Location: Earth
Year: 2037
Kelly stepped out of the car and looked around the park. It was filled with teenagers just like her—chatting, laughing, catching up on weekend drama. The noise made her a little nauseous, so she slipped on her headphones. Warm music flowed into her mind, and she instantly felt better.
Right then, Kelvin—her bestie—hopped out of the car, yelling something at her. Not that she could hear. She just nodded along to whatever nonsense he was spewing.
But, being the jerk he was, he walked over and yanked her earphones out, eyes full of accusation. Kelly glared at him, already annoyed.
"What?" she asked.
Kelvin sighed. "Ugh, Kelly, sometimes it really feels like our relationship is painfully one-sided."
"Are you done?"
He groaned quietly. "I need you to pick Lizzie up from ballet after school. Coach rearranged our practice schedule last week, and now my timetable's a complete mess."
Kelly studied him for a second, checking for any trace of a lie. When she found none, she gave a small nod. "Whatever."
"Great. Oh—and Kent gave me a hundred bucks last week to convince you to say yes to prom with him."
Kelly tilted her head. "So, fifty-fifty."
Kelvin raised a brow. "Hey, I'm the one doing the convincing here. Sixty-forty."
Kelly paused, like she was weighing a critical life decision. "Fifty-one, fifty."
Kelvin's eye twitched. "Fine, you win this round. Come on, we're gonna be late," he said, walking toward the exit. But Kelly wasn't following. He turned back. "Kells?"
She stared at him, face blank. "My headphones."
"Right." He scratched the back of his head—he'd been holding them the whole time. "Here," he offered, hand out. But Kelly just looked at it suspiciously, like she'd remembered something.
Her expression shifted. "You picked your nose this morning."
Kelvin's lips thinned. "Shit."
Kelly walked toward the school doors without another word. Kelvin didn't bother following—he could tell she was pissed.
"Hey, Kells!" he called, loud enough to turn heads in the parking lot. "You're still picking up my sis, right? You know... as my bestie!"
Kelly didn't answer. She just disappeared into the building.
—
Walking to her locker, Kelly placed a hand on her forehead and tried not to wince. Lately, she'd been getting these mild migraines—nothing too intense, just annoying. Sometimes they came with a bit of dizziness. She'd been blaming it all on stress, but maybe it was time to finally visit the school clinic… that horrid place.
As she opened her locker and pulled out her books, a piece of paper slipped out. She didn't need to check what it was. She'd received this exact kind of letter over fifty times in the past month—all written by hormone-fueled, sex-brained teenage boys. It had become a daily ritual at this point: find the love letter, toss it in the trash.
She folded it up and binned it, then headed off toward her next class, doing her best to ignore the lovestruck stares from boys and the passive-aggressive glares from girls.
Kelly had always known she was born with a beautiful face, but in a world that had just crawled out of the nuclear war, where blood and human degeneracy ran rampant, beauty felt more like a curse than a gift.
The cold war might be over, but its aftershocks were still a pain. Thanks to her looks, she had zero female friends—most girls felt insecure just standing near her—and all she attracted were drooling male huskies.
Honestly, having female besties was probably overrated anyway.
Just as she was about to enter the biology lab, she noticed a crowd gathered near the corner of the hallway, loud and chaotic. Curiosity piqued, she walked over to check it out.
Most of the students parted as she approached—whether from admiration or fear, who knew—and a few guys even started shoving people aside to clear a path for her.
Boys would always be stupid.
She stopped when her eyes caught the pool of blood staining the floor. There were still a lot of students crowding around, but she was close enough to get a clear view of what was happening.
Chad, a boy from the junior year, was coughing up blood, his body convulsing. He was surrounded by members of the Life Unit—medics dressed in white uniforms.
The Life Unit had been created shortly after the war, a response to the sky-high death rates of the era. You don't exactly get peace and rainbows after a war that turned people into monsters.
Their job was to keep people alive long enough to get to a proper hospital. And right now, they looked just as confused as everyone else in the hallway—which was probably a sign that poor Chad might be on his way to the afterlife.
You'd expect chaos and screaming when a student's about to die right in the middle of school. But war has a way of numbing people to this kind of thing. That's why almost every student standing there had their phones out, recording Chad and quietly snickering. If he died, the content would blow up—and that was good enough reason to keep filming.
Kelly tilted her head slightly as she watched him sprawled on the floor, retching his guts out while the Life Unit tried—unsuccessfully—to stop the bleeding.
She knew the boy. He'd once told her how much she inspired him as a senior. Chad was a nerd, just like she was. And while most people only ever paid attention to her face, he looked up to her for something deeper—for who she really was inside.
So that's why she was going to miss him—a lot.
Chad screamed, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. Then came the cracking sounds. His bones twisted and snapped, and his head turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees backward, grotesquely deformed.
At this point, almost everyone had stepped a few feet away from Chad. Poison might explain the violent vomiting, but cracked bones? That was way beyond what anyone thought possible.
What was even more terrifying was that, despite his head being twisted backward, Chad was still alive. Like some kind of zombie, he pushed himself up on his deformed legs and took slow, steady steps toward the crowd. The whole scene was eerie—straight-up horrifying.
Then three gunshots rang out. Three medics from the Life Unit pulled out guns and shot him down. Chad slumped to the ground, his face smashing into the pool of his own blood.
Kelly found the Life Unit a little hypocritical. She was pretty sure no one would feel safe if the people meant to save them carried guns in their pockets. But then again, everyone in this new era was hypocritical. The war might be over, but the scars weren't going anywhere.
No one felt truly safe without a gun in their pocket.
As people started to disperse after Chad died, Kelly noticed a boy leaning by his locker, his eyes locked on her.
He looked beautiful.
His eyes sparkled like emeralds, and his glossy white hair caught the light. His skin seemed to glow faintly, milky and smooth, and his presence was magnetic—like a forcefield pulling her in.
A wild, feral grin curled at his lips when their eyes met, and for a moment, Kelly felt chills run down her spine before she quickly looked away.
She walked toward the bio lab, trying to shake the image of that grinning boy from her mind. But no matter how hard she tried, it stuck there—refusing to let go.
---
It was lunch break. Kelly grabbed her food and walked over to where her two friends were waiting.
Their friendship was something forged in blood and sacrifice—lots of moments where they had to watch each other's backs just to stay alive.
There used to be five of them, but…
"Hey Kells," Brian called out, mouth full of fries. "Oliver just called. Wants the keys to your truck. Says he needs to run some maintenance or whatever."
Kelly plopped down and carefully set her tray on the table. She stared at her burger for a second before biting into it. "Tell him to go to hell. He's probably gonna try and sell the Rover and come up with some lame excuse about it getting stolen. That sly bastard."
Kelvin jumped in, "Hey, that's my dad's best friend. Have some respect."
Kelly raised an eyebrow. "I thought you guys already called him out as the thief trying to steal from your old man's underground stash in Old World Miami."
Kelvin looked away. "Hey, he's still my popsie's bestie, okay?"
Kelly shrugged. "Fine by me. But if any of you try to steal from me, I'm done with you."
Brian gasped dramatically, clutching his chest. "Is my friendship really that cheap? If I'm stealing anything, it's you."
Kelvin grimaced. "Cheesy bastard."
Brian smirked. "Cheesy types like me get all the ladies. Nerds like you just end up with nowhere to put your stick. Tell me, does little Lizzie know her eighteen-year-old brother's still a virgin?"
Kelly frowned. "Hey, don't talk trash about Kelvin. Plenty of girls would kill for him."
Brian raised an eyebrow. "Right, forgot about the old grannies."
Kelvin's eyes narrowed, teeth clenched. "Alright, how about a bet? Alicia just broke up with Kennedy, so she's free game. Whoever wins gets the girl, and the loser has to admit to the whole world he's a virgin."
Brian crossed his legs and stretched out his hands. "Oh Kelvin, I really don't get why you're so eager to tell the world your little secret."
As the two kept bickering, Kelly's eyes drifted to the white-haired boy she'd seen in the hallway. He was sitting alone at an empty table. No food in sight, just quietly scanning the cafeteria with those amused, curious eyes. Then his gaze landed on hers, and even though he was smiling, Kelly felt the hostility.
It was an instinct born from war—where the tiniest mistake could get you killed.
But Kelly was sure she'd never met him before. Yeah, she'd made a lot of enemies, but she had a good enough memory to recognize anyone she'd met before.
Unless, of course, this was one of those stories where a young master acts arrogant and you take him down. Then his older brother shows up, same treatment. Then his dad, grandfather, maybe even his ancestors rise from the dead.
If that's the case, she kinda understood his hostility. But he better give her a heads up, so she can take him out first.
"Hey, who's that?" Kelly asked, nodding subtly toward the white-haired boy.
Kelvin and Brian stopped bickering and turned to look. Brian answered, running his fingers through his hair.
"Oh, that's Jayden," he said. "Weirdo, total creep. Haven't heard him say a word since he got here, just smiles all day. People say the war messed with his head, and some kids follow him around with their phones, hoping he's a serial killer or something. Good content, apparently."
Kelly didn't say anything, but deep down she was skeptical. He didn't strike her as crazy—she'd seen crazy before, and she knew it at first glance.
"Why bother asking about some boy, Kells?" Kelvin's voice was suspicious. "Don't tell me you've got a crush on him."
"Don't be ridiculous," Kelly shot back, standing up. "I'll be right back. Mrs. Smith and I have an appointment. Shouldn't take more than five minutes. Probably."
"You mean the school nurse," Brian teased. "Hey, if you've got the flu or something, Kelvin and I are out. No way we're dealing with your drama."
Kelly barely held back a smirk—and the urge to smack Brian. "See you later."
She headed down the quiet hallway toward the school clinic. Only a few people were scattered around, nothing like the chaos earlier.
When she got to the clinic, she went straight for the nurse's office. But just before knocking, she caught a whisper.
"I am a sad being."
It was soft, like a breeze slipping through the door, but Kelly was sure—definitely sure—she heard a voice.
"Who's there?" Kelly called out, looking around. The whole floor was empty—and that only made her more on edge.
Suddenly, everything shifted. The change hit her like a wave, making her a bit nauseous—but nothing could've prepared her for what she saw next.
She was in a world of blue. The sky sparkled above her, a soft white mist spread everywhere, blanketing the space. She stood on still, calm blue water—no ripples at all. Her reflection stared back at her, eyes wide with a mix of awe and fear.
Because whatever was happening? This wasn't supposed to be possible.
"Throughout the cosmos, I searched for the end, but I didn't find it."
The voice came again—this time not a whisper, but booming all around her. Or maybe it was the whole place speaking.
"Hey! Are you listening?" Kelly's voice shook with fear. "I want nothing to do with this! Send me back! Send me back now!"
"And I had a dream."
"I don't want to hear anymore. Please, I just want to go home!"
"And what a beautiful dream."
"Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream…"
The voice kept whispering, and Kelly could feel her legs starting to tremble. She should've gone to see the nurse when she had the chance—now she was pretty sure she was losing her mind.
"What a beautiful child, what a beautiful dream. What a beautiful you."
"What are you?" Kelly asked, trying to steady the tremble in her voice.
There was a long, drawn-out sigh—soft and poetic, like a whisper that pulls you in.
"What I was. I was the balance, I was the judge of all things born. I was a bane, I was a gift, and a curse to all things made. I kept all things alive, by ensuring that the price to all power was paid."
"I, I…" Kelly stammered, struggling to make sense of it all. "Why are you talking to me? Shouldn't I be like an ant to something like you?"
"Oh child. You have no idea, what you are. What lies dormant, in your mortal shell. For nothing in the entire Cosmos, except that being, can strike such fear in me."
"I want nothing to do with this," Kelly said, trying to sound brave. "I just want to go home."
"Oh, child."
The voice returned with a deeper, heavier sigh.
"It's already too late...beause my boy is filled with grieve. That's why he is coming for you."
Kelly shook her head. "I don't understand you."
"He will make you suffer. Throw your life into endless flames."
Kelly said nothing, just listened, letting the words wash over her.
"But it will make you strong. So the end may come, and I will be reborn."
The space trembled, shaking all around her. The calm water below started to ripple and churn.
"You shall forget that you spoke to balance."
"You shall forget that you heard my voice."
"And when you're strong enough, you shall remember."
The shaking grew stronger, waves rising in wild torrents. Kelly fought to keep her balance, her heart pounding like thunder, the scene feeling like the end of the world.
The voice fell to one final whisper:
"That I am the immortal you knew first."
Kelly felt darkness cloud her vision, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself back in front of the Nurse's office.
"Did I just zone out?" Kelly mumbled quietly, confused about why she'd been standing there doing nothing.
She glanced at the time on her phone and cursed under her breath. "Shit, I'm late for class."
Reluctantly, she looked at the Nurse's office doors one last time, then turned away and walked back down the hall.
The nurse could wait another day. How bad could a little migraine really get anyway?