Nexus

IT'S COMING TO GET YOU

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Julian’s heart hammered in his chest as Carmella’s words echoed in his mind.

Something is coming for you. She had said it with such certainty, as if she already knew what he was up against.

But what did that mean?

What was coming for him?

And why her?

He turned back to the quad, the sound of students laughing, chatting, and moving around him feeling so distant, like he was suddenly separated by a thick glass wall. His mind was racing.

Could she be telling the truth?

Was it possible that the deaths he experienced each night weren’t just a product of his tortured subconscious?

Julian tried to shake the thought from his head, but it clung to him like the weight of the nightmare itself.

“Julian, hey!” A voice broke through his fog of confusion.

He turned to see his best friend, Aaron, jogging toward him, his face scrunched in concern.

“You okay, man? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Julian blinked, still reeling from the encounter.

“I… I think I did,”

he muttered under his breath.

Aaron raised an eyebrow, glancing over his shoulder as if checking for some spectral presence.

“Hah, very funny. Seriously though, you’ve been off all morning. You look like you didn’t sleep last night.”

Julian gave a tight smile, his lips feeling foreign on his face. “You don’t know the half of it.”

Aaron eyed him for a long moment, sensing that something deeper was going on. But after a second, he dropped it, clapping Julian on the back.

“Alright, enough of the creepy talk. You coming to class? Or are we just gonna stand here like zombies?”

Julian hesitated, his gaze flickering back to the place where Camella had stood moments before.

But she was gone. The quad, once bustling with life, seemed empty now.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” Julian muttered. “I think I need some air.”

Aaron frowned but nodded. “You sure? I can walk with you, man.”

“No, it’s fine. I just… need some space,” Julian replied, forcing a casual tone.

Aaron gave him one last look before shrugging and heading toward the lecture hall. Julian watched him go, then slowly made his way toward the edge of campus, his feet carrying him without thought.

His mind was far too tangled with the mystery of Camella and the haunting images of his recurring deaths to focus on anything else.

By the time he reached the far side of the campus, where the tall trees lined the edge of the woods, the air had turned cooler.

The sky overhead was beginning to darken, the clouds shifting from white to bruised purple. He sat down on a bench, burying his face in his hands, and let the chill seep into his bones.

What the hell is happening to me?

He could still feel the phantom aches from his most recent death.

The searing pain from a bullet tearing through his chest had felt so real—too real.

He could still taste the metallic sting of blood in his mouth, hear the thudding of his heart slowing with each second, the weight of the world pressing down on him. Even now, the ache hadn’t faded completely.

“Julian.”

The voice came from behind him, low and steady.

He spun around so fast he nearly tripped over the bench. There she was again—Carmella, standing just outside the treeline, her black jacket fluttering in the breeze. Her pale eyes were fixed on him, her gaze sharp and unwavering.

“Jesus,” Julian muttered, standing up quickly. “You—how did you—?”

“I told you I was looking for you,” she interrupted, her voice a soft but firm cadence, like she was used to people being slow to catch up.

“You can’t escape this, Julian. It’s not just in your dreams. You’re being hunted.”

The weight of her words hit him like a punch to the gut.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He felt his pulse quicken, the familiar, suffocating panic clawing at him.

“I… I can’t just keep dying over and over again. There has to be an end to this nightmare.”

“There is,” she said, taking a step closer, her gaze never leaving his.

“But you need to understand what’s happening first. It’s not just random. You are the key. That’s why it’s happening to you. And that’s why they’re coming.”

“They?” Julian’s voice was hoarse, the question barely escaping his throat. “Who’s coming?”

Carmella’s lips pressed into a thin line, a shadow crossing her face.

“I can’t tell you everything yet. But you need to trust me. You’ve been in a battle you didn’t even know about. A battle between the living and the dead.”

Julian swallowed hard, his thoughts spinning.

“The dead?” His voice cracked on the word.

“I don’t… I don’t understand.”

“The nightmares… they’re not just dreams. They’re glimpses into the death that awaits you. Every time you die in your sleep, you cross over for a moment. But the line between life and death isn’t as clear as you think. Something—someone—has been pulling you closer to the other side.”

She paused, her expression grave. “And whatever it is, it’s getting stronger.”

Julian’s chest tightened, his breath shallow. He took a step back, his mind reeling with the impossible reality she was describing.

“You—are you saying I’m—”

“Dying?” Carmella finished for him.

“Yes. Every night, you die. But you come back. For now.”

“And you’re supposed to help me?”

Julian laughed bitterly, but there was no humor in it.

“Why should I trust you? You just show up out of nowhere, knowing everything about my dreams—my deaths—and expect me to believe you?”

Carmella didn’t flinch. Her gaze remained steady, and for a moment, Julian could’ve sworn she was looking past him, seeing something far beyond this moment.

“Because I know what’s hunting you, Julian. And because if you don’t do something about it now, it will claim you. For good.”

There was a heavy silence between them, and for the first time in his life, Julian felt completely out of control.

The air around him felt thick with unspoken truths, and he couldn’t decide if he was scared or desperate for answers.

“Help me, then,” he whispered, his voice barely audible.

Carmella nodded slowly, her eyes flickering with something like pity.

“I will. But you have to be ready. What you’re about to learn… It’s going to change everything.”

Julian swallowed hard, his throat dry. “Change what?”

Carmella stepped closer, her voice lowering. “Your past. Your understanding of death. Even your idea of who you are.” She paused. “Especially that.”

A sharp wind blew between them, rustling the leaves and sending a shiver up Julian’s spine. He felt like he was standing at the edge of something vast and unknowable, and one wrong move could send him plummeting.

“I don’t understand,” he said, almost to himself. “Why me? Why am I the one being hunted?”

“Because you were never supposed to live past that first death,” Carmella said, and her words struck like lightning.

“Something brought you back. Something unnatural. And now… something else wants to undo that mistake.”

Julian stared at her, the world tilting slightly. “So I cheated death.”

“You didn’t,” she said quietly.

"But someone did. And death doesn’t like being cheated.”

He felt like the ground beneath him was crumbling. But even through the fear, he could feel it—somewhere deep inside, a thread pulling taut, like part of him had known this all along.

“What do I have to do?” he asked.

Carmella held out her hand again.

"As of now, Nothing."

"T-then--"

"Shhhhh"

Carmella cut him off and made a shush gesture, winking at him. Before he could react, She disappear.

Julian was shock and turn around to look for her but couldn't find her. It was like she was never there in the first place.