They didn't talk for the first minute.
Kiel kept a firm grip on Ita's wrist as they walked away from the abandoned house on Halina Town Road. Not tight enough to hurt , just enough to make sure he was still there.
Still real.
Still breathing.
The night air felt colder now. Thinner. Like something had followed them out.
"youre shaking" Kiel said quietly.
"im fine" Ita lied.
He wasn't.
The world didn't look the same anymore.
The streetlights flickered overhead, casting long shadows across the pavement. But the shadows didn't stretch the way they were supposed to.
They twitched.
They lagged behind.
They moved a half-second too late.
Ita swallowed.
"Dont look back" he whispered.
"What?"
"just...dont"
Kiel frowned but didn't argue. "Okay.."
They kept walking.
A car passed by.
For a second , just a second. Ita saw a face pressed against the inside of the rear window.
Not sitting.
Pressed.
Flattened like wet clay against glass.
Its eyes were swollen and bleeding black streaks down its cheeks. Its mouth hung open too wide, gums peeled back, teeth cracked and uneven.
Then the car drove past.
The backseat was empty.
Ita stumbled.
Kiel caught him. "Ita, you need to tell me whats going on..."
Ita looked at him.
Kiel's face was normal.
Alive.
Warm.
Everything else wasn't.
Across the street, under a broken lamppost, something stood between two trees.
It was tall.
Too tall.
Its neck bent at a crooked angle, head dangling sideways like it had been snapped and never fixed. Long, soaked hair hung forward, dripping something dark onto the pavement.
Its arms dragged along the ground, fingers split open at the tips, nails missing.
It turned its head slowly.
The snap echoed.
Its empty eye sockets faced him.
It began to walk.
Each step jerked violently, bones popping out of place before snapping back in.
"Ita?"
Kiel's voice sounded distant.
"ita, look at me"
Ita couldn't.
Because now there were more.
A woman stood in the middle of the road behind them. Her stomach was torn open, ribs cracked outward like broken cage bars. Something inside her moved , writhing, wet, trying to crawl out.
Her jaw hung loose, connected by a strip of torn flesh. When she opened her mouth, it stretched down to her collarbone.
She wasn't walking.
She was being dragged.
By nothing.
Her fingers scraped the asphalt as she moved closer.
Kiel turned around.
There was nothing there.
" stop scaring yourself " Kiel muttered, though uncertainty crept into his voice. "Theres nothing Ita."
"There is." Ita whispered.
His breath fogged in the air.
But it wasn't cold enough for that.
The temperature dropped sharply.
The streetlights flickered again.
And suddenly,
They weren't alone on the sidewalk anymore.
Figures stood between every light pole.
Dozens.
Some missing faces.
Some missing skin.
One boy no older than ten stood barefoot on the curb. His head was split clean down the middle, but the two halves still blinked separately. His tongue hung down between the split.
He smiled at Ita.
Blood ran from his scalp into his eyes, but he didn't blink it away.
Another figure crawled across the side of a building like a spider. Its limbs bent the wrong direction. Its spine pushed through its back in sharp ridges. Its mouth opened and closed silently, as if chewing something invisible.
They weren't attacking.
They were watching.
Waiting.
"you opened your eyes"
The whisper slithered through Ita's ears.
He turned slowly.
The stair boy stood beneath a flickering light.
Pale.
Thin.
Arms too long.
Fingers bending backward at the knuckles.
Its head tilted slightly.
The smile stretched wider than before — skin splitting at the corners.
"you left." it said softly.
Kiel looked right through it.
" What are you staring at?" Kiel asked.
The stair boy stepped closer.
Its feet didn't touch the ground.
"you can see what hides."
More figures gathered behind it.
A man with half his face burned away, exposing teeth fused to charred gums.
A girl whose eyes had been sewn shut with thick black thread, blood leaking from the stitches.
An old woman whose entire lower body was missing. she dragged herself with brittle fingers, leaving streaks of dark fluid behind.
Ita's chest tightened.
They were everywhere.
On rooftops.
Inside windows.
Hanging from trees like broken ornaments.
Kiel grabbed his shoulders. "ITA!"
Ita flinched hard.
For a split second .
Kiel's face wasn't Kiel's.
It was hollow.
Skin peeled back.
Eyes missing.
Mouth stretched into that same impossible grin.
Ita screamed and shoved him away.
Kiel stumbled back. "What the hell?!"
The image snapped.
Kiel looked normal again.
Hurt.
Confused.
"im trying to help you."
" I know.." Ita whispered, shaking violently.
The stair boy drifted closer until it stood inches from Ita's face.
Its breath smelled like damp earth and rot.
"they cant see us" it murmured. " they never could."
It lifted one long finger.
And pressed it gently against Ita's forehead.
Cold exploded through his skull.
Images flashed,
Dark hallways.
Locked doors.
Hands grabbing.
Smiles in the dark.
" You were always open." the stair boy whispered.
"you just didnt know"
The streetlights burst one by one behind them.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Kiel grabbed Ita again, this time more firmly. "we're almost at your street. Just keep walking.Dont look at anything else"
But Ita couldn't stop.
Because now,
The ghosts weren't just watching.
They were following.
Their footsteps didn't make sound.
But their shadows stretched long across the pavement.
Reaching.
Reaching.
Reaching for him.
And no matter how tightly Kiel held his arm.
Ita had never felt more alone.