Inside, the playground sprawled before them like a graveyard of childhood.
Swings hung crooked from rusted chains, swaying slightly despite no wind.
The slide loomed ahead, its once-bright colors faded to dirty gray, graffiti covering the sides in jagged lines.
A merry-go-round sat in the center, half-sunk into the weedy ground, looking less like fun equipment and more like some kind of sacrificial altar.
A broken seesaw tilted at an awkward angle, one end buried in dirt.
The jungle gym was barely standing, its bars bent and rusted.
Demi's flashlight beam danced everywhere-the slide, the swings, the ground, back to El, back to the slide.
"This is fine," he muttered.
"This is totally fine. I'm not scared. You're scared. I'm fine."
El didn't respond.
His flashlight swept slowly, methodically, left to right.
The jungle gym.
The seesaw.
The old benches, rotting, surrounded by weeds.
But no tree.
Not yet.
They walked deeper, their footsteps crunching against broken glass and dried leaves.
Demi's commentary continued in a low, nervous stream:
"Okay so fun fact about me-I've never done anything like this before.
My idea of a wild night is staying up past 10 PM watching baking shows. This?
This is HORROR MOVIE BEHAVIOR, El. We're living in a horror movie right now.
I'm the funny best friend which means I'm probably going to die first and I'm NOT okay with that-"
"Demi."
"-what?"
"Shut up for a second."
Demi shut up.
El's flashlight stopped moving.
There, at the far edge of the playground, past all the equipment, past the overgrown grass, past everything-
A tree.
Old.
Massive.
Ancient in a way that had nothing to do with age and everything to do with presence.
It stood apart from everything else, like even the playground knew not to build too close.
Its branches reached toward the sky like gnarled fingers, bare of leaves even though it wasn't quite winter yet.
Dead?
Dying?
Waiting?
"El."
Demi's voice was barely a whisper now.
"Is that-"
"I don't know."
They walked toward it together, flashlights fixed on the trunk.
Twenty feet away.
Ten.
Five.
The bark was rough, scarred, older than anything in this city.
And there, carved deep into the wood, barely visible in the dancing flashlight beams-
The symbol.
The bird with pinned wings.
Demi stopped walking.
His flashlight dropped to his side, then came back up, then dropped again.
"Okay."
His voice cracked.
"Okay. That's... that's the thing. The thing from the card. On a tree.
In an abandoned playground. That we came to at midnight.
Because you're in a time loop and your dream girlfriend told you to."
El didn't respond.
He stepped closer.
Reached out.
His fingers hovered inches from the carving.
It was old.
Deeper than he expected.
The bark had grown around the edges slightly, trying to heal, trying to absorb the symbol into itself.
This had been here for years. Decades, maybe.
Long before the dreams.
Long before the card.
Long before any of this started.
"Dude."
Demi's voice was high, panicked, but he was moving closer too, drawn in despite himself.
"Dude, that's really, really not normal. That's the opposite of normal.
That's abnormal in ways I don't have words for."
El touched the symbol.
The bark was cold. Rough. Real.
Nothing happened.
No flash of light.
No portal.
No whisper.
Just the rough texture of old wood under his fingertips.
He pressed harder, as if expecting something to give, something to open.
Nothing.
Demi exhaled shakily and pulled a bag of chips from his backpack.
"I need carbs. This is a carb moment. Here."
He shoved the bag toward El.
"Eat something. You look like you're going to pass out."
El took the bag automatically, not looking away from the symbol.
"What does this mean?" he whispered.
"It's here. It's always been here. But nothing's happening."
Demi crunched loudly.
"Maybe it's not the entrance. Maybe it's just... a marker. Like 'you're on the right track.'
Or maybe you need to do something else. Say something. Have a snack?"
He held up the chip bag hopefully.
"I'm open to supernatural snacking rituals."
El pulled out the cracker.
The one from the old woman.
Dry, ordinary, strange.
He held it up next to the symbol.
Looked at one, then the other.
Demi stopped chewing.
"Is that-the train lady cracker?"
"Yes."
"Do you think... I mean, should you...?"
El didn't know.
He looked at the cracker.
Looked at the symbol.
Looked at the cracker again.
Nothing connected.
Nothing made sense.
He put the cracker back in his pocket.
"Not yet," he murmured.
Demi nodded sagely, crunching again.
"Okay. Good call. Save the magic snack for later. That's just good strategy."
He pulled out his backup thermos and offered it to El.
"Coffee? Might help. Might not. But it's warm."
El took it, just for the comfort of holding something normal.
They stood there for a long moment, two men in an abandoned playground at midnight, drinking coffee and staring at a symbol carved into an ancient tree, with no idea what comes next.
A breeze picked up-cold, sharp, smelling faintly of jasmine.
El's heart lurched.
But when he looked around, there was nothing there.
Just the playground.
Just the tree.
Just the symbol.
Waiting.
---
LEAVING THE PLAYGROUND - 1:15 AM
They stood at the edge of the playground, staring back at the darkness they'd just emerged from.
The tree was still there.
Somewhere.
Hidden in the dark.
Demi hugged his backpack to his chest, flashlight dangling loosely from one hand.
His thermos was empty now, drained during their long vigil.
"So. That happened."
El didn't respond.
His mind was still back at the tree, still feeling the rough bark under his fingers, still hearing the whisper of jasmine in the wind.
"We should..."
Demi trailed off, then tried again.
"We should probably call a neoncab. There's no taxis out here. Ever."
El blinked, pulled back to the present.
"Yeah."
Demi pulled out his phone, squinting at the screen.
"One bar. Great. Fantastic. Just what I wanted."
He tapped the app, waited, and tapped it again.
"Okay, okay, it's loading. Come on, come on-YES. Got one. Estimated arrival... twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes?"
"We're in the middle of nowhere, El. Be grateful it's not an hour."
They stood in silence, the darkness pressing in around them.
Demi kept his flashlight on, sweeping it occasionally, checking for movement that wasn't there.
"You think that figure we saw on the road-"
Demi started.
"I don't know."
"You think it was watching us?"
"I don't know, Demi."
Demi was quiet for a moment. Then:
"You think it's still out there?"
El looked at him.
Even in the dim light, he could see the fear in his best friend's eyes.
"I don't know," he said, softer this time.
"But we're leaving. That's what matters."
Demi nodded, swallowing hard.
"Wish I had more coffee."
The headlights of a car appeared in the distance, bumping along the cracked road toward them.
"Neoncab's here,"
Demi breathed, relief flooding his voice.