Kingston didn't run.
He wanted to — every instinct in him screamed to — but his legs locked, frozen by the heavy stare coming from the shadowed figure near the church gate.
Rain pattered on the pavement.
The street was quiet.
And the stranger didn't move.
Kingston swallowed hard.
"Hey," he said, voice rough. "Did you—did you see what happened?"
Nothing.
The figure stayed half-hidden under the archway, face lost in darkness. All Kingston could make out was the outline of a boy. Tall. Still. Almost too still.
Something was wrong with the way he stood.
No shifting weight,
no breath in his chest,
no human fidgeting.
Just… stillness.
Kingston rose slowly from Bryson's body, hands shaking, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Look, man, if you need help—if you saw something—say something."
Silence.
A long, thick silence.
Then the figure finally stepped forward.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Just… deliberate.
One step.
Then another.
The streetlight flickered as he passed under it, and for a second Kingston saw his face—
Young.
Sharp.
Eyes too dark, too calm, too knowing.
Not a stranger.
Not exactly.
Kingston had seen him around school once or twice. The boy who never spoke. The boy teachers whispered about when they thought no one listened. The boy who always sat alone.
Kai. Kai Nyx.
He didn't belong here.
He barely belonged anywhere.
Kingston tried again. "Did you—was someone else here?"
Kai looked at Kingston. Really looked at him.
Then he tilted his head slightly, like he was studying a puzzle.
"You shouldn't be here tonight," Kai said.
His voice was low. Flat. Emotionless in a way that made Kingston's stomach twist.
"Why?" Kingston asked.
Kai didn't answer the question. Instead he shifted his gaze to Bryson's body, lifeless on the wet steps.
"You didn't kill him," Kai said softly. "But they'll think you did."
Kingston felt the air drain out of him.
"What? Who? Why would anyone—"
"Because it's easier," Kai said. "And because people already decided who you are."
Kingston stepped back. "Okay, what the hell are you talking about?"
Kai stepped closer.
Too close.
Kingston's pulse hammered. "Dude, back off—"
"You should leave," Kai murmured. "Right now. If you stay, everything in your life will break in ways you can't fix."
Kingston stared at him, confused and furious and terrified all at once.
"I'm not running," he said. "My friend is dead. Lucy's boyfriend. I'm not just going to leave him here."
Kai blinked. Slow. Unsettling.
"He wasn't supposed to die yet," he whispered. "Tonight changed everything."
Before Kingston could respond, headlights swept across the churchyard — a car speeding down the hill.
Kai instantly stepped backward into the shadows again, disappearing like smoke.
"Wait—what are you—Kai!"
But he was gone.
The car screeched to a stop.
Two doors slammed.
And then Lucy's voice split the night:
"Kingston? KINGSTON?!"
She ran up the path with her brother Braxton right behind her.
Her eyes found Bryson.
She dropped to her knees with a scream.
"No—no—Bryson, wake up—please—wake up!"
Kingston reached for her, but Braxton shoved him back.
"What did you do?" Braxton snapped.
"Nothing—I just found him—"
"Liar!"
"It wasn't me!" Kingston shouted, voice cracking.
Lucy sobbed over Bryson's body, shaking him, calling his name.
Kingston stood there helpless, soaked, trembling, heart shattering.
And from the darkness of the churchyard, unseen by any of them…
Kai Nyx watched.
Silent.
Still.
Waiting.
As if this night was only the beginning.