Chapter 6

  Carmen tried to expin.

  He really did.

  But the moment the words left his mouth, they dissolved into the cold night air like mist, thin and weightless. His friends exchanged gnces—half amused, half concerned. Lyra scoffed, Luka smirked. Joel asked if he was drunk. Even Elise, the quietest of them all, only tilted her head, waiting for a punchline.

  "The reflections were just..." Carmen struggled, rubbing his temple. "Wrong."

  And yet, he knew how it sounded. Like some half-formed nightmare a child would cry about. But it wasn't a nightmare.

  It wasn't.

  "Look, Carm, maybe you're just tired," Viktor said, cpping a hand on his shoulder. "Go home, get some rest."

  "Yeah, maybe you'll see yourself in the mirror tomorrow," Ezra teased.

  Laughter. Distant. Hollow.

  Carmen swallowed. The ke behind them stretched out, dark and still, as if holding its breath. He looked once more at the water's surface. Just to be sure.

  -His reflection stared back at him.

  For now.

  He turned and walked away.

  The Dream

  The house is quiet when Carmen steps inside. Not the eerie kind of quiet, but the kind that wraps around you when the world outside has already moved on without you. He drops his bag by the door, loosening his tie as he walks further in.

  His cat—half asleep—lifts its head from the couch and watches him. Then, as if remembering something urgent, it jumps down, weaving between his legs, brushing against his shin before flicking its tail like a whip. A silent demand.

  He sighs, kneeling down to scratch behind its ears before heading to the kitchen. A can clicks open. Soft, wet sounds follow as the cat digs in.

  The mirror in the hallway catches his reflection as he passes. He pauses. He looks... dim. Like he's standing under a light that isn't fully turned on.

  He blinks.

  It's normal again. Just him, slightly hunched, exhausted, watching himself in a way that feels too detached to be natural.

  His room is colder than usual. The bed creaks as he sits down, tugging at his socks, stretching his legs. His fingers hesitate over the bedside mp before switching it off.

  Darkness.

  It settles too quickly. Almost too comfortably.

  And then, somewhere in between the heaviness of sleep and the weight of something else, Carmen slips away.

  He was falling. No. Drowning. No. Burning. No.

  He was everything at once.

  The pain was endless and real—like his skin was being peeled, his bones were shattering, his lungs filling with something thicker than air. He gasped, but there was no breath to take.

  And then, a voice.

  "You've felt this before."

  It came from nowhere and everywhere. A voice both gentle and cruel. It sat behind his ear, inside his skull, in the space between each heartbeat.

  "Tell me, Carmen, how many times have you died?"

  His lips parted, his voice burst out, but no answer came.

  "No answer? Then tell me this."

  The world around him twisted. Shadowy, endless hands grasped at his limbs, stretching him apart, pulling him into pces he did not belong.

  "Do you know who you are?"

  He tried to resist. His voice broke into something raw. "I— I'm—"

  The hands tightened.

  "No, no, no. That's not how this works. You don't tell me what you think you are."

  A pause. The voice smiled.

  "You tell me what you feel you are."

  Carmen choked on nothing.

  "A liar?" the voice asked. "A puppet? A shadow of a shadow?"

  He squeezed his eyes shut.

  "It must be so painful to know so little."

  The hands let go. Carmen fell.

  But he did not nd.

  Instead, he stood. In a space that should not exist.

  Before him, a figure waited.

  It was nothing more than a silhouette—pitch bck, shifting like a mirage, and in pce of eyes... two faint, red glows.

  The glow was familiar. Unmistakable.

  "You fuck—"

  "I have been waiting."

  Carmen staggered back. The dream, the ke, the illusions—none of it compared to the sheer weight of the presence in front of him.

  "You can call me Omega... for now."

  His breath hitched. He had heard that name before.

  The glow in her eyes flickered. "What do you think it means?"

  The air turned razor-sharp, cutting into his lungs.

  "You..." He swallowed thickly. "You're real."

  Omega chuckled, soft and knowing. "Only as real as you let me be."

  Something shifted.

  "You are not dreaming. You are just remembering the wrong version of reality."

  The sky, the ground—everything cracked. Carmen barely had time to react before spears of red erupted from the darkness.

  Straight through his chest.

  His mouth opened in a silent scream as the pain ripped him apart.

  And then—

  Stillness.

  Morning

  Carmen gasped. His chest heaved like he had been drowning, every breath rattling as if it barely made it through his throat. The cold sweat clung to him, freezing, seeping through his sheets like melted ice. His body wouldn't move. His fingers twitched—he felt them twitch—but they didn't obey. A weight pressed against his chest, heavy, suffocating.

  Then he saw it.

  A shadow. Just standing there. Two red eyes, burning like embers, the exact same shade as the eerie glow from Elena's interview. It didn't move, didn't blink, didn't breathe. Just watched.

  Carmen strained, fought to move—nothing.

  Then, as if a switch flipped—

  Sunlight.

  Warmth.

  Birds chirping outside his window.

  His muscles felt loose, his body no longer paralyzed. The scent of freshly baked bread drifted through the air from the bakery down the street. The golden sunlight stretched across his bed, catching specks of dust in its glow.

  His cat sat beside him, tail flicking zily, staring at him with the slow blink of a creature that knew nothing of nightmares.

  It was morning.

  Or at least, something wanted him to think it was.

  Soft sunlight on his skin.

  The distant chatter of people, the familiar weight of a cat curled beside him.

  Carmen gasped awake, his heart smming against his ribs.

  His body—whole. His room—undisturbed. His cat—stretching zily, its tail flicking against his arm.

  A dream.

  It was just—

  His fingers twitched. His muscles ached. Like something had torn them apart and put them back together.

  Outside, the world carried on, completely unaware.

  And in his mind, a name lingered.

  Omega.

  -dear reader... If no one remembers you, did you ever really exist?..