Chapter 1 — Prologue: The Day Arin "Died"
The house smelled of burnt toast and regret.
Arin's parents argued in whispers sharp enough to cut.
Not at him. Not directly.
But their voices carried over the hallway, bouncing off the walls like tiny daggers.
He sat in his room, knees pressed to his chest, staring at the ceiling.
The ceiling did nothing.
It didn't answer.
It didn't care.
Neel ran past, humming some stupid tune.
Arin flinched.
He hated that humming. It sounded like everything he wasn't.
Everything they wanted him to be.
"Arin, come down," his mother called.
Not a question.
A command wrapped in sweetness that never reached him.
He didn't move.
He couldn't.
The moment arrived too fast, like a storm that steals the sky.
A car screeched outside.
A crash.
A scream that wasn't his own.
And then… silence.
---
Later, Neel ran in, pale as paper.
"He… he's—"
The words stuck.
Arin's parents rushed past him, and he stayed still,
watching the chaos like it was someone else's story.
"No… no…" his mother cried.
"Why him? Why now?"
Neel's small voice trembled.
"I—I didn't see it coming…"
Arin clenched his fists, jaw tight, lips pressed together.
No tears came.
No screams.
Just the quiet understanding that he had to disappear before they could erase him completely.
And for the first time in his life, Arin felt… free.