The sun hung low over the town, casting long shadows across the cracked sidewalks of Edgewood High. The hum of the last bell echoed down the empty halls as students shuffled out of the building, burdened with the weight of exams hanging over their heads. There was a quiet tension in the air—something not quite right. A sense of unease that had been there since the day of the final test.
It had all started a month ago.
Sophia, sitting alone in the back of the classroom, had watched as the test papers were passed out. Her fingers had trembled as she took the sheet, the words on the page blurring in front of her. She had never been good at math, and today, the problems seemed like a cruel joke.
The clock ticked on, loud and unforgiving, as time bled away.
"Ten minutes left," Mr. Pendergast had announced, his voice detached, as if he didn't care whether anyone passed or failed. It wasn't like he had to worry about getting fired. He'd been teaching here forever, too long to give a damn.
Sophia had written something down, her pen shaking as if it too knew it was a waste of time. She barely glanced at her work before slamming the paper onto the desk.
But then something strange happened.
The test was over, and life had gone on. No one had thought much of it. It was just another exam—just another day in the cycle. But a week later, that strange feeling began to fester. Students started getting sick. Coughing. Running fevers. It seemed like a flu bug had swept through the school. Teachers sent them home early, the school was disinfected, and life carried on.
The first death occurred two weeks after the test.
Nathan, a quiet kid with thick glasses who sat at the front of the class, didn't come back to school after that flu-like illness. No one thought much of it. People got sick sometimes, right?
Then, another. And another.
By the time the third student died, whispers began to spread. Something was wrong. These deaths weren't normal.
It wasn't until Sophia heard the rumors that she started to worry.
"I heard someone found something weird on the tests," Jake said in a hushed voice, standing by the lockers between classes. "Like... a pattern or something. Like, it's connected."
Sophia didn't ask him to explain. She didn't need to. She had already figured it out. Nathan had been in her math class. So had Daniel, the second one to die. And now, there was only a few left from the group.
What bothered her most was the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach, the coldness creeping into her bones. This wasn't just a coincidence.
She had seen something, and she couldn't unsee it. The first test had been normal. The second was different. She couldn't remember the details, but something was wrong with the paper. It wasn't the questions themselves—it was the ink. The way it looked under the fluorescent lights, the way the words seemed to dance and blur just before the clock ran out.
The worst part? She had seen the name at the top of the test paper.
It wasn't her name. It wasn't anyone's name.
It had been... someone else's.
"Is something wrong?" A voice cut through the thick silence, and Sophia's heart leaped. It was a voice she'd been avoiding for weeks.
It was Caden. She could feel the weight of his stare from across the room. His lips curled slightly, but there was nothing playful in his expression. His eyes, those sharp, calculating eyes, locked onto her, as if he could see right through her.
Sophia shook her head quickly, too fast, trying to dismiss the thought.
"It's nothing," she muttered, trying to force a smile. But even as she spoke, her eyes kept darting to the window, the pale orange glow of the setting sun casting long shadows across the classroom.
Caden didn't move. He just stood there, watching her, too quiet, too still.
Sophia had never trusted him. Something about the way he carried himself, always so calm, so... aware, had made her uneasy from the start. She'd seen him before, walking alone at night when no one else was out, his hands in his pockets, his head low. She'd never said anything to anyone. It wasn't her place.
But now... now, she wasn't sure.
"Why did you do it?" she whispered under her breath, unsure if even she could hear her own words.
He didn't answer at first, just tilted his head, looking at her with an expression that might have been pity. Or something worse.
"Did you think it would stop?" he finally asked, his voice soft but deliberate. "They don't stop. Not like that."
Sophia's hands clenched into fists. The pieces were starting to come together, but she was too scared to make sense of it. If Caden was involved in this, then everything—everything she had been avoiding, everything she had been trying to push aside—was real.
The deaths, the tests, the way the students had started to act strange as the date for the test approached.
"You're sick," she said, her voice trembling.
"No," Caden replied, his smile fading into something darker. "I'm just... better."
Sophia's heart pounded in her chest. Something inside her screamed that she needed to leave, that she needed to get away from him before it was too late. But the doors were locked. The hallway was empty. She was trapped.
"You can't hide from it forever, Sophia," Caden said, his tone almost gentle now. "You can't outrun what's already coming for you."
The last few days had passed in a blur of dread. Sophia couldn't sleep. Couldn't think straight. She had avoided Caden at all costs, but she couldn't escape the feeling that he was always nearby. That he was watching.
The day before the final student passed away, the whispers reached a fever pitch. People were talking about the tests again. Some said it was a curse. Others blamed the school. No one could explain it, and no one wanted to. Everyone was too terrified.
By now, it was clear to everyone that something sinister was happening. But no one dared speak of it openly. No one dared point fingers at Caden, though they all felt it. His presence was like a shadow, always hovering, always there.
And then, it happened.
The next morning, Sophia arrived at school early. She stood outside the front doors, staring at the school's facade as if she could somehow find the answers hidden in the bricks. She was too late. She had missed the warning. She should've known. Should've—
"Sophia?" Caden's voice cut through the air, and she turned, her stomach dropping.
He stood there, his hands tucked into his jacket pockets, his eyes glinting in the pale sunlight.
It was too late.
It was already too late.
"No," she said, her voice cracking as she took a step back. "I didn't—"
"You didn't think it would come for you?" Caden's smile was empty, colder than the winter air. "I told you."
Sophia's heart raced, her blood pumping faster than she could breathe. It was happening.
Something was wrong with the test.
But now, it was too late. The death sentence had been handed down a month ago.
She collapsed onto the cold pavement, her hands shaking, her breath coming in short gasps. Everything was closing in on her—darkness swirling around the edges of her vision. Her legs gave way beneath her, and she fell to the ground with a thud.
Caden's footsteps echoed as he walked away, his figure blurring in the distance.
Her body froze. And though the cold seeped into her bones, the truth was the final thing that killed her.