In The Dark

Kayla liked quiet, familiar places. When she was a kid, she had this treehouse—nothing fancy, inside there was only a beanbag and some old blankets. It was like a cardboard box stuck in a tree. She remembered the smell of pine, the way dust floated in the afternoon light. It was small, simple, safe.

Sometimes, she'd sit by the opening (not quite a window, just a square cut into the wood) and watch the sun filter through the trees. In the distance, she could see an old pair of shoes dangling from a power line. From up there, the dog looked tiny, like a little bug zigzagging through the grass.

She'd wrap herself in a blanket and just breathe, away from everything, away from everyone. It was nice. She liked it. 

Hospitals were the exact opposite. Sterile, impersonal. The white plastic walls, the stiff blue chairs, the weirdly spongy linoleum floors—she hated it. And the smell, that sharp, over-sanitized scent, reminded her of a middle school bathroom.

She held up her hand, watching it shift under the cheap fluorescent lights, her skin almost flickering like a moth's wings.

With a sigh, she let her hands drop to her knees.

"Sorry."

"We all have our moments." Vasile tilted his head slightly,

"No, I totally bit your head off."

He sighed, leaning back in his chair and muttering a quiet "yeah" under his breath.

"Can we talk about it?"

"Okay," He exhaled sharply, leaning forward. "You freaked out, ran off, and then fell down a flight of stairs. I'd like some explanations too, you know?"

Kayla let out a quiet laugh. "A little dramatic."

He gave her a small, knowing smile. "Just a touch."

Kayla shook her head, pressing her fingers against her temple. "I don't know what happened. Maybe I have some illness, or something?" She let out a humorless laugh. 

Vasile exhaled through his nose, watching her carefully. "I don't know," he admitted. "But I do know you'll drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out before the doctors do."

"Yeah..." Kayla trailed off. She thought back to after she fainted. 

She had only blacked out for a second. As she fell, her shoulder knocked against the bedside table, sending the lamp crashing to the floor and a shooting pain through her arm. 

He caught her in his arms. 

The lampshade rolled towards the door revealing the bright bulb underneath. 

Kayla blinked up at Vasile, and for the first time, she truly saw him.

His eyes.

Not the dark eyes she had come to know, but something unnatural. Something wrong. They gleamed under the artificial light, a slick, pearlescent red— like the eerie red-eye effect in an overexposed photograph. But this wasn't some camera trick. It was real.

The image burned into her mind, searing, inescapable.

Vasile flinched—his whole body tensing as if in pain—before dropping her unceremoniously onto the floor. His hands shot up, not to help her, but to shield his own face. His fingers trembled against his skin, his breath turning ragged, shallow.

Kayla's pulse pounded in her ears.

Run.

Her limbs felt sluggish, weighed down, but she scrambled to her feet, heart hammering against her ribs. The walls seemed to tilt, the edges of the room stretching and distorting like a funhouse mirror.