Unspoken Flames
408 Words
Luna found Kairo waiting for her by the old tree behind the science building, the place where students went to skip class or share secrets. She didn’t know how she knew he’d be there. She just felt it.
“So,” he said, not looking up from his sketchbook. “Did you like the note, or should I expect detention for psychological assault?”
“It freaked me out,” she said, sitting beside him. “But not for the reason you think.”
Kairo glanced up, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“You feel it too, don’t you?”
Luna didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she leaned over and peeked at his drawing.
It wasn’t a doodle.
It was a girl standing in the middle of swirling fire and shadows. Her hair flowed like smoke, and behind her were ghostly faces, twisted in pain or longing.
She looked a lot like Luna.
“You’re... drawing me?”
“You’ve been in my dreams lately,” he said simply. “Before I even knew your name.”
Her heart skipped.
“That’s not creepy at all,” she joked, but her voice was tight.
“I dream things,” he said, closing the book. “Things that come true. Things I can’t explain. And ever since you walked into school last year... the dreams got louder.”
She swallowed hard.
“What kind of things?”
He hesitated.
“I’ve seen you standing in the fire. With eyes that don’t belong to you. You’re screaming, but your mouth doesn’t move. And there’s always a voice... saying, ‘She will return.’”
The words punched the breath out of her lungs.
“I don’t know what it means,” he added, “but... it feels like I’m supposed to protect you.”
Luna stood up suddenly, her legs shaky.
“I can’t do this.”
“Luna”
“I don’t know what’s happening to me. And now you say I’ve been in your dreams? That there’s fire and voices? I thought I was going crazy alone, but this…”
He stood too, his voice low.
“You’re not crazy. And you’re not alone.”
For a moment, the space between them crackled, not just with emotion but with energy. Something unseen shifted around them. Even the wind seemed to pause.
Then Luna looked at him. Really looked.
And she realized:
Kairo wasn’t afraid of her.
He was afraid for her.
- Writer
