Kael woke up with the taste of static in his mouth.
His head throbbed. Not from the dreams, but from the gap between them. The world felt wrong. He couldn't tell if he had slept for hours or days. Everything was blurred, as if time had been painted over with a messy brush. But one thing was clear: he was no longer in his room.
The air was cold, and it smelled like burning paper.
He looked around. He was standing in the middle of an abandoned street, lights flickering above him, casting shadows that danced without moving. A cracked television set sat in the middle of the sidewalk, its screen glowing with static.
The glitch. He was caught in it again.
But this time, it felt different.
He wasn't alone.
A figure stepped out from the alleyway, its silhouette sharp against the dying glow of the streetlights. As the figure approached, Kael could see her—Aria. But something was off. Her eyes were too wide, too bright. Her lips didn't match the smile she gave him.
Her expression flickered. Her hair was too long. Her skin too pale. Like she was wearing a mask of the girl he knew, but not quite her.
"Kael…" Her voice was layered, echoing like it came from behind a thousand walls. "It's time."
Kael stepped back. His hand instinctively reached for the red notebook in his pocket, but it wasn't there. A chill crawled up his spine.
"What do you mean, time?" His voice sounded foreign, as if someone else was speaking through him. The world around them seemed to bend, the ground cracking like it couldn't hold the weight of their conversation.
"You're remembering more than you should," she said, her smile never faltering. "They're watching."
The street lights flickered again, and Kael caught a glimpse of something beneath her smile. Something darker, something more terrifying.
Her pupils were changing. Glitching.
Kael's breath caught in his throat.
"You're not her," he whispered. He took a step back, a cold sweat breaking out on his skin.
Aria tilted her head, her expression warped. "I was never supposed to be. But you found me. Now, we both have to pay the price."
The ground beneath Kael's feet cracked wide open, and he fell—plummeting into a darkness where the only thing that existed was the sound of his heartbeat, a loud, mechanical pulse.