followed by one word
1141 Words
The house didn’t sound empty anymore.
It sounded…
full.
Jeheak stared at the open doorway.
Darkness filled it completely, like the inside of the house had been hollowed out and replaced with something deeper.
Something alive.
Another BANG echoed from inside.
Then another.
Different walls.
Different places.
“…yeah, I’m good out here,” Jay said, taking a step back. “We tried. We really did. Ten outta ten effort.”
Kat didn’t move.
“We can’t leave him.”
Jay pointed at the house. “That thing in there? That’s not him anymore!”
Jenni stepped forward. “You heard him. He said ‘help.’”
Maria crossed her arms, nervous but firm. “If there’s even a chance it’s still Kaneki, we’re not leaving.”
Jewels nodded. “We started this together.”
Jay looked around at all of them.
Then sighed.
“…man, I hate being in a loyal friend group.”
For a second—
they all smiled.
Just a little.
Then Jeheak looked down at the notebook.
“…it’s getting stronger.”
The page was filling faster now.
Words appearing without stopping.
“They came back.”
“Of course they did.”
“They always do.”
“…it knows us,” Kat said quietly.
“It’s BEEN knowing us,” Jay replied. “It’s literally writing our lives like a group chat.”
Jeheak flipped the page.
More writing.
More than before.
“Five stand together.”
“One is lost.”
“One is changing.”
Everyone went quiet.
“…what does that mean?” Jewels asked.
No one answered.
Because slowly…
All eyes turned to Jenni.
“…what?” she said, backing up slightly.
The notebook wrote again.
“She hears it clearer now.”
Jenni froze.
“No,” she whispered. “No, I’m fine.”
“Jenni…” Maria said softly.
“I said I’m fine!”
The wind picked up suddenly.
Cold.
Sharp.
And then—
Jenni grabbed her head.
“…it’s loud,” she said, voice shaking.
Kat rushed to her. “What is?”
Jenni’s eyes darted around.
Like she was hearing something no one else could.
“…me.”
Silence.
Jay blinked. “…I’m sorry—WHAT?”
Jenni’s voice dropped.
Almost not hers anymore.
“…it sounds like me.”
The notebook shook in Jeheak’s hands.
“She listens.”
“No—” Jeheak said, flipping the page. “No, we’re not doing that.”
He grabbed the pen.
Fast.
“Jenni is still herself.”
The wind stopped.
Instantly.
Jenni gasped.
Dropping to her knees.
“…it went quiet,” she said, breathing hard.
Kat helped her up. “Stay with us.”
Jeheak stared at what he wrote.
“…it worked.”
“…barely,” Maria added, pointing.
The words on the page were glitching.
Flickering.
Like the story didn’t agree.
Inside the house—
Something laughed.
Low.
Broken.
Jay slowly turned. “…yeah I really don’t like that.”
Then—
Footsteps.
Multiple.
Coming from inside.
“…that’s not just Kaneki,” Jewels said.
The darkness in the doorway shifted.
Then shapes started forming.
Tall.
Crooked.
Wrong.
Shadows—
but thicker now.
Closer to real.
“Okay yeah—NEW PLAN,” Jay said quickly. “We run again. Running is good. I vote running.”
“No,” Jeheak said.
Everyone looked at him.
“We don’t just run this time.”
He flipped to a blank page.
“…we write together.”
Kat stepped closer. “…you can do that?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I think… it’s not just my story.”
Maria stepped in. “Then move.”
She took the pen.
Paused.
Then wrote—
“We are not alone.”
The ground beneath them… shifted.
Not breaking—
but changing.
A low vibration spread through the air.
“…yo,” Jay said slowly. “I felt that.”
Jewels grabbed the pen next.
Hands shaking.
“We protect each other.”
A faint glow flickered around them.
Soft.
Barely there—
but real.
Jenni hesitated.
Then took the pen.
“…I’m not listening to it anymore.”
She wrote—
“Its voice is not mine.”
The darkness in the doorway shrieked.
Actually shrieked.
High-pitched.
Angry.
“OKAY THAT WORKED—KEEP GOING—!” Jay shouted.
Kat grabbed the pen next.
Smirking just a little.
“We fight back.”
The glow around them grew stronger.
The shadows at the doorway stepped back.
Just a little.
Jay stared.
“…oh snap… we’re kinda winning.”
“…don’t jinx it,” Maria said.
Jeheak took the pen last.
Everything went quiet again.
Even the monsters paused.
Waiting.
Jeheak looked at his friends.
All of them.
Standing together.
Scared—
but still here.
Then he wrote—
“Kaneki is still inside.”
The moment the ink hit the page—
The tallest shadow froze.
Then—
It screamed.
Not angry this time.
Pain.
Real pain.
“KANKEI!” Jenni shouted.
The shadow glitched violently.
Splitting.
Reforming.
Like two things were fighting for control.
Jay stepped back. “Yeah nah, that’s definitely him in there fighting demons—literally.”
The notebook trembled.
Hard.
New words forced themselves onto the page—
OVER Jeheak’s writing.
“HE BELONGS TO US.”
The glow around them flickered.
The shadows surged forward.
Fast.
“AGAIN—WRITE AGAIN—!” Kat yelled.
Jeheak tried—
but the pen wouldn’t move.
“…it’s blocking me!”
The monsters were almost at the doorway now.
Closer.
Faster.
Jenni stepped forward.
“Give it to me.”
“No—” Jeheak said. “It’s fighting back too hard—”
“I know.”
She grabbed the pen anyway.
Closed her eyes.
The whispers came back instantly.
Louder.
Angrier.
But this time—
She didn’t run.
“…you’re not me,” she said quietly.
Then she wrote—
“We don’t belong to you.”
Everything exploded into noise.
The house shook.
The shadows screamed.
The air cracked like glass.
And for one second—
Everything stopped.
Completely.
Then—
The tallest shadow collapsed inward.
Falling.
Breaking apart.
And in the middle of it—
Kaneki dropped to the ground.
Not moving.
“…we did it,” Jewels whispered.
Nobody celebrated.
Not yet.
Because the notebook…
was still writing.
Slower now.
More careful.
“They think it’s over.”
Jay stared at it.
“…it’s not over, is it?”
Jeheak shook his head slowly.
“…not even close.”
The page turned by itself.
A new title forming at the top.
“Chapter 2: What They Become”
And underneath it—
Six names.
Jeheak.
Kaneki.
Jewels.
Jenni.
Kat.
Maria.
Jay.
All of them.
Followed by one word.
“Monsters.”
- Writer
