When I opened my eyes, my chest heaved like I had surfaced from drowning. My body ached, my mind foggy. The room swam in and out of focus.I blinked toward the clock on the wall; it was 1:30 a.m. We had been out for hours.
Joel groaned, clutching his head, his voice raspy. "What just… happened? Ohhh, that container, what the fuck was that? Did we dream it?" His laughter was forced, his panic barely hidden.
James staggered upright, pacing the room. His face was pale, his eyes wide, the words spilling out of him in a frantic rush. "What the fuck keeps happening, man? First you guys crashed , and beyond all reason the blood-stained SUV drives off, then this… weird container made us all unconscious. What was that? Codes flying into our heads, and we just blacked out? This whole thing is absurd!"
I pressed my palms against my temples, my voice trembling. "Ahhhh, fuck… this can't be real."
Vanzz shook his head, trying to ground them. "Shit… whatever, man. It's insane, but maybe it was just a shared lucid dream. Who knows. Doesn't matter. Time's running out. We need to do something about Joel's car before morning, or we're screwed."
Joel muttered, still half-delirious. "For real, man. My brother's gonna kill me…"
My voice cracked, guilt choking every word. "I can't stop thinking about them. The people in that car… they're gone."
James snapped his head toward him. "Forget about who? Ducce, are you alright? Did you hit your head?"
Vanzz forced a nervous laugh. "Yeah… maybe he did. Ducce, you need rest.
James groaning and baffled "are we just gonna pretend like all of this is normal ?? Like…. Seriously think about it, the fucking magical box that sprouted a bright flash sending some magical letters into our head making us unconscious, how can this even be possible?? This is beyond any explanation, and the car crash how did they drive off when Joel's car is severely damaged, if anything they should be in a worst situation cause their front hit your rear, tell me what actually happened someone
We all scratched our heads, avoiding James's eyes. I wanted to tell him the truth, but this wasn't the moment to deliver something that would break him.
Just as the room went silent, with fear, regret, exhaustion and confusion. Vanzz whispered, "did you guys hear that"? Shhh listen. Heavy footsteps echoed outside, crunching against gravel, growing closer. Everyone froze, our hearts hammering in sync. "hide" Joel whispered, we each managed to find a hiding spot.
The door creaked. A tall figure stepped inside, his phone's flashlight cutting through the gloom. His voice was deep, commanding. "Is anyone here? I know you're here. I see the cars outside. Come out, I can help."
My blood ran cold. My thoughts spiraled. Shit. He saw Joel's car. If word spreads about the crashed SUV, about the victims from the crash, it all points back to us. A witness means prison. I can't do it. I won't. I want to disappear, i don't want to rot behind bars, I wish it all ends, please just go away.
The man's light swept across the room. No one moved. Breath held. Then, without warning, he turned and walked away. His footsteps faded into the night. Moments later, the low rumble of an engine carried him off.
Silence returned, heavier than before.
Vanzz exhaled sharply. "What the fuck was that? If he noticed Joel's car, we're in deep trouble. But… I don't know. Something tells me he won't be a problem." He glanced toward the others. "Still, we need to hide the car. Maybe even repair it."
Joel's voice cracked. "Who the hell was that? Why did he just leave? None of this makes sense. And my car, if we don't fix it, I'm screwed."
James grabs his head, his composure shattering. "This is insane! It's one thing after another. I can't take this anymore. I need to go. You guys figure it out."
Panic gripped me instantly. My voice cracked, desperate. "No, no, no, don't leave us, James! We need the truck!"
"Please," Vanzz begged, a tone so uncharacteristic it startled even him. "Please understand the gravity of the situation,James"
For the first time that night, fear became contagious. Joel collapsed into chaos, muttering curses, pacing frantically. The group unraveled all at once, shouting over each other, trembling, panicking like cornered animals. Only minutes before, we had endured unspeakable horrors with eerie calm. Now, one thread of pressure was enough to unravel us all.
Then Vanzz, breathing hard, forced himself upright. "Listen. We'll tell our parents we're going to a funeral out of town. That buys us three days. During that time, we fix the car. We hide it. "
James shook his head sharply. "No way. Three days won't fix this. We're just delaying the inevitable. We better face it now, we need to stop dragging this and making it worse for God's sake"
Joel stepped in, voice cracking with desperation. "James, you can't just leave us alone here. Even if we can't fix it in three days… we'll figure something out. We always do."
I looked at James, his eyes hollow, yet burning with need. "Listen… there's more to this crash. We can't let anyone know. Please."
For a moment, James locked eyes with me. The silence stretched, words unspoken but heavy. Then, as if something shifted inside him, James sighed. "Ugh… whatever, man. Alright."
It was strange. The compliance felt unnatural, almost too easy, like something invisible had pushed James into agreement.
Vanzz's shoulders eased, a faint smile breaking through. "It's gonna work out. Somehow. I can feel it."
Joel laughed weakly. "That's the spirit, man. We can't abandon each other now. That's what friends are for, right?"
I swallowed, whispering, "Thanks, guys. I hope it all works out…"
James chuckled suddenly, shaking his head. "Why is Joel acting like he's doing us a favor, while Ducce's the one thanking us for complying? You're such a dummy, Ducce."
Nervous laughter broke out, fragile but real.
Vanzz smirked. "Come on, Ducce was driving."
"Yeah," James admitted, still uneasy. "But… I don't know. All your reactions feel off."
Joel shrugged. "Maybe that magical shit made us dumber."
Vanzz chuckled. "Good point."
The laughter faded, leaving an eerie quiet. A cold midnight breeze slipped through the cracks of the lodge, carrying with it a shiver none of us could shake.
Morning light crept into the room like an intruder, pale and unwelcome. We boys stirred one by one, groggy from the little sleep they'd managed. Our phones lit up endlessly, missed calls, angry texts, voicemails from worried parents. Each screen carried its own kind of interrogation.
Joel was the first to break the silence, his voice calm but edged with calculation. Vanzz had already pieced together a story, for us. A funeral. A dead friend who lived far away. It was a lie that carried just enough grief to seem plausible, and he instructed us to repeat it.
His parents hesitated but agreed after hearing the practiced weight in his tone. My parents, on the other hand, were suspicious. They knew my habits, my history of skipping school. My voices carried sharp edges when i explained.
They didn't buy it, but they stopped arguing, and in that silence i heard their reluctant consent. Vanzz parents hardly asked, too laid back to pry. James wasn't as fortunate; his parents erupted in fury, threatening once again to sell his gaming PC if he didn't return.
The threat cut him deeply, more than their anger itself. It wasn't until his sister told him their grandparents had arrived, gifts in hand, softening the mood, that James exhaled. For reasons beyond logic, fortune bent toward him. He remembered the last time: his console had been sold without warning. He wasn't ready to risk that again.
Vanzz's eyes narrowed. He wasn't thinking of parents or school anymore. His voice was low, steady.
"My gut tells me we need money. Ask around, family, relatives, whoever you can. Gather what you can."
I felt the weight of the words settle. Against my better judgment, i nodded. "I'll trust your gut again."
We obeyed. Calls were made, stories spun, and by the end of the day, they had scraped together $700. It wasn't enough. The car's repair would cost $7,000, far beyond their reach. Joel's mind moved toward darker corners. He spoke carefully, almost like he was reciting something inevitable. Stealing. A plan no one wanted to voice but all had sensed looming.
We all hesitated. Vanzz resisted at first but folded under the gravity of the situation. I followed too, my stomach sinking at the thought. James was the last wall standing, his refusal sharp and instinctive. But then I spoke. I didn't plead; I pressed. And when James's shoulders dropped, when his words softened, I felt it.
That strange sensation again. A flicker in my brain, like a signal. As if my will had pressed itself into James's mind. I remembered how Joel complied unexpectedly the last time. I remembered how my persuasion landed heavier than it should have. Now it is happening again.
We all agreed, voices tight with hesitation, Joel a mix of nerves and excitement. "Well then… it's a done deal. Let's get ready for the journey," he said, forcing a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.
We towed Joel's car carefully, leaving it in a small clearing deep in the forest, shadows swallowing the twisted metal. The muddy path leading in was narrow and uneven, tires slipping slightly as we maneuvered. Every bump and skid sent my stomach lurching.
Once it was done, we drove back, the forest gradually giving way to the faint glow of the next town. The road stretched ahead, dark and empty, and the silence between us was heavy
But curiosity got the better of me. I tested my assumption on Vanzz.
"Can you give me your last cigarette?"
Vanzz's face twisted, annoyed. "This is the last one I got, and there's no store nearby. Forget it."
"Look at me, Vanzz."
Vanzz turned reluctantly, irritation in his eyes.
"Now pass me the cigarette."
There was a pause, then Vanzz reached for his pocket. For a heartbeat, I believed it was real. That I held some invisible power. But then Vanzz smirked, pulled the cigarette out, and lit it himself. Smoke curled around his grin.
"Hah. Dumbass. You really thought I'd give it to you?"
I cursed at him, face burning. The others laughed. The moment collapsed. Maybe it was nothing after all. A trick of coincidence. Still, something inside me refused to let go. The container we found, that mystery, we hadn't imagined that.
By nightfall we were in the next town. A small hotel, a cramped room, the air thick with unspoken dread. But Joel, restless, already plotted. At midnight we drove around, the quiet streets empty, searching for opportunity. That's when we saw it. A mansion on the edge of town. Isolated. Too big for one family. No fences, no cameras, only a small glow from the upper floor.
We surveyed. An old woman lived there. With a child. That was all.
Vanzz's voice cracked first. "This isn't right, no? What are we even doing? What if someone did this to our grandparents?"
They turned. The picture of it, the fragility of an old woman, the innocence of a child. It wasn't survival anymore; it was cruelty. My words stumbled out, heavy with unease. "Yeah… what if we scare her? Or worse… what if they catch us, what are we gonna do then? Kill them?"
James snapped. "This is nuts. I'm not doing this. I feel bad even standing here."
But Joel was resolute. This is the only way out, he claimed. Rich people, he argued, wouldn't miss a few thousand dollars. The rest of us wavered. Vanzz bent first, guilt pushing him toward loyalty. I followed, helpless under the current. James resisted but eventually relented too, pulled into our orbit despite his protests.
That night, dressed in black, hoods pulled tight, masks covering our faces, we moved through the garden of the mansion. The grass damp under our shoes, the silence almost unbearable.
James whispered, almost in disbelief, "The window's already broken. Like someone left it for us."
Joel's voice trembled. "Shit… luck's on our side."
Inside, the air was thick with dust and stillness. We crept upstairs, careful, hearts hammering. My chest felt like it might split apart.
Then the sound of a door unlocking froze them all. The child. He stood there, eyes wide. For a terrifying second, I swore the boy would scream. We locked eyes and I prayed to myself that he forgets what he sees and walk away in silence. But then, against all sense, the boy did exactly that, he turned away. Quietly, he walked down the stairs, as if he'd seen nothing. My blood ran cold. Something was happening here that none of us understood.
But there was no time to think. We filled bags with valuables, hands trembling. It wasn't enough. Our eyes fell on the safe. Heavy. Locked. We searched frantically but found no key.
A loud shattering sound that broke everything. A vase shattering against the floor. Vanzz's clumsy hands.
The old woman stirred. Her eyes opened, landing on us. Her scream ripped through the house.
"Thieves! Thieves! Oh Lord, someone help!"
Panic ignited. Vanzz shouted, "Shit! We gotta run!"
But I snapped. My hands moved before my thoughts did. I grabbed the blanket, pressed it over her mouth. "Stop, please stop, please! Don't scream! We're in trouble, we don't want to hurt you!Just stop!" my words tumbled out, desperate, breaking. But she thrashed, muffled cries leaking through.
Vanzz screamed at me. "What the fuck are you doing, Ducce? You'll kill her!"
Joel shouted too, but his hands joined in, pressing harder, the two of us locked in a frenzy.
And then silence.
Her body stilled.
The room was deathly quiet.
Vanzz collapsed to his knees, trembling, eyes wide in horror. "Is… is she… dead?"
My hands shook uncontrollably. My chest heaved as reality sank in. "No… no no no no… I didn't… I didn't mean…" I backed away, eyes wild, muttering apologies to no one and everyone. I crawled under the bed, curling into myself, sobbing, praying it wasn't real.
Joel sat down hard on the floor, hands on his head, his mask hanging loose. His breath was ragged. "It's all my fault… all of it. I'm so sorry…"
Vanzz prayed out loud, tears spilling, begging for forgiveness. James was already gone, fled into the night.
The room stank of sweat, fear, and the suffocating weight of what we had done. Ducce's mind spun, caught between disbelief and guilt, unable to escape the truth: they had crossed a line there was no returning from.
Vanzz's voice cracked through the suffocating silence.
"Stand up. We need to get out of here. Search for the key… DIDN'T WE JUST KILL A PERSON TO SAVE OUR OWN SKIN? NOW STICK BY IT!"
The words hit me like cold water, but this body refused to move. I sat frozen, every muscle locked, as though chained to the floor by the weight of what we had done. My breaths came shallow and uneven, my chest tightening with each passing second.
Joel staggered to his feet, face pale, lips trembling. His hands shook as he began pulling drawers, opening cabinets, moving with the desperation of someone trying to outrun the collapse of his own mind. Vanzz, still trembling but sharper than the rest, spotted a small wooden case under the dresser. His fingers fumbled, finally closing on a key. He jammed it into the safe, turned it, and with a dull metallic click, the door swung open.
Inside, stacks of bundled cash, packed so tight it almost looked unreal. Seven hundred thousand dollars. For a moment, none of them breathed. The sight was obscene, the kind of money that could fix everything and destroy them at the same time.
Joel grabbed fistfuls, counting in panic, his eyes darting like a starving animal. He stuffed fifty thousand into the bag. Then, almost without hesitation, he slid an extra ten thousand into a hidden pocket of his backpack, keeping it away from the others.
Vanzz came back to me, i was still slumped near the bed, staring at the lifeless form under the sheets. My lips moved, but no sound came out. My entire body trembled, my mind replaying the muffled screams, the struggle, the suffocation. I couldn't look away.
"Come on," Vanzz muttered, his voice raw, breaking. He and Joel pulled me up by the arms, half-dragging, half-leading me out of the room. My legs barely worked, my steps heavy, my shoes slipping on the polished floor. The hallway stretched endlessly, shadows flickering as if the house itself was watching us.
We stepped out into the garden. The night air slapped against our skin. An eerie wind swept past, carrying with it the smell of wet earth and distant pine. Then, as if mocking us, rain began to fall. Cold drops pelted our faces, our clothes quickly soaking through. None of us spoke.
By the time we reached the truck, James was there, sitting stiffly in the driver's seat, his face pale with dread, eyes hollow as if he had already seen too much without needing to ask. He looked at us, then at the bags, then at their expressions. His lips parted, but no words came. He didn't need to ask. The silence between us was enough.
We piled in. Joel drove, his knuckles white around the wheel, his eyes fixed straight ahead. Nobody said a word. The rain pattered against the windshield, masking the sound of our ragged breathing. Every mile back to the hotel stretched like a lifetime.
When we arrived, we entered the room wordlessly. No one touched the food left from earlier. No one undressed. We each lay down, eyes open, staring at the ceiling, haunted by the scream of the old woman, the weight of her small body thrashing under the blanket, and the child who had seen us in the hallway.
Morning came, gray and unkind. None of us spoke more than a few practical words, only what was needed to function. Communication became mechanical, stripped of warmth. We drove out, returning to the clearing where Joel's broken car had been hidden.
The mud clung to our shoes as we hitched it to the truck, dragging it along the dirt road. To avoid suspicion, we bypassed the closest town and pushed further, another town over, where no one would recognize us.
At the repair shop, we paid extra, too much, for the car to be fixed within the month. It was reckless, but we didn't care. All we wanted was for the car to disappear from sight, to erase one piece of evidence from the trail of blood behind us.
The excuse was simple. Joel's car had broken down far away, and we had no choice but to leave it there for repair. Clean, simple, believable. By Friday night, we had returned to the same lodging.
It was late, 11 p.m. The air inside was stale, the silence heavy.
"I still… can't… believe I…" My voice cracked, my throat dry, the words barely forming. "I just…"
"Forget it," Vanzz muttered, not meeting my eyes. "What's done is done."
James sat stiffly in the corner, his voice shaking. "You know… let's pretend none of this ever happened. We're going back home."
Joel only nodded, slow and silent.
That night, none of us slept. The forest pressed against the lodging walls, the wind moaning through the cracks, carrying with it the echoes of the old woman's scream. I lay with my eyes wide open, trembling, each sound dragging me back into the moment.
I could still see her face, contorted in terror, still feel the struggle in my hands, still hear the silence when her breath stopped. And the boy, the child wandering into the hall, my mind wouldn't let me forget that either, those terrible memories respark the suppressed memory of the decapitated deceased crashed victim, one of them was headless and the other one was twisted in such a way i couldn't figure out which part of the body was visible, those images haunted me all night, I could only sleep for a moment in that timeframe I had a nightmare relating to the events.
Morning finally came, gray and cruel. We went back to our houses, but nothing was the same. The weekend passed in silence. No calls. No messages. Just isolation. Monday arrived, and none of us went to school. Tuesday, James and Vanzz forced, themselves back, hollow-eyed, walking like ghosts.
Me and Joel didn't show up. By Wednesday, we all crossed paths again, but something about us was broken. Our eyes were sunken, their voices drained. We looked like boys who had gone to war, and left pieces of ourselves behind.