chapter three
825 Words
Chapter Three: The First Sign
Milo barely slept.
He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, replaying everything in his head. Daniel disappearing. The eerie phone call. The way his eyes had changed.
None of it made sense.
At some point, exhaustion took over, and Milo drifted into an uneasy sleep.
And that’s when the dreams started.
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He was standing in the middle of the street.
Fog rolled in thick waves, swallowing the buildings. The streetlights flickered, buzzing like dying flies. In the distance, something moved.
A shape. No, multiple shapes.
Milo squinted, trying to see through the fog.
And then they turned.
Hundreds of eyes locked onto him. Faces twisted in silent screams, their mouths moving soundlessly. Their bodies flickered, glitching in and out of existence like a corrupted video.
And then, as one, they reached for him.
A whisper curled through the air.
"It’s coming."
Milo jolted awake, gasping for breath. His sheets were damp with sweat, his heart hammering. The whisper still rang in his ears.
His phone buzzed.
He flinched, then grabbed it from the nightstand. A message from Daniel.
Daniel: “You up?” 2:13 AM
Milo’s breath caught.
2:13 AM. At the same time, Daniel had disappeared. At the same time, the phone call came.
His fingers hesitated over the keyboard. Then he typed:
“Yeah. You okay?”
Three dots appeared. Then they disappeared. Then they appeared again.
Daniel: “Meet me at the diner.”
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2:26 AM – The Diner
The streets were dead quiet. The neon "OPEN 24/7" sign flickered as Milo stepped inside. The place was mostly empty, save for a lone waitress behind the counter and an old man nursing a cup of coffee in the corner.
Daniel was already sitting in a booth, staring out the window.
Milo slid into the seat across from him. “What’s up?”
Daniel didn’t look at him right away. His fingers drummed lightly against the table. “I can’t sleep.”
Milo studied him carefully. His skin looked paler than before. The dark markings on his arms were mostly hidden under his sleeves, but Milo swore he saw them peeking out near his wrists.
“What’s on your mind?” Milo asked.
Daniel finally turned to face him. His expression was unreadable. “Milo… do you believe in ghosts?”
Milo hesitated. “Why?”
Daniel let out a slow breath, then pulled up his sleeve.
Milo’s stomach dropped.
The markings were spreading.
They twisted up Daniel’s forearm, curling into eerie, ancient symbols. They pulsed faintly, as if alive.
“Dude,” Milo breathed, “you need to see a doctor.”
Daniel gave a hollow laugh. “A doctor? "You think a doctor can fix this?” He shook his head. “Something happened to me, Milo. When I was gone—I think I saw something.”
Milo stiffened. “What do you mean?”
Daniel’s fingers traced the markings. His voice dropped lower.
“I remember standing in a place that wasn’t real.”
A chill ran down Milo’s spine. “What?”
“It felt… wrong. Like a dream, but not. There were figures in the distance, moving through the fog. And then—” Daniel’s hand tightened into a fist. “Something whispered my name. And the next thing I knew, I was back in my apartment.”
Milo swallowed hard. His own dream flashed in his mind.
The fog. The figures. The whisper.
Before he could say anything, the waitress arrived with their coffee. She set the mugs down with a polite smile. But when her eyes landed on Daniel’s arm,her face went pale.
She took a step back.
Milo frowned. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she whispered, almost to herself, “Where did you get those marks?”
Daniel’s expression darkened. “I don’t know.”
The waitress didn’t take her eyes off his arm. Then, in a hushed voice, she said:
"My grandmother had those.
Before she disappeared for three days.
She was never the same after that.”
Silence.
Milo’s pulse pounded in his ears. Daniel’s jaw tightened.
The waitress swallowed. “I don’t know what happened to you, but if you see them,” she hesitated, eyes darting toward the dark street outside, “—don’t let them take you again.”
A gust of wind rattled the diner’s windows.
Daniel exhaled shakily and rolled his sleeve back down. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Too late for that.”
Milo opened his mouth to say what he didn’t know—but before he could, something outside caught his eye.
A figure stood on the sidewalk across the street.
Still. Watching.
Its face was obscured by shadow, but Milo could feel it staring.
He blinked—
And it was gone.
A cold shiver crawled down his spine.
Whatever was happening to Daniel… it wasn’t over.
It was only getting started.
- Writer
