CHAPTER 2 (PAST MEMORY)
Grey's POV
1 year later <<
"Stop looking like you hate being here," Luke muttered, nudging me with his elbow.
I didn't respond. Just stared across the field. Some lame school trip. Outdoor survival workshop. Everyone pretending they weren't scared of sleeping in the woods. I wasn't scared. Just… disinterested.
"I swear," he kept going, "one day I'm gonna get you to admit you're actually having fun."
I exhaled slowly through my nose. "Try harder."
He grinned, then tossed a pine cone at me. I dodged it, barely.
That was when Eva joined us—quiet as usual, arms folded, eyes scanning the treeline like she expected something to crawl out of it.
"You two are gonna get ticks," she said flatly, sitting beside me anyway.
Luke groaned. "Why are you like this?"
"Because one of us has to be the smart one."
I glanced sideways. Her mismatched eyes were serious, always. One green, one steel grey. Like she was wired to see both reality and the worst version of it at once.
"What do you think's out there?" I asked.
She blinked. "You mean in the woods?"
"No," I said, quietly. "Beyond ."
They both paused.
Luke answered first. "I think we grow up. Move out. Get cool jobs. Maybe join a band. You and me, we'd crush it."
Eva's voice was softer. "I think there's something coming. Something none of us are ready for."
Her words sat heavy in the air.
I didn't say anything. But I felt it too.
Staring at the sky. Wondering why I always felt like I was waiting for something to go wrong.
Wondering how Eva knew the same thing.
I nod. We move. Quiet. Focused.
But in my head, I hear Eva's voice again.
"Something none of us are ready for."
And I wonder—
Was she warning me even back then?
Or did she already know?
...