiled.

Then she raised the axe, about to kiss his skull with it.

It was dark like the universe without stars.

Like having your eyes closed.

Seven candles were standing in front of him.

They were all lit up, but none of them seemed to burn the same.

Some had little flames, barely alive.

Some had huge flames, burning higher than the others.

One was an anomaly.

Its flame was blue.

Another burned like a flamethrower, the fire violently stretching upward as if it wanted to escape the candle itself.

Lucas stood there watching them.

He didn't know where he was.

He didn't know why there were seven.

He just watched.

Then something fell onto the ground.

His eyes opened.

Lucas was on the floor of his bedroom.

He had fallen from his bed.

He lay there for a few seconds without moving, staring at the ceiling as if the ceiling had somehow caused this.

There was drool on the floor.

A lot of it.

"Ahh... my neck."

He slowly pushed himself up, rubbing the back of his neck.

He still looked half dead.

He didn't notice the girl standing at the bedroom door.

She had been watching him.

"Why are you even standing there?" Lucas asked.

Kim looked at the floor.

Then at Lucas.

"I won't even ask why you are drooling all over my floor, Lucas."

Lucas looked down.

He finally noticed it.

"Oh."

Kim sighed.

"I'm going out. I have classes."

She turned around.

"I'll be taking the keys and locking the door, so use the window."

She walked away.

"Yeah, yeah, Kim."

Lucas threw himself back onto the bed.

He exhaled.

His body was still trying to recover from the violence of waking up.

For a moment, he closed his eyes again.

The seven candles were gone.



He stood up from the bed and prepared himself to leave.

Before leaving, he fixed his bed, still half-awake as he pulled the sheets into place.

Then he heard a knock on the door.

Lucas stopped.

Another knock.

He got out of his room and went to check who was knocking.

It was a guy.

Lucas looked at him for a moment, exhaled, and simply continued doing what he was doing.

The person on the other side continued knocking.

Lucas finished fixing his bed.

He went back to his bedroom, opened the window, and climbed out of the apartment.

He started walking around the campus.

Students were everywhere, doing their own things.

Some were sitting around chatting.

Some were chilling while listening to music.

Others were already rushing to their classes, looking like they had somewhere important to be.

Lucas walked through all of it without really belonging to any of it.

Then he heard a voice.

"Ay, Lucas!"

Lucas looked around until his eyes met the person calling him.

It was Jay.

"Hey."

Lucas walked towards him.

As he got closer, two other people came walking towards Jay.

Julie and Sub.

"You know, I still can't believe you stayed at your sister's apartment," said Sub.

"Who said I am?" said Lucas, smirking.

"Doesn't it scare you that she's finishing her studies this year?"

"Well, I still have the dorm room I'm supposed to be staying in."

"You mean the one where your ex stays?" said Julie.

Jay immediately wrapped his arm around Lucas.

"I don't think you'll be going back to that shit hole."

Lucas laughed slightly.

"Me and Julie gotta go. We got morning classes," said Sub as he started walking away.

"See you later, slackers," said Julie as she followed him.

Lucas looked at Jay.

"Don't you have classes?"

"If I did, I'd probably still be in bed by now, Luc."

Lucas nodded.

"That makes sense."

He started walking away.

"I should be going. We both know why you're standing here."

Jay smiled.

"You know me very well."

He paused.

"Just don't forget to meet up at Nicky's later."

"I won't."

Lucas kept walking without looking back.

Jay watched him leave.

"That guy is definitely going to fail this course too," he said to himself.

Lucas walked out of the campus, heading to the nearby library called Oakwood Public Library.

When he arrived, it was as quiet as it always had been. Valery was already there, as always, since she was one of the librarians. Aside from the fact that she was a gothic librarian.

"Mornin’, Vale," Lucas said as he passed by her.

Valery looked at him while chewing gum, one of her earphones in her ear as she read a book about bringing the dead back to life.

**Spooky,** Lucas thought to himself.

That was her normal way of greeting Lucas.

Lucas’s job was to go around the library and put the books back where they belonged. Since many students came here, plenty of books ended up being misplaced or left in completely different sections. So every day, Lucas pushed his trolley from aisle to aisle, collecting the books and returning them to their proper shelves.

The only thing he really liked about the job was the freedom. He could read whatever book he wanted, and once the trolley was empty and everything was back where it belonged, he was free to leave.

As he pushed the trolley through the dark romance section, he stopped beside one of the shelves and picked up a few weird-looking books.

He placed them onto the trolley before continuing down the aisle.

Lucas lifted one of the books from the trolley he was pushing. The title read:

“Mermaid's Love with the Devil.”

He stared at it for a moment before reading the title out loud.

"Who even reads this bullshit? How can a mermaid be in love with a devil? Geez, weird."

He shook his head and put the book back on its shelf.

Lucas continued pushing the book trolley through the aisle until he reached the end of the dark romance section.

As he was exiting, he came across Ayomikun.

She didn't look well.

**She seems sick,** Lucas thought to himself.

He was wrong.

She was pissed at him.

"What's up?" Lucas asked.

Ayomikun rolled her eyes.

"What's with the eye rolling? There's no dick in you."

She continued rolling her eyes at him in an almost unchainable display of sass.

"It shows that I'm fucking pissed," Ayomikun said.

Lucas looked at her, genuinely amazed.

"You're always pissed," he said with a sarcastic smile.

But he wasn't being sarcastic.

"That's bullshit," she said, folding her arms.

"I see... hmm," Lucas said, looking around.

"You behave like an asshole sometimes," Ayomikun said.

"Um, thanks for noticing. But we are currently not all perfect," Lucas replied with a smirk.

"Whatever."

She turned around and started walking away.

"Will you forgive me if I let you go with the book you just stole?"

"Okay," she said, looking back at him before continuing to walk away.

"Is that you saying yes or something?" Lucas called after her.

Ayomikun didn't respond.

She just kept walking.

**Guess now I have to go say I took another weird dark romance book,** Lucas muttered to himself.

He grabbed the trolley again and continued putting the books back where they belonged.

Lucas continued pushing the trolley around the library, putting the books back where they belonged.

Every now and then he would stop to check the shelves, fixing books that had been placed in the wrong sections or simply left somewhere they weren't supposed to be.

A few students came in.

Some were looking for books.

Some were looking for places to sit.

Some were clearly only there because they had nowhere else to go.

Lucas didn't really mind.

The library slowly became quieter as the hours passed.

He spent most of the time doing his job while occasionally checking his phone, writing down a few things about people he had been observing around campus.

Nothing interesting happened.

At least, nothing that Lucas considered interesting.

Eventually, he looked at the time.

His shift was over.

He put the last book back onto the shelf, pushed the trolley aside, and took off the small work badge he had been wearing.

"Finally."

"Finally."

Lucas went to Valerie, who somehow was still doing the same thing she had been doing for the past three hours.

She hadn't moved.

She hadn't even blinked.

At least, Lucas hadn't seen her blink.

She was still focused on whatever she had been doing when he first came to work, so Lucas decided not to tell her about the stolen book.

There was no point.

He grabbed his things and left the library.

It was time for him to go to the woods and talk to the unknown.

The woods weren't far from the university.

A short walk from the campus and the buildings slowly disappeared behind the trees. The sounds of students became quieter, replaced by the sound of leaves moving with the wind and the occasional car passing somewhere in the distance.

The place had become popular with university students over the years.

Some came there to drink.

Some came there to smoke.

Some came there to make out.

Some came there simply because they wanted somewhere nobody would bother them.

And some came there to do things they definitely didn't want the university knowing about.

Because of that, the woods had eventually earned a name among the students.

Cavewoods.

Nobody really knew who gave it the name first.

Some said it was because of the small cave deeper inside the woods.

Others said it was because students went there and disappeared into the trees for hours, doing whatever the hell they wanted.

Lucas didn't care which explanation was true.

He liked the place.

It was quiet.

Quiet enough for him to hear himself.

As he walked along the familiar path, he passed a couple sitting beneath a tree, talking quietly.

Further ahead, two guys were smoking while arguing about something Lucas couldn't hear.

He continued walking.

The deeper he went, the fewer people there were.

Eventually, even the university buildings could no longer be seen between the trees.

Lucas stopped for a moment.

He looked around.

Nobody.

**Good.**

He continued toward the part of Cavewoods he usually went to.

The part where he could talk to the unknown.

Or perhaps...

talk to himself.

He reached into his bag and felt the small recording device inside.

Then he smiled slightly.

"Alright."

He stepped deeper into the woods.

He arrived at the only place where he felt alive and at peace.

It was closer to a cliff where a river passed by below, moving quietly through the trees as the sound of the water travelled through the woods. The cliff wasn't particularly beautiful, at least not to most people. The rocks were uneven, the ground was covered with dirt and leaves, and the trees around it had grown in ways that made the place feel isolated from the rest of the world.

It was known around the university for another reason.

People came here to jump.

Over the years, enough people had thrown themselves from the cliff that the place had gained a reputation. Some students called it a suicide spot. Others called it haunted. There were stories about people hearing voices near the edge, seeing someone standing between the trees when nobody was there, or feeling like someone was watching them from across the river.

Lucas never cared much about that part.

If the place was haunted, then the ghosts were probably less annoying than the living.

He walked closer to the edge and looked down.

The river looked smaller from up there.

"You know, at times I wonder how it would feel to jump off..."

He stared at the water for a few seconds.

"...but then I think, hmm."

He scratched the side of his head.

"It would probably be better to let myself get brutally fucked by life enough that I'm left without care for the outcome of my actions."

He looked beside him.

Nobody was there.

Lucas smiled anyway.

"I know what you're thinking."

He waited.

Then he nodded slightly, as if someone had actually answered him.

"No, it's not that."

Another pause.

"I'd love it if my whole family was dead."

He looked back toward the river.

"That way I'd have the freedom of seeking death without having to think about what I'd be leaving behind."

He sighed.

"But you know, Mom..."

Lucas shook his head.

"Gosh. You keep making me think about death."

He turned away from the cliff.

"This should be a therapy session, not a suicide session, okay?"

He looked toward the empty space beside him again.

"...Yeah, yeah. I know."

He walked toward one of the trees and sat down beneath it.

A few rocks were already arranged around the base.

They weren't naturally there.

Lucas had placed them there himself some time ago, slowly moving them around until he had made himself a little place to sit.

He leaned his back against the tree and exhaled.

The river continued flowing below.

Leaves moved above him.

Somewhere far behind the trees, the university continued with its usual noise—students talking, cars passing, people living their lives.

None of it reached him properly here.

Lucas reached into his bag and pulled out his recorder.

He placed it on one of the rocks.

"Alright."

He looked at it.

Then at the empty space beside him.

"Where were we?"

"Oh yeah, I just remembered."

Lucas suddenly stood up.

"Letting out the caged so they don't let themselves out in an unholy act."

He said it almost casually, as if he'd just remembered something he had forgotten to write down.

He looked up at the sky and took a few deep inhales, letting the cold air fill his lungs before slowly breathing it out.

"You know that feeling of not being so sure where your life is heading?"

He brushed his face with his hand.

"It sucks."

He looked around the trees.

"It's also scary, you know?"

The branches moved above him, leaves brushing against each other as the wind passed through them.

"I know all of you are dead."

Lucas looked toward the empty space beside the tree.

"But I'm alive."

He paused.

"Sometimes I wonder if we were created with a purpose."

He scratched the back of his head.

"Well, that's what some people say."

He looked at the tree as though someone had said something to him.

"Well, I do think the same thing."

Lucas nodded.

"I do believe I have a purpose. Cause there wouldn't be any reason to be alive, you know?"

He lowered himself back onto the rocks.

For a moment, he just sat there.

Then he picked up a stick and began writing in the dirt.

**I feel scared.**

He stopped.

**I feel lost.**

Another line.

**I don't know what to do with my life.**

He stared at the words.

"Aside from doing what I seem to love."

He added another line.

**I don't know where I'm going.**

Lucas looked at it for a while before dragging the stick through everything he'd written, destroying the words.

"I don't know."

He threw the stick into the bushes.

"Some people are out there living their dreams."

He leaned his head against the tree.

"Passing school. Making money. Getting whatever they want."

His eyes wandered toward the river.

"And I'm here..."

He paused.

"...a lion in the sea."

Lucas smiled faintly at his own words.

"I'm sure you get it."

He looked toward the empty space again.

"After all, some of you kicked the bucket because of this shit."

The river continued moving below the cliff.

Lucas listened to it for a while.

Then he reached for the recorder.

"Anyway."

He pressed the button.

"Let's start again."

"Alright..."

Lucas looked at the empty space beside him.

"Ehhh... what kind of question is that?"

His eyebrows tightened as he stared at the spot as though whoever was sitting there had just asked him something completely unreasonable.

"No."

He shook his head.

"I haven't felt like killing anyone."

He paused.

"It's nothing you can consider an urge. It's just expressing myself through wild imagination."

Lucas nodded as if he had just explained something obvious.

"You get it, right?"

He waited.

"...Yeah."

He looked away.

"I think the questions you're asking aren't helping."

Lucas reached for the recorder.

"Soo..."

He clicked the button.

"I will leave now."

He stood up and stretched, his back making a quiet crack as he moved.

"That was productive."

He picked up his bag and looked around the woods one last time.

The light had already started disappearing between the trees. Winter made the days feel strangely short. It wasn't even particularly late, yet the sky had already turned into a dull mixture of blue and grey, with the last traces of sunlight fading behind the trees.

Lucas shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking.

The path was familiar enough that he barely had to think about where he was going. His shoes pressed against the damp ground as he followed the trail back toward the university.

The further he walked, the more signs of campus life began appearing again.

A discarded bottle near the path.

A cigarette packet lying beneath a bench.

Someone's hoodie hanging from a tree branch.

Then Lucas noticed something ahead.

A warm orange light flickered between the trees.

There was a fire.

Around it were several students dressed almost entirely in black.

Some were sitting on rocks.

Some were standing.

And a few were actually dancing.

Heavy metal blasted from a speaker somewhere beside the fire, distorted enough that Lucas could barely make out the song.

One of them raised both hands into the air while another spun around with his hair flying everywhere.

Lucas stared.

"Ah, fuck."

He sighed.

**The goth cult again.**

He immediately changed direction.
He wasn't interested.

The last thing he needed after spending an hour talking to imaginary people was getting dragged into whatever the hell those students were doing.

As he walked farther away, the music gradually became quieter. Someone shouted something behind him.

Lucas didn't turn around.

"Nope."

He kept walking.

Eventually, the woods disappeared behind him and the university buildings came back into view.

Their windows glowed against the darkness, illuminating parts of the campus as students moved between buildings. Some were heading toward their apartments, some were sitting outside together, and others walked around with headphones on, completely lost in their own worlds.

Lucas walked through them without much thought.

His mind was still somewhere between the questions he'd asked himself and the answers he hadn't managed to find.

Eventually, he reached the new university apartment complex.

Unlike the older student residences around campus, these buildings were still relatively new. The walls were clean, the paths were properly maintained, and most of the apartments hadn't even been occupied yet.

Lucas entered the building and walked through the quiet hallway.

There were barely any signs of life.

A few doors had names taped onto them.

Others were still completely empty.

He reached the apartment he shared with Kim.

It was a five-room apartment, far more space than two people really needed.

Kim had her own room, Lucas had his, and the remaining rooms were mostly unused. One had slowly become a place for boxes and things neither of them knew where to put.

Lucas unlocked the door and stepped inside.

The apartment was quiet.

He closed the door behind him.

"Kim?"

Nothing.

Lucas looked around.

"Guess I'm alone."

He dropped his bag beside the couch and stood there for a moment.

The apartment still had that strange feeling of being new.

Too much space.

Too quiet.

Barely lived in.

Lucas looked toward the hallway leading to the empty rooms.

"Five rooms..."

He shook his head.

"Two people."

He walked toward his room.

"Great financial decision, university."

He disappeared down the hallway, leaving the apartment silent again.

Then he heard a knock.

Lucas stopped.

He looked toward the door.

Another knock.

"Coming."

He walked over and opened it.

Three guys were standing outside.

Lucas immediately noticed the skateboards.

One of them was standing at the front, holding his skateboard under his arm. Another was smoking while leaning against the wall, and the third was crouched down, busy fixing one of the wheels on his board.

"Lucas, my man."

The guy at the door grinned.

"We're here for our info about Skye."

Lucas stared at him for a second.

"Oh."

He nodded.

"Skye Maddox."

"Yeah."

Lucas closed the door.

He walked toward his room while the three guys waited outside.

He dropped to his knees beside his bed and pulled out a box that had been pushed underneath it.

Inside were dozens of USB drives.

Lucas stared at him for a second.

"Oh."

He nodded.

"Skye Maddox."

"Yeah."

Lucas closed the door.

He walked toward his room while the three guys waited outside.

He dropped to his knees beside his bed and pulled out a box that had been pushed underneath it.

Inside were dozens of USB drives.

stared at him for a second.

"Oh."

He nodded.

"Skye Maddox."

"Yeah."

Lucas closed the door.

He walked toward his room while the three guys waited outside.

He dropped to his knees beside his bed and pulled out a box that had been pushed underneath it.

Inside were dozens of USB drives.

Lucas picked up the box and began looking through them.

Each USB had a name written on it.

He moved through them one by one.

"Finn..."

He put it back.

"Tyler..."

Back.

"Melissa..."

Back.

Then he found it.

SKYE MADDX

Lucas pulled it out.

"Found you."

He stood up and returned to the door.

The three guys were still there.

Lucas handed the USB to the guy in front.

The guy looked at it before pulling out some money and handing it to Lucas.

Lucas counted it quickly.

"Perfect."

The guy looked down at the USB.

"Where do you even get the information about people on campus?"

Lucas smiled.

"You could say I have my ways, Jake."

He laughed.

Jake stared at him.

"You even know my name?"

He turned toward his friend who was still smoking.

The guy took the cigarette from his mouth and looked at Lucas.

"This guy is sick, bruh."

He laughed and fist-bumped Lucas.
Lucas returned it.

The three of them started walking away.

"Later," Jake called.

"Yeah."

Lucas closed the door.

The apartment became quiet again.

He walked toward the kitchen and opened the fridge.

He stared inside.

Bread.

Milk.

That was it.

Lucas took the milk.

He closed the fridge and walked back toward his room.

"Healthy."

He entered his room, closed the door behind him.