The massive iron gates of the school loomed ahead.
The security guard's sharp eyes scanned every student's bag.
Asha's pace faltered.
A faint, dry scratching sound echoed from inside her backpack.
As if the creature within had just shifted.
Asha stopped and turned to look Rahul directly in the eye.
"Rahul," her voice was low but unwavering.
"You need that homework, right? So you can survive the teacher's wrath today?"
Rahul nodded frantically. "Yeah, Asha, please. Just save me today, or he's going to kill me."
"I'll help you," Asha said, tightening the straps of her bag.
"But you have to do something for me in return."
"I forgot my school badge."
"If I go through the main gate, the guard will stop me right there and send me back home."
"You two have to help me scale the back wall of the school."
Rahul and his friend exchanged a nervous glance.
The back wall was overgrown and notoriously high.
"The wall?" Rahul's friend stammered. "But if we get caught—"
"Then you can face the teacher on your own," Asha interjected.
She locked eyes with Rahul.
"Make a choice. Help me over the wall and get the homework, or go in empty-handed and take your punishment."
Rahul took a shaky breath. "Fine. Let's go. We'll take the back route."
The three of them veered off the main path into the narrow, overgrown trail.
As they drew closer to the wall, Asha felt a strange vibration from her bag.
The temperature inside seemed to plummet.
'Shadow' was no longer still.
It was as if the creature sensed the isolation waiting on the other side.
Luka remained anchored to the coarse wooden plank, barely inches from Lane.
The desperation that had clouded his eyes had now distilled into a silent, aching pain.
Slowly, Luka unfurled his sweat-dampened fist.
His trembling fingers brushed against Lane's lifeless hand.
And one by one, he interlaced his fingers with Lane's.
He gripped the smaller hand with a fierce intensity.
As if trying to physically drag Lane back from the abyss of silence.
His gaze was fixed on Lane's face, but now his eyes held a strange, shimmering light.
The glisten of unshed tears.
Luka, who always presented a facade as cold and unyielding as stone, finally broke.
A single tear escaped, tracing a path down his cheek before falling directly onto Lane's palm.
In the heavy, stagnant air of the dungeon, amidst the flickering of the dim torches.
That tear acted like a sudden surge of cold current against Lane's skin.
Meanwhile, Lane was trapped within the deep, suffocating shadows of his unconsciousness.
He was lost in a corner of his own mind where only silence and a terrifying void existed.
In that pitch-black expanse, Lane was huddled on his knees.
He had pressed his hands tightly over his ears and buried his face deep between his knees.
Trying to block out the darkness he didn't want to see.
He had made himself as small as possible, cowering from the vast emptiness.
But then, that single teardrop from Luka rippled through the darkness.
Touching Lane's skin like a cold wave.
That touch carried a message through his muffled ears and hidden face.
The realization that someone out there was deeply hurting.
At the touch of that cold drop, life seemed to flow back into Lane's veins.
Luka's head was still bowed low, his tears continuing to splash onto Lane's hands.
His shoulders shook almost imperceptibly.
But because his eyes were cast down, he didn't see the change in Lane's expression.
Then, Lane slowly lifted his face from his knees and opened his eyes.
The haze was gone.
He shifted his head and looked at Luka, who was bowed in grief.
Lane reached out with his other hand and, with profound tenderness, placed it over Luka's trembling hand.
Luka jolted as if struck by an electric current.
He felt the warmth of a palm covering his own.
Slowly, he lifted his head, his vision blurred by the salt in his eyes.
There was Lane—his eyes wide open and filled with a familiar clarity.
Seeing Luka's tear-stained face and bloodshot eyes, a very faint, soft smile touched Lane's lips.
In a voice as light as a whisper but remarkably clear, he said:
"You don't look good at all when you cry, Luka."
Asha's steps faltered as she reached the classroom door.
The noisy world of the corridor faded behind her.
Replaced by a silence that felt oppressive.
As she stepped inside, she felt a heavy gaze anchoring her from the left.
In the very last row, in the farthest corner, sat a girl.
Her eyes were locked onto Asha's face, unblinking.
One second... two seconds... three seconds passed.
Yet her lashes didn't flicker once.
She sat as still as a statue.
Asha averted her eyes and hurried toward her desk.
'Probably just a new student,' she told herself, but her heart was racing.
She dropped her heavy bag onto the desk.
The moment the fabric hit the wood, a faint, icy vibration traveled through the desk into Asha's fingertips.
She quickly pulled out her notebook.
"Hello, Asha! What's up?"
A cheerful voice broke the tension.
Asha's friend, Siya, walked in with a grin and slid into the seat next to her.
"How's the homework situation? Khanna Sir is up next."
"You know how strict he is. If someone's work isn't finished today, they're dead meat."
Asha offered a thin smile, flipping through her book.
She leaned in toward Siya and whispered, "Siya, that girl in the back corner... who is she?"
"That seat has been empty for weeks."
Siya glanced back and shrugged.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I just noticed her today too."
"Maybe a new admission or someone returning after a long time."
Asha couldn't let it go.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned her neck to look back.
The moment her eyes met the stranger's, a wave of frost raced through Asha's veins.
The girl tilted her head at an odd, unnatural angle.
Her lips slowly peeled back into a smile—a smile devoid of any warmth.
It wasn't the smile of a classmate.
It was the look of a predator that had just locked onto its prey.
Asha snapped her head back around.
She noticed the temperature of the bag at her feet had plummeted even further.
To be continue...