Marivel stepped into the cafe, where the lights always seemed a shade too low and the air carried the heavy scent of damp wood and secrets.
She paused at the entrance, her eyes adjusting, her nerves already prickling. Meeting Kellen here had been his idea, of course it had. He liked places that felt like traps.
She spotted an empty table near the window, its surface sticky despite the half-hearted cleaning.
As she sat, she noticed the flicker of a security camera above her, its little red light blinking steadily, watching.
Always watching.
Kellen was late. Typical.
Marivel stared at her phone, scrolling through old messages she didn't want to reread, each one a reminder of their fractured history. They had been lovers. Now, they were something worse-unfinished.
A laugh cracked through the quiet, sharp and brittle.
Across the room, Sienna, her ex-sister-in-law was perched on a barstool, her legs crossed, eyes darting like she was waiting for something to explode. Next to her sat Vincent, her latest conquest, who looked like he wanted to disappear into the cracked leather seat. His gaze was locked on his drink, hands white-knuckled around the glass. Marivel's phone vibrated in her palm. A message from her friend, Axel: "Something's wrong. Call me.
Right Now."
She didn't move. Axel was always wound tight, but lately her paranoia had taken on sharp edges. Last week, after a tense dinner, Axel had confessed in a whisper that she'd been seeing Kellen, during one of the many breaks Marivel had pretended didn't count.The bell above the door chimed, thin and hollow. Kellen appeared like a shadow stepping into flesh, taller and colder than she remembered.
His eyes swept the room and found her, and for the last time his expression softened, before hardening again.
"You look... different" he said as he slid into the seat across from her.
"Trauma ages people", she replied flatly.
A silence fell, thick and uncomfortable. He tapped his fingers against the table in a familiar rhythm that made her skin crawl now. He reached out, fingers brushing hers, and she pulled away sharply. "Cut to the point, Kellen. Why are we here?"
Before he could answer, Vincent's chair screeched as he stood abruptly, knocking his drink over. The chair was startling in the tense quiet.
He glared down at Sienna, his voice low but venomous.
"You're toxic. You don't care who you destroy." Sienna smiled lazily, her red lips curving like a blade. "Poor thing. Did you really think you mattered?" Vincent left without another word, the door slamming hard enough to rattle the windows. Sienna stayed, her eyes glittering...
Glittering with the whispers of something dangerous.
She glanced at Marivel, a slow, knowing smile passing between them -a truce or a threat, impossible to tell.
Kellen exhaled. "This place is cursed."
"No", Marivel whispered, her eyes locked on Sienna. "It's haunted. And we're the ghosts." Her phone buzzed again.
Axel: "It's your cousin. You need to know now."
A chill ran down her spine.
Her cousin, Kai. He'd been distant, secretive, and now he had sworn off any contact with him after their toxic fallout was desperate to talk.
Marivel's fingers trembled as she locked her phone.
Kellen watched her, eyes narrowed. "What's wrong?" "You wouldn't understand', she muttered, standing too fast. Her chair scraped loudly, drawing Sienna's attention again.
As Marivel moved toward the exit, Sienna slid off her stool, stopping her with a hand on her arm. Her nails dug in, sharp and cold.
"Be careful", Sienna said, voice low. "Kellen is a liar.
But worse than that he's a believer. That makes him dangerous." Marivel yanked her arm free, stepping into the night air that felt heavier than it should have. The street was empty, but every shadow seemed to pulse, alive and waiting.
She had the sinking feeling that whatever door they'd all opened, it was too late to close it now.
Marivel stood there a moment longer, knowing deep down whatever was coming next, none of them were ready for it.