Past returned With bloody Hands

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Summer had left.

And with it, all the warmth, all the laughter, all the innocent dreams vanished like dust swept away by a careless wind.

Even that strange science project — the one I had once used as an excuse to feel closer to people — was now nothing more than a faint memory, swallowed by time.

I turned my face toward the sky.

It wasn't blue anymore.

It looked… faded.

As if someone had smeared a thin layer of gray over it with an absentminded brush, stealing away every trace of life and color.

Empty. Cold.

Like the feeling growing quietly inside my chest.

I walked along a long, silent road, flanked on both sides by tall, looming trees that watched me like quiet, shadowy sentinels.

Between them, half-forgotten houses stood, growing fewer and more distant the farther I walked.

The wind whistled through the leaves with a whispering voice, like someone trying to speak… but too afraid to say the words.

In my hand, I carried a plastic bag — groceries.

That's all it was.

My mom had asked me to run a simple errand.

But somehow, even that felt strange.

Even that simplicity held a quiet unease, like the silence before a scream.

Then came the thoughts.

Uninvited, they crept in — heavy, shapeless, old.

Questions I had buried long ago, now climbing back from the dark with crooked smiles on their pale faces.

"Why did Soura disappear right after Souh?"

"Why didn't he ever come back?"

"What if... I never see him again?"

My lips moved, but no sound escaped.

Only a dull whisper in my head:

"Even if he comes back… I won't stay with him."

But who was I kidding?

Just thinking of him made my chest burn.

It always did.

I got home.

The lights were off.

Silence clung to the walls.

But it was still the only place I could return to.

I dropped the groceries by the stove and went upstairs without a word.

I pulled my winter jacket over me and sat down beside the window.

My eyes traced the trees outside…

…watched how the seasons moved through them without mercy.

Yellow. White. Blossom.

Then yellow again…

And white, again.

Three years.

It had been three years.

But it felt like yesterday.

Everything was just as blurry. Just as close.

I was asleep when it happened.

It was supposed to be just another day.

Pale sunlight pushed through the clouds and into the house — soft, tired light.

"Kai! You're gonna be late for school!"

My mom's voice dragged me out of sleep.

I'd fallen asleep on top of my textbooks again.

Eleventh grade.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

I got dressed quickly — red hoodie, black jeans, watch on my wrist.

No breakfast. No thought.

Just ran.

The street outside was… wrong.

No cars. No footsteps.

Just this suffocating silence.

When I reached the school, the courtyard was full of students — noise, chatter, normal things.

But something was off.

Deeply off.

I climbed to the third floor, and before entering the classroom, I peeked through the window.

The girls were huddled in a corner, whispering intensely.

And then I saw him.

The one face I thought I'd buried.

The one I'd spent years pretending wasn't real.

He stood there.

White hair.

Black shirt. Beige pants.

That same crooked smile.

The one that always tore something open inside me.

Our eyes met.

And I swear… he smiled wider.

He raised a hand and said, almost too easily:

"Hey, Kai."

And just like that, the breath left my lungs.

I didn't remember how I started running.

My body moved before I could think.

I just needed to get away.

From him.

From that face.

From everything he brought back.

I found myself on the school grounds, gasping for air.

I looked behind me.

He was still there.

Standing.

Not chasing me.

Not saying a word.

"How did he get there so fast?"

But there was no time to ask.

I turned and ran again, this time into the woods near the school — a place I'd never dared to go before.

I climbed the slope, heart pounding.

Rested against a tree, trying to breathe.

And then, from behind me, two hands — cold, steady — covered my eyes.

"Kai… can I talk to you?"

That voice.

That voice I had heard in my dreams so many times, it had become part of the silence.

But now… it was real.

I knocked his hands away with more anger than I expected, stumbling back.

I turned.

Took a step down the hill—

And then a shot.

Sharp. Immediate.

The bullet hit his shoulder.

He stumbled back.

And that's when the man appeared.

Dressed in black.

Face hidden. Hat low.

Only his eyes visible, gleaming through a dark mask.

Souh didn't hesitate.

He launched at him — no warning, no pause.

Tackled him to the ground.

Then came the sound of fists and stone.

Over and over.

He didn't stop.

His face was empty.

Not angry.

Not afraid.

Just… gone.

"Souh! Stop it!" I shouted.

Somehow, he heard me.

Or maybe just my voice.

He froze, hand trembling midair.

I ran toward him —

But everything spun.

My legs gave out.

The last thing I remember was falling — and then his voice, trembling now, closer than it had ever been.

"Kai… hey, are you okay? Kai, stay with me—"

He was shaking me.

Calling my name again and again.

"You need a hospital… please…"

And then before everything turned black.

My eyes caught the shape of a tree ـــــ

and for a split second, I thought i saw soura standing there

with a smile that didn't belong to any human

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