I open my eyes to the sound of rain.
The room is dark, and the patch is still on the table, glinting faintly as if it's breathing.
I look at it; it doesn't move.
For a few seconds, I think what happened yesterday was a dream.
I get up slowly and go wash my face.
I look in the mirror. I look normal, but there's something strange about my eyes.
My pupils are darker than usual.
"It's all because of the shock," I tell myself. "Nothing is real."
But when I go back into the room, I hear the voice again, that quiet, moaning tone behind my ear.
"Good morning, Silver."
I start, looking around.
"Where are you?"
"I'm here. In your head this time. You don't have to look."
"Stop it."
"I can't. You and I are one now."
I sit down in the chair and put my hands to my face.
"I want to understand one thing: What exactly is going to happen to me?"
The board replies calmly, "The blood that flowed that night was the beginning. The contract needs blood to be activated. And now the hardest part begins."
"What part?"
"You will see the past seep into the present, and you will feel the anger inside you find its voice."
I chuckle. "A voice? What nonsense!"
But suddenly, I hear another whisper, not the board's.
A man's voice says,
"Why didn't you save him, Silver? Why did you let your uncle die?"
I turn around quickly. No one.
I clutch my head.
"Who... who said that?!"
"I told you, the change has begun."
"Stop playing with my mind!"
"I'm not playing. You started the game when you threw the stone and killed them. That moment sealed your fate."
I stand up and slam my fist on the table.
"I didn't ask for this!"
"But your wish did."
I'm breathing heavily. I hear the rain getting heavier outside, and footsteps coming from the alley.
I leave the room cautiously.
No one. Just the empty café and the sound of the rain.
I whisper,
"My silent friend, I don't know what's happening to me, but I feel like I'm hearing too much."
The patch says,
"Your mind is trying to adjust. You'll start seeing the unseen."
"See what?"
"Those who were killed because of you."
At that moment, I see a shadow near the café door.
Three men are standing there, their heads riddled with the same bullets I saw in the alley.
Their eyes are blank, staring at me.
I take a step back, then another.
"This... can't be."
"Yes, it can. Blood doesn't disappear, Silver, it comes back."
"Disappear!" I scream.
But they're slowly advancing toward me.
When one of them gets closer, I touch it, and it vanishes like smoke.
The board whispers,
"It's just an echo. Don't be afraid, this is only the beginning."
I sit on the floor, breathing heavily.
"How much of this madness will I have to endure?"
"Five years, Silver. Don't forget the contract."
I look at it with undisguised hatred:
"And what do you want from me during these years?"
"To play and learn. There are stones yet to be unlocked, and each stone has its own power. Blood only gave you the beginning, but you haven't discovered what you're truly capable of."
"And if I refuse to play?"
"When you refuse, the board begins searching for a stronger drive within you. It will entice you, it will turn your fear into a new desire. I was created to stir what lies hidden in man, not to obey it."
I ask it in a low voice,
"And have you killed everyone who came before me?"
"All of them. Some tried to escape, some tried to destroy me, but they all met their end on their own boards."
I gaze at her for a long moment.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because you're different. Perhaps I'll finally understand, through you, why the player disappeared."
I ask her,
"Did you know him well?"
"He spoke to me every night. He wrote on the paper, watching me light up. Then he said one sentence before he vanished:
"(When the board speaks of its own accord, know that the game is over.)"
I fall silent.
I watch the board glow a deep red, as if it were coming to life.
My silent friend,
I swear that at that moment I heard my heartbeat mingle with its voice.
As if we had become one heart... a heart of blood and game.