Three years ago, his life had been normal. His parents died in a car accident, leaving only him and his nephews. He had survived by pure chance-back seat, right side, minimal impact. He had told himselflit was luck, but sometimes, late at night, he wondered.
To keep himself from drowning in grief, he had turned to books-stoic novels, philosophy. He trained himself to accept reality as it was.
And for a while, it worked.
Then came the dreams.
At first, he ignored them. Just nightmares, he had told himself. But then, they became clearer.
Detailed. They weren't just images -they were instructions. The way the bodies needed to be placed, the words to be spoken, even the feeling of success that came after.
Still, he wouldn't have believed it.
Until he saw the book.
A specific location had appeared in his dream-a muddy, waterlogged patch of land behind the old state museum. A place nobody went, overrun with snakes and reptiles.
The next night, driven by frustration, by curiosity, by something deeper he couldn't explain, he went there.
There's nothing there. There won't be anything there.
That's what he told himself.
But when he dug into the wet earth, his hands trembling, he found it.
A leather-bound book, buried deep, its cover weathered but intact.
And inside—
Instructions for the ritual.
Written in a language he shouldn't have been able to understand.
But somehow, he did.
Grey clenched his fists, his eyes dark with something between fear and obsession.
That book should not have existed.
Yet, it was real.
And so were the dreams.
And if the dreams were real—
Then why didn't it work?
He needed to think. Fast.
His eyes flickered toward the bodies.
Dump them? Keep them? Try again?
The room felt suffocating.
"Fuck, what should I do? They're setting up cameras now. Carrying a suitcase would be too suspicious. Should I dismember the bodies and pack them in my coaching bag? Yeah... that might work. Yes, this will work."
He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair.
"Even if I get caught, so what? Haven't I already done everything a teenager could ever dream of?
It's fine. Let's gamble this one last time."
His lips curled into a smile-forced, strained. But wasn't fake bravery still bravery?
With that thought, he swallowed the sleeping pills and let the exhaustion take over.
But at midnight...
The next morning ,
Rosie's Residence
Rosie
"Why the hell isn't Grey picking up his phone? He's gonna make me late. Ugh!" I huffed, tapping my foot impatiently.
Grey was never like this. He was always the one calling first, nagging me— Where are you? We're gonna be late! But today? Not a single call. Not even a reply to my messages from last evening.
Something felt... off.
Was he upset about something? His behavior had been distant these past few days, almost detached.
It was rare for me to worry about Grey. He always seemed so put together, reliable. He was the only boy l actually cared about. The only one I ever tried to fill the void of parental love for.
But now? This unease creeping into my chest-it wasn't normal.
Shaking off the strange feeling, I grabbed the keys.
He only lived 900 meters away. If he wasn't answering, I'd just go check on him myself. Probably just overslept or forgot to charge his phone, I told myself. No big deal.
The colony where Grey lived was lined with nearly identical two-story houses, all rented by students like him. His house had a vacant ground floor, and he stayed on the first. As I reached his door, my eyes landed on his slippers outside.
And just like that—| felt relief. See? He's here. I was overthinking.
Still, I knocked. "Grey, I'm opening the door!" No response.
I twisted the key and stepped inside.
Darkness. The curtains were drawn, blocking out the morning light. The air inside felt... heavier than usual.
I walked straight to his room, ready to kick his lazy ass awake-only to stop dead in my tracks.
He wasn't there.
My heart skipped a beat.
"Grey?" My voice wavered, an unfamiliar worry creeping in.
I glanced around. His other room-locked from the outside. Weird. But I barely had time to think before a sinking feeling pulled me towards his bathroom.
Something was wrong.
The second I pushed the door open, my breath hitched.
My mind-blank. My body-frozen.
No... No, no, no...
A sharp chill ran down my spine as I fell to my knees, hands clamping over my mouth. My stomach twisted, threatening to heave.
Inside-thirteen corpses.
Children. Small, lifeless bodies. Lined up.
Blood soaked the floor in uneven streaks. Some dried. Some fresh. The stench clung to the air like death itself.
No... No, no, no...
A sharp chill ran down my spine as I fell to my knees, hands clamping over my mouth. My stomach twisted, threatening to heave.
Inside-thirteen corpses.
Children. Small, lifeless bodies. Lined up.
Blood soaked the floor in uneven streaks. Some dried. Some fresh. The stench clung to the air like death itself.
My fingers trembled as I whispered, barely able to form words.
"...Grey…. are you safe?"
But deep down, I knew-the future I had imagined would never come to be.