April 15th,2025
Salem, Massachusetts, United States
"AGH—!" Kieran shouted, jolting upright in bed---drenched in cold sweat. He glanced around the empty room, dawnlight spilling through the window.
Shit... he thought, reaching over to grab his phone.
6:01. The display glowed back at him. He let out a sigh of relief.
"Thought I missed the bus..." he muttered—just as the door burst open.
"Yo, Kier-- you still asleep?" Reis called out, stepping inside. "Get the hell up—" He stopped mid-sentence, his water bottle slipping from his hand as his face twisted in shock.
"What is it...?" Kieran asked, rubbing his head.
Reis snatched the bottle off the floor and chucked it at him.
"Ah—what the hell?!" Kieran yelped as it bounced off his temple.
"Who are you—and what have you done with my brother?!" Reis demanded.
"Dude, I'm not in the mood for this—" Kieran began, watching as Reis frantically searched the room. He grabbed an action figure off the dresser and aimed it at Kieran like a weapon.
"Whoa—hey—okay!" Kieran raised his hands. "What are you talking about? Reis, it's me!"
"How do I know that?!" Reis shouted.
"What?"
"Tell me something only Kieran would know!"
"U-uh..." Kieran stammered, thinking fast. "Back in third grade, you pissed yourself in class, and I had to give you my sweatshirt to hide it while you went to the bathroom!"
Reis froze, then slowly lowered the toy and set it back on the dresser.
"Man... I thought you forgot about that," he mumbled, face flushed.
"Reis, what the hell is going on with you?" Kieran asked, clearly irritated.
"With me? What the hell happened to you?!" Reis shot back, pulling out his phone as he approached the bed.
"What do you mean?"
Reis opened the camera app and turned the screen toward Kieran.
"Look at yourself!" he said, holding it up.
Kieran stared. His hair—once a deep brown—was now a striking silver. His eyes glowed gold.
"My hair..." he whispered.
It's still the same color from last night... That dream—was it real? His hand flew to his mouth as panic started to build.
"R-Reis... I can't go to school like this," he said, clutching his head.
"Okay, but what about that slip you promised Jessica you'd get signed?" Reis asked. "I mean, if you're staying home because you're 'sick,' that gives me the perfect excuse to skip, too—"
"No, you're right..." Kieran cut him off. "The slip— it's in my backpack. I need you to take it and get someone to sign it for her. Please."
Reis groaned and facepalmed. "Goddamnit, why did I even bring that up... Look, forget the form for a second. We don't even know what's going on with you. Let me take you to the hospital."
Kieran shook his head. "I'll be fine, Reis. Just—"
The bedside lamp flickered.
"—just take the form and go. The bus'll be here any minute."
Reis stood slowly, clearly unconvinced, and headed for the backpack. As he grabbed the slip and made his way to the door, his hand paused on the knob.
"...You look like somebody's grandpa." He said, a wry look on his face, before turning and walking out, closing the door behind him.
Kieran smirked as his brother left, before quickly becoming lost in thought, flashes of what happened last night playing back in his head.
He thought of the moments before Six was eaten by the curse, reflecting on his last words:
Don't you dare turn out a coward----like me!
Don't ever hide from the rain!
"What did you mean by that, Six?" Kieran whispered, but nobody was there to answer.
"I can't believe this shit..." Reis muttered, brows furrowed as he walked down the stairs, grabbing his bag off the kitchen counter, slipping the form inside before heading out the door, locking it behind him.
"Why am I even doing this---" He asked himself, walking down the porch steps and onto the sidewalk, waiting for the bus.
"Got me going to school by myself to complete side quests for your girlfriend and her garbage-ass club..." Reis muttered.
"Hey!" A voice called, causing Reis to tilt his head, and to his surprise, standing before him was Dean Keizer--straightening his tie and holding his blazer in the other hand.
"Reis, is it?" he asked with a smile. His eyes were shut, yet somehow it felt like he was staring straight through him.
"Mr. Keizer?" Reis blinked.
"What are the odds, it seems like we're neighbors!" He said, a wide grin spread across his face.
Reis gave a stiff, rather awkward laugh. "Seems so..." He glanced toward the house next door—sure enough, Keizer's car was parked in the driveway, the driver side door still open.
Dean Keizer paused, scratching his chin as he looked around.
"Where's the brown-haired one?"
"Kieran?" Reis asked, raising a brow.
"Yes! Kieran," Keizer said, snapping his fingers. "Is he alright?"
"He's sick," Reis said. "Caught a cold. Should be back tomorrow."
"Ah..." Keizer's expression shifted slightly—something unreadable flickering behind his smile. "How unfortunate."
"Uh, yeah..." Reis replied, slightly uneasy.
"Why are you here, anyway? Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Well, you see," Keizer began with a nervous laugh, "I stayed up all night filling out papers. Forgot to set my alarm before I fell asleep and ended up waking up late!" He explained, scratching his cast.
Reis couldn't point it out exactly, but everything about this man felt---plastic.
"I see--- well..." Reis trailed off, looking up the street to see the school bus slowly rolling down.
"Thats my bus," He spoke.
"Ah, well, I'd better be going!" Dean Keizer said, waving at Reis as he turned to walk.
"I'll see you at school!"
"...Yeah," Reis muttered under his breath.
He watched Keizer for a moment before the bus doors creaked open in front of him.
"Morning, Mrs. Eden," he greeted, stepping onto the bus.
"Goodmorning, Reis! No Kieran today---?" She asked, but Reis was too lost in thought, tuning her out. She shrugged, watching him walk down the hall before putting her foot on the pedal.
Reis took a seat, looking out the window as Keizer stood by his car, watching as the bus slowly rolled off.
What the hell is happening today? Reis thought.
**********
Reis strolled the halls of Sydria High, chewing on the stick of a popsicle he'd gotten from the vending machine, eyes tracing the white slip of paper in his hands.
"God damnit!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the empty corridor.
"I've been asking people all morning to join this stupid club, and nobody's interested—this is so boring." He let out a grunt of frustation, before pausing, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pen.
"I guess it's come to worst..." Reis sighed, beginning to scribble his own name on the sign-up sheet—when a familiar scrawny kid by the lockers caught his eye.
"Isn't that..." he trailed off, tossing the popsicle stick into a nearby trash can as he started walking over.
"Heeey—Ezekiel, right?" Reis called out with a smirk, eyeing the boy as he quickly put books into his locker.
"O-oh, uhm—" Ezekiel stuttered, being caught off guard.
"What's that?" Reis asked, pointing to the book in Ezekiel's hands.
"This? Oh, erm..." Ezekiel asked nervously. "It's an old book by William Shakespeare—called the First Folio."
"Oh—the artist, right?" Reis asked absently.
Ezekiel blinked, eyebrows twitching in confusion. "...W-what?"
"Speaking of art," Reis continued smoothly, pulling the form back out and holding it up to Ezekiel's face, grinning.
"There's a suuuper fun art club that could really use some new people."
"You should—"
"Not interested," Ezekiel cut him off flatly, slipping the book into his locker and shutting it before walking off.
"Wha—wait!" Reis called, momentarily thrown off by the sudden shift in tone.
"Why not?" he asked, quickly falling into step beside him.
"N-no offense, but most of the clubs here just feel... pretentious," Ezekiel muttered. "Nobody seems genuinely into what they're about. Half of them are just flashy fronts to get more people to join."
"Oh no, dude, you've got it all wrong!" Reis insisted, waving the form again. "These guys? Total dorks—uh, I mean..."
"They actually care about art, you should see the clubroom. The walls in there are covered in months of work and talent—it's kinda insane." Reis bragged.
"Stay after school and I'll show you! Ahem, pluh—pl—plehh—please?" he stammered out, face twisting like the word hurt.
An awkward silence followed.
"...No thanks, sorry," Ezekiel said, slowly turning and continuing to walk with his head down.
Reis panicked. He needed something. Anything.
"Wait—you said you'd help Kieran with his project!" he blurted out.
"I said I would if we got detention. We didn't," Ezekiel replied, not even slowing down.
"No hard feelings. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't..."
"I-I just..." He trailed off.
"Dude, why are you being such a prick...?" Reis snapped, losing his patience.
"A-ah..." Ezekiel mumbled under his breath as Reis continued.
"My brother stood up for you. The least you could do is—"
"𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝," Ezekiel shouted, his voice firm, teeth clenched.
Reis stopped in his tracks, stunned into silence, as Ezekiel kept walking—disappearing down the hallway.
"Wooah, what's this?" Kyle said, walking down the hallway.
"Was Reis Penrose getting pressed by the stereotypical high school nerd?" He said, placing a hand over his mouth.
"...Shut the hell up, Kyle." Reis muttered, brushing past him as he walked the other way.
**********
"Urgh..." Kieran said as he laid in bed, a bottle of pain killers rested on the dresser next to him as he clenched his head.
"I need a shower." He said exhausted, stroking Midnights fur as the dog slept next to him.
He slowly got out of bed, but as soon as his foot hit the floor, a sharp pain shot through his body, causing him to flinch, his vision momentarily growing hazy.
"Gah---" Kieran said, trying to move, but as he did, a faint, tingling sensation moved through his body, as if he were stretching.
He glanced at his arm and noticed a faint afterimage trailing his hands movements, before disappearing. Kieran shook his head, convinced his mind was playing tricks on him. He grabbed some clothes and left his room, going down the hallway and into the bathroom.
He flipped on the light, set his clothes on the toilet seat, and turned on the shower. Then he stepped over to the mirror, hoping to get a better look at his new appearance.
But instead, his reflection simply stared back, smiling.
Kieran froze in fear, "Not again..." He muttered---but as he stared, he noticed the distinct features between him and his reflection.
The faint scar on its neck, its longer----more jagged hair, with sleek dark purple irises that glowed faintly, that's when Kieran realized---it wasn't his reflection at all.
"...Six?"