The room was too quiet. Too still.
It was the kind of silence that didn't come from peace—it came from the absence of something… or someone.
I pushed the door open slowly, the hinges creaking in protest. My fingers tightened on the handle, the smell of something burnt still lingering faintly in the air. My heart pounded as I stepped inside, my eyes scanning every corner.
The window was slightly open. The curtains moved with the breeze, whispering secrets I couldn't yet understand.
That's when I saw it.
A scrap of paper—charred at the edges—lying near the desk. I bent down, my breath catching as I read the faint words that had survived the flames:
"They know."
The blood drained from my face.
Before I could react, a shadow flickered at the far end of the hallway. Instinct kicked in. I straightened, my muscles tense, and stepped back toward the door. But the moment I turned—
A hand clamped over my mouth.
The scent of leather and smoke filled my senses as I struggled, my nails digging into the stranger's arm. His voice, deep and rough, brushed against my ear.
"You shouldn't be here."
I froze. The voice was familiar—but wrong. Different. Like the same melody played in a darker key.
He released me abruptly, stepping into the light.
It was him.
But not the man I had known. His eyes held something colder, something almost… feral.
"You're making it harder for yourself," he said, his gaze sharp enough to cut. "Stay out of this."
I took a step forward, ignoring the tremor in my hands. "If you think I'm just going to watch from the sidelines—"
His smirk was quick and humorless. "You don't have to watch. You just have to survive."
Before I could answer, he was gone—slipping out through the half-open window like a shadow retreating from the dawn.
I stood there, staring at the empty space, my pulse still thundering in my ears.
But as I turned back to the desk, my eyes caught something else—something the fire hadn't claimed.
A silver locket.
The same one I had buried with him.
And that's when I realized… nothing I thought I knew about the past was real.
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