Lukas stood frozen, staring at the list of names. His name sat there, inked neatly among a dozen others. Some names had been crossed out. Others remained untouched.
His pulse thumped against his ribs, his grip tightening on the page.
Felix watched him, hands tucked into the pockets of his coat, his expression unreadable. The faint flicker of the lanterns barely touched the cold sharpness of his gaze.
"What is this?" Lukas's voice came out flat, controlled—forced into steadiness.
Felix's lips twitched, but it wasn't amusement. "What do you think it is?"
Lukas exhaled sharply, shaking his head. His thoughts ran in circles, trying to find a foothold in something that made sense.
"You tell me," he said.
Felix glanced at the list, then back at Lukas. "It's a record."
A record.
The word settled over Lukas, heavy and cold.
"A record of what?"
Felix's gaze flickered to the fog-choked streets behind them. For a moment, he didn't answer. Then, with a sigh, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair.
"A record of those who disappear."
Lukas's stomach dropped.
His mouth felt dry, the weight of those words settling like iron in his chest.
Disappearance.
The whispers of the town. The missing people. The names scratched off the list.
Felix had known.
"You knew about this," Lukas said slowly. "The disappearances. You've been keeping track."
Felix's smirk was faint, humorless. "Of course."
Lukas's fingers twitched. "Then why hasn't anyone done anything?"
Felix tilted his head slightly, studying him. "Who would they fight, Lukas?"
The question sent a chill down his spine.
The way Felix spoke—so certain, so detached—it was like he had already accepted the rules of this dying town.
Lukas took a slow breath, forcing himself to think.
There was no clear enemy. No criminal group. No obvious force behind the disappearances.
There was just the fog.
The town.
The feeling that something else lurked beneath its streets, beneath its reality.
His name was on the list.
And he had no memory of how he'd even come to exist in this place.
Lukas swallowed. "What happens to the ones who disappear?"
Felix's gaze darkened.
"I don't know," he said.
Lukas narrowed his eyes. "But you have theories."
Felix let out a quiet chuckle, though there was no humor in it. "Plenty."
Lukas exhaled through his nose, shifting his weight. His thoughts were fractured, barely keeping up with what was unfolding in front of him.
Then he remembered—some names on the list were crossed out.
His gaze dropped back to the page, scanning the names.
At least half of them had a line drawn through them.
"What about these?" Lukas asked, tapping the names.
Felix followed his gesture. His smirk faded.
"They're the ones we know for certain are gone."
Lukas's fingers curled around the paper.
Something about the way Felix said it sent an unnatural chill crawling under his skin.
"How do you know they're gone?"
Felix didn't answer right away.
Instead, he took a step closer. Lukas didn't move, didn't flinch. He just waited.
Felix's voice was quieter now.
"Because we found their houses."
Lukas frowned. "What do you mean?"
Felix inhaled, gaze distant for a moment. "One day, they were here. The next… their houses weren't."
Lukas's mind stilled.
"What?"
Felix's eyes met his again. "The town… changes, Lukas. It doesn't just take people." His voice lowered. "It erases them."
Lukas's breath hitched.
The idea was too large, too impossible—but then he thought back.
How much of this town did he really remember?
He had walked these streets every day. He had lived here for years.
But when he tried to recall specific details, his memories blurred at the edges.
The streets were familiar but wrong. The buildings were the same but too similar. The houses—
Lukas staggered back, his pulse hammering in his ears.
"You're lying," he muttered.
Felix sighed. "I'm not."
Lukas looked at him, desperate for something, anything, that made sense.
"If that's true, then why are we still here?" His voice was sharp. "If the town is taking people, why haven't we disappeared?"
Felix's lips parted slightly, then paused.
For the first time since they had started talking, Felix hesitated.
That hesitation sent a fresh wave of dread through Lukas.
He swallowed. "Felix."
Felix's fingers twitched. His expression remained composed, but Lukas saw the tension in his jaw.
"I don't know," Felix admitted.
The words sent ice through Lukas's veins.
Felix always seemed like he knew more than everyone else. But now? Now he looked…
Uncertain.
And somehow, that was far more terrifying.
Lukas turned back to the list, scanning the names again. His mind whirled.
His name was there. Not crossed out yet.
But if Felix was right—if the town itself was erasing people—then that meant he wasn't safe. None of them were.
He forced himself to take a steady breath, to push down the rising panic.
"We need to find out who's still here," Lukas said, voice tight. "Who's left before they disappear too."
Felix raised an eyebrow, his smirk returning—just a little.
"I was beginning to wonder if you'd run away screaming," he muttered.
Lukas exhaled sharply, glaring at him. "I don't run."
Felix chuckled under his breath. "Good."
He turned, stuffing his hands back into his coat pockets. "Then let's see how long you last."
Lukas glanced one last time at the list in his hands.
The ink stared back at him, cold and unmoving.
The town was erasing people.
And he had just moved one step closer to understanding why.
He folded the paper and shoved it into his pocket.
Then, without another word, he followed Felix into the fog.