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After losing his mother at seventeen, Rick Fyer made one promise: be better than the world that broke her. Now twenty, he lives by routine—no friends, no feelings, no distractions. Just work, workouts, and a goal to stay focused.

Until a girl with too much energy, a poet’s soul, and a stolen bench flips his world upside down.

She’s everything he avoided. He’s everything she can’t quite figure out.

But as their connection deepens, Rick finds himself facing more than just feelings—his past is catching up, and his heart isn’t the only thing at risk.

A story of grief, healing, and the unexpected people who help us live again.
If you love introspective characters, emotional growth, slow-burn romance, and dialogue that hits like real life — this one’s for you.

"YOU HAD ME AT HELLO"

Wednesday – 9:01 A.M. | Carter University – Old Records Room

Ava flipped through dusty archives stacked in a forgotten backroom, way past any renovated wing of the university. The building smelled like rotting paper and cracked stone. Rick kept watch near the entrance, his hand never far from the taser pen Ava had upgraded with a custom pulse coil.

"Every old floorplan leads here," Ava said, scanning blueprints spread out across a desk.

She pointed to a corridor that didn't exist anymore on current maps — one that should lead underground, beneath the university itself.

"And this chamber here?" Rick asked.

"Subject Housing B. Marked obsolete. That's where they kept Subject 5."

10:44 A.M. | Beneath the East Courtyard – Maintenance Hatch

They found the rusted grate beneath a maintenance shed. Rick pried it open with a crowbar, and they climbed down a ladder so long it disappeared into shadows.

Each step echoed like a countdown.

10 floors down. 12 turns later. They reached it.

A door — thick, bolted, but cracked open just enough to signal: someone had been here recently.

10:59 A.M. | Housing B– Inner Compound

The place was eerie. Walls scribbled with formulas, chalk lines and words scratched deep into the metal panels:

A motion-activated light flicked on.

Late twenties. Ragged beard. Leather straps wrapped around his arms and fingers. Barefoot. But eyes sharp. Alert.

"You brought Hollow Bridge to me."

Rick raised his hands. "We're not with them."

The man didn't move. "That's what Subject 3 said before he was dragged back."

11:04 A.M. | Subject 5's Shelter

The man sat cross-legged in the center of a massive underground room layered in hand-built defense tech. Hidden cameras. EMP nodes. Even a weather-controlled power grid from rerouted campus electricity.

"You escaped," Rick said. "Why didn't you run further?"

Kael smiled — not with joy, but with clarity. "Because I'm not done fighting."

Flashback – Hollow Bridge Years Ago

Kael remembered the needles. The silence. The glass room. He was 15 when they took him.

Dr. Cordova — Ava's father — had stood behind a reinforced window. Unblinking. Always watching.

"We pushed mental augmentation beyond what humans should touch," Kael said. "And when we failed… they called us 'errors.' Disposable."

11:23 A.M. | The New Plan

Kael knelt beside a steel crate. Inside: old files, data drives, even a red-labeled notebook marked "Phase One: Rejected Subjects."

"You want to take Hollow Bridge down?" he asked.

"Then you'll need this. Security patterns. Backdoor access codes. And something worse."

"Subject 1. The prototype. She's still alive. And they're planning to reactivate her."

Kael's voice dropped to a whisper.

Final Scene – Hollow Bridge HQ| Observation Tower

Widow stared at a live satellite feed of Kael's bunker.

"So the ghost shows his face again."

"If Subject 5 aligns with Rick and Ava, we risk full breach of containment."

"Then it's time we give them something they can't walk away from."

She pressed a black button on the panel.

> "Reactivate Subject 1. Begin Mara Protocol."

SUBJECT 5