Lilith jolted awake, gasping.
Her chest heaved, sweat clinging to her skin.
She clutched her heart, feeling it pound violently against her ribs.
Her room was silent but her mind was screaming.
Ray...
Her hands trembled as she ran them through her hair.
It was just a dream.
Wasn’t it?
But the pain in her chest felt too real. A raw ache she couldn’t shake.
***
Ray staggered backward, his breath coming in shallow gasps as he stared at the unfamiliar hotel room. The very air around him felt like it was collapsing inward, suffocating him.
His heartbeat pounded in his ears, drowning out every other sound except the voice screaming inside his head...
Alexander is trying to erase us.
A shiver ran down his spine, cold and sharp, cutting through his chest like a blade.
No.
No, no, no.
He couldn’t stay here.
If he stayed..if he let his guard down...he would disappear.
His fingers trembled as he grabbed whatever cash he could find along with his phone, stuffing them into his pockets without a second thought. He barely rembered snatching his coat before rushing out.
He had to leave.
He had to run.
His feet moved on their own, slamming against the marble floor as he bolted toward the door.
A sickening dread curled in his gut as he pulled it open—
The world outside was a storm.
Rain poured from the heavens in a relentless downpour, beating against the pavent with a furious rhythm. Thunder rumbled in the distance, as if the very sky itself was warning him—telling him there was nowhere left to go.
Ray didn’t care.
He stepped out, the cold rain soaking through his clothes instantly, chilling him to the bone.
But he didn’t stop.
He ran.
Through the neon-lit streets.
Through the empty sidewalks.
Through the blurred headlights and honking horns of passing cars.
His shoes splashed against puddles, water seeping into his socks, but he barely felt it. The cold didn’t matter.
The rain didn’t matter.
All that mattered was the voice in his head, the one that whispered softly, yet relentlessly,
"You are going to disappear."
"Alexander is taking over."
"He doesn’t need you anymore."
Ray clenched his teeth, his vision blurring with sothing hotter than the rain sliding down his cheeks.
No.
He wouldn’t let it happen.
He couldn’t.
His breath ca ragged as he turned into a dark alley, his chest burning from exertion and then he froze.
A single streetlight flickered above him, casting a dim glow over the wet brick walls and scattered trash.
The sound of the city faded, muffled by the rain pounding against his ears.
Ray stared ahead, his body rigid, his heart hamring.
Because, for the first ti, he realized sothing truly terrifying.
Where was he running to?
Where could he possibly escape?
The truth crashed into him, hitting him like an unforgiving tide, drowning him in its cold grip.
Alexander was him.
Gray was Alexander.
He was Gray.
Gray was him.
No matter how fast he ran—he was still inside himself.
There was no escaping.
His knees nearly buckled, his breath hitching as the world spun around him. The alley suddenly felt too tight, the air too heavy, pressing in on him like an invisible cage.
He was trapped.
He had always been trapped.
A choked, bitter laugh escaped his lips.
He had nowhere to go.
Because he was the problem.
Ray’s body shook violently as he collapsed onto the wet pavent, his knees drawing up to his chest. The cold from the rain seeped into his bones, but it was nothing compared to the paralyzing fear curling around his heart.
He didn’t want to disappear.
He didn’t want to fade away like he never existed.
His breaths ca in shaky gasps, his fingers gripping his damp sleeves as he buried his face into his knees.
"What do I do?"
"Where do I go?"
His mind raced, spiraling into a dark abyss of thoughts, but then
His phone vibrated in his pocket.
His numb fingers scrambled to pull it out, hands trembling as he squinted at the na flashing across the screen.
Lili.
His chest tightened painfully.
She was calling him.
She was calling him.
A desperate sob tore through him as he fumbled to answer the call, his wet fingers nearly dropping the device.
"H-Hello?" His voice cracked as he brought the phone to his ear.
"Ray?"
That voice.
Her voice.
Soft, warm, familiar. Like an anchor pulling him back from the storm.
His lower lip trembled, his tears mixing with the rain streaming down his face. "M-Miss Mystry..." He barely managed to get the words out before his throat tightened painfully.
She had said his na.
She had called for him.
For him.
Not Alexander.
Not Gray.
Him.
He clenched his fist, holding onto the phone like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to reality.
"Ray, where are you?" Her voice carried a hint of concern. She knew sothing was wrong.
He opened his mouth, desperate to speak, to tell her everything, to let her save him like she always did—
But then it happened.
The phone screen went black.
The faint buzzing in his ear cut off.
The call dropped.
Ray’s breath hitched.
No.
His stomach dropped, his fingers frantically tapping the power button, but the phone was dead.
No, no, no...
His hands trembled as he gripped the lifeless device, his entire body shaking with the force of his overwhelming helplessness.
Ray’s breath ca in sharp, shallow gasps as he stared at the black screen of his phone.
His trembling fingers pressed the power button again. Nothing. He shook the phone violently, pressing the button harder like sheer desperation would bring it back to life. Still nothing.
A choked sob left his throat.
"No... no, no, no," he whispered, his voice barely a breath, his entire body frozen in sheer terror.
A ragged breath tore through him as he buried his face in his palms, his shoulders shaking from both the cold and the suffocating dread wrapping around his chest.
"I don’t want to disappear."
He thought about Lilith.
She had called for him.
She had said his na.
She had reached out to him.
And now, he was slipping away from her too.
No.
He couldn’t let that happen.
His mind raced, trying to hold onto sothing, anything that kept him from drowning in this darkness.
But the voices began whispering in his mind.
"You’re not real."
"You’re just a mistake."
"You’re not supposed to exist."
"You’re just a fragnt of soone else."
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