The world was too quiet.
Not peaceful-hollow.
Like sound had packed its bags and left without saying goodbye.
I was sitting on something soft. Grass? A rug? My legs were numb. My fingers twitched. The warmth of Dreck's arms around me was the only thing that felt real.
"It's over," he said. But his voice was tight, like he didn't believe it either.
" It's not over," I said vaguely.
" What" Dreck looked down to me
" I didn't kill it. Something else did. It begged, and I knew it wasn't me it was afraid of. It was something else. It wasn't me who killed it," I said while fading away with my thoughts.
The glowing symbols on my arms hadn't faded. They pulsed with something ancient. Something alive. A tattoo just like the one Dreck has on his neck. But mine has a different symbol.
"Taty?"
I looked up.
Dreck was staring past me. His face had gone pale.
I turned.
And there it was.
Not the shadow. Not a monster.
A door.
Not the one I'd tried so hard to reach-but a different one. Older. Taller. Covered in the same symbols that marked my skin.
It hadn't been there a moment ago.
And now, it's open.
I looked at the door. And then-screams.
Not just one. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Voices overlapping, clashing, twisting into one massive noise-ball that slammed into my brain like a wrecking ball.
My skull felt like it was cracking open. I slammed my hands over my ears, desperate to block it out-but it didn't help. The sound wasn't coming from the door.
It was coming from inside me.
"Taty, what's wrong?" Dreck asked, his eyes flicking between me and the door.
"The screams... I can't..."
My voice broke as I buried my head in his chest.
"What screams, Taty?"
"Make it stop. Please. Make it stop!"
"Stop what?"
"They're calling me," I whispered, trembling. "They're asking me to look. To open my eyes."
And then the voices roared.
Louder.
Louder.
LOUDER.
I couldn't take it.
My ears began to bleed. Blood ran from my nose. My whole body shook as I let out a scream-pure, broken-and everything went white.
Then-darkness.
The last thing I heard was the door slamming shut.
***************************************************************************
When I woke up, everything was silent.
Not the kind of silence you get at night. Not peace.
It was the silence of nothingness.
I opened my eyes to a gray sky with no sun. A field of ash stretched endlessly around me. No trees. No ground. Just powder beneath my hands, like the world had been burned and left to forget itself.
"Hello?" I croaked. My throat was raw. My voice barely a whisper.
A shadow flickered at the corner of my vision. I spun, heart lurching.
"Not again," I whispered. "No, please, no."
But it wasn't the shadow from before.
It was... people.
Dozens. Hundreds. Standing silently in the ash. Their eyes were glowing-violet like his, but softer. Sadder.
They didn't move. Didn't blink. Just stared at me like I was the last thing left in the world.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
And then, one voice answered. All of them spoke at once-but it was one voice.
"You opened the gate. We have been waiting, Tafukt."
My skin chilled.
"For what?"
"For the fire to return. For you."
I shook my head. "No... I didn't mean to-"
"You were born from light. Raised in shadow. You carry the key. Free us"
"What key?"
"FREE US"
the ash began to rise, swirling around me. The people-if they were people-began to dissolve, fading into smoke and dust.
"Awaken, Tafukt. Before it's too late. Open your eyes"
I gasped.
And opened my eyes-really opened them-to the sound of machines beeping and Dreck's voice shouting, "She's waking up!"
I was in a bed. In a room. A real one this time.
But the glowing letters were still on my arms.
And something deep inside me whispered: The door is still open.
"Taty?"
My mom's voice cracked as she leaned over me.
"Oh thank God-you're awake."
"What...?" My voice came out dry and weak. I tried to sit up, but pain shot through my body like lightning.
"Don't move," she said, tucking my hair behind my ear. "You passed out... in the school changing room. Bled from your ears and nose. We didn't know what was happening."
"We still don't," my dad said, from the foot of the bed. His voice was tight, Controlled, Angry. but not in the way that meant he didn't care. Angry in the way that meant he cared too much.
"I heard the P.E. teacher made you do ten push-ups you couldn't even finish. Was that why you passed out? Because if so-I swear to God, I'll sue the entire damn school."
"Baba.." I croaked. "It wasn't the push-ups."
"Then what was it, Tafukt?" he snapped. "Do you think this is funny? Hospitals, doctors, brain scans-and no answers? Do you know what this is going to cost us?"
"She almost died, Hakim," my mom cut in, clutching my hand. "And you're worried about the bill?"
"I'm worried about everything!" he shouted. "We don't have money for this. And now this-this drama, again!"
"It wasn't drama, Baba!" I shouted, sitting up despite the searing pain. "I didn't fake this! I didn't want this! I don't even know what this is!"
Dreck stepped forward, raising his hands. "Maybe we all just need to-"
My dad turned on him like a storm.
"You. Out."
Dreck froze. "What?"
"Every time you're around, something goes wrong. Now she collapses and you just happen to be there? You think I don't know trouble when I see it? Out. Now."
"He saved me!" I snapped. "You weren't there, Baba. You didn't see what happened. He was the only one who stayed!"
Dreck glanced at me, then nodded and stepped back. "I'll be outside."
The door clicked shut.
My dad turned to me again, his face hard.
"What happened, Tafukt?"
I opened my mouth. Then shut it.
"I don't know," I said. "Everything went dark. That's all."
"Lying won't help you," he said. "You've always been a hard child. Always stubborn. Always somewhere else-never here."
I stared at him. Something cracked inside me.
"You think I'm hard?" My voice shook. "You wanna talk about hard, Baba? You stopped talking about Adam like he never existed. Like he was never your son. And then-then you spent a year planning to replace him."
My mom's grip on my hand tightened. "Taty, what are you talking about?"
I didn't look away from my father. "You moved cousin Adam into our house. Enrolled him in my school. You didn't even tell us. You just showed up with his bags one day and expected us to pretend it was normal."
My mom's breath hitched. "Hakim... is this true?"
His jaw clenched. "He needed a better school. Family helps family."
"Bullshit," I spat. "You picked him because he has the same name. The same face. You look at him and see the son you lost, and you think if you just shove him into Adam's old life, it'll fix everything. But it won't. I'm not him. And that kid sure as hell isn't your son."
The room went deathly still.
My dad's hands curled into fists. "Don't."
"Don't what? Don't say it out loud? You've been lying to yourself-to all of us-for a year. And now what? you are going to put him in Adam's old room? Take him to the same places, tell him the same stories? You're not helping him. You're using him. And you didn't even have the decency to warn us."
My mom's face paled. "Hakim... you didn't."
He didn't answer.
"Wait," Mom whispered suddenly. Her fingers stilled on my arm. "Hakim... look at her skin."
He turned-and froze.
I looked down.
The tattoos.
Still there.
Amazigh symbols, glowing faintly under the hospital light. Like fire beneath the skin.
My mother covered her mouth. "Taty... what is that?"
"I don't know," I whispered. "It just... appeared."
"Is it real? Is it ink?"
"No," I said. "It's... it's something else."
"You did this to yourself?" my dad asked, stunned.
"No! I didn't choose this. It just happened."
He looked at me like I was a stranger.
"I don't know who you are anymore," he said quietly.
"Funny," I whispered. "I was just thinking the same thing about you."
And then he left.