Chapter 1: Rei
302 Words
Rei didn't remember much about his parents. He had faint shadows from dreams, blurry voices calling his name, and the smell of old soap and rain. The orphanage took him in when he was five. He ran away at twelve. Now, at seventeen, he lived in a cramped, peeling apartment above an old convenience store that smelled of fried oil and cheap cigarettes.
He got by doing what others wouldn’t. He hauled cement bags at sunrise for half pay, delivered food in the rain on a barely working bike, and took odd jobs just to afford instant noodles and pay rent. Yet somehow, he made it to school. He arrived late, tired, and barely passing. But he showed up.
People called him quiet. Others simply didn’t notice him. He preferred it that way. Life taught him not to expect much from anyone. Friends came and went. Bullying left bruises that healed on the outside but remained hidden beneath layers he never discussed. His life was routine, harsh, and simple.
That night, something changed.
The room was dark except for the soft hum of a fan spinning overhead. Rei lay curled up on his thin mattress, one arm over his eyes to block the blinking light from a broken socket.
On the floor, beside an old cracked charger, his phone lit up.
No sound. No vibration. Just a quiet glow unnatural and almost alive.
Then, it appeared.
Eclipsed Hearts.
A strange app. No notification. No download history.
Just… there.
Its icon flickered for a moment: a stylized heart, half gold and half shadow, crossing over like an eclipse.
Rei stirred, rolling to his side in his sleep, unaware. His chest rose and fell, peaceful for once.
He didn’t know it yet.
But the world he thought he knew was about to fall apart...
- Writer
