Ethan awoke with a start, his heart pounding as though he'd just escaped a nightmare. The early morning light barely filtered through the blinds, casting long, eerie shadows across the room. He sat up in bed, the remnants of the night before creeping into his mind, making his skin prickle with unease.
Lila's face came to him instantly, her enigmatic smile—the one that had seemed charming at first—now felt like a lingering specter, haunting the corners of his memory. He rubbed his eyes, trying to shake the image, but no matter how hard he tried, the sensation of her presence wouldn't leave him.
The apartment felt colder than usual. The kind of cold that seeped into your bones, a chill that didn't come from the air but from something deeper. He glanced toward the window, as if expecting to find someone standing there, but it was just him. Alone.
Ethan let out a shaky breath. Get a grip, he told himself. It was just a date. A strange one, but that's all it was. People are into weird things, and Lila… she was definitely one of them. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat there for a moment, his bare feet resting on the cold hardwood floor, grounding him.
He needed to get his mind off of it—off of her. It was just a date that had gone south, nothing more. With that in mind, he forced himself to focus on his day. Work. His sanctuary, the place where he could drown out everything else with code and numbers and the clear, logical world of technology.
He showered quickly, hoping the scalding water would wash away the strange unease that clung to him like a second skin. But even as the steam filled the small bathroom, the cold feeling persisted. By the time he was dressed and seated at his kitchen counter with a cup of coffee, the sense of being watched had become almost unbearable.
He turned his phone over in his hands, tempted to text his best friend, Greg, the one who had set him up with Lila in the first place. He imagined the conversation in his head:
"You won't believe this, man. She's into necromancy or something—total freak."
"Just forget about it, Ethan. You're overreacting."
But would Greg really say that? Or would he laugh it off, chalk it up to another one of Ethan's "dating catastrophes"? Ethan was no stranger to disaster when it came to relationships. He had gone on enough dates to know that most of them ended in awkward silences or unspoken understanding that it was a one-time thing. Yet this… this wasn't the usual awkward aftermath. There was something different about Lila, something he couldn't quite put his finger on.
He sighed and stood, shoving his phone into his pocket. Work. He needed to bury himself in work, forget about the strange woman with her dark obsessions and unnerving smile.
But Lila's words wouldn't leave him alone.
We'll meet again soon.
The way she had said it wasn't a question, nor a flirtatious parting comment. It had been a statement, one full of certainty and intent. And that certainty, that knowing look in her eyes, was what had unsettled him the most. She had made it sound like a promise.
Ethan shook his head and grabbed his laptop, opening up the day's list of tasks, forcing his mind to shift gears. For a while, it worked. The familiar rhythm of work lulled him into a temporary sense of normalcy. Lines of code, client emails, debugging an algorithm that had been causing headaches for days—all of it filled the hours and drowned out the creeping thoughts of Lila.
It wasn't until late afternoon that his phone buzzed.
At first, he ignored it, assuming it was a work notification or another email. But the buzzing persisted, and with a sigh, he finally picked it up.
His heart stuttered in his chest.
A message from an unknown number.
His stomach dropped, a cold dread pooling in his gut. He hesitated before unlocking the phone, and when he did, his worst fear was confirmed.
"I didn't think you'd wait this long to check in."
It was Lila.
Ethan's pulse quickened as he stared at the message, his mind racing. What did she want? He hadn't reached out to her, hadn't given her any indication that he was interested in seeing her again. In fact, he had spent the entire morning convincing himself that he wanted nothing more to do with her.
His thumb hovered over the keyboard, but before he could type a reply, another message came through.
"Since you're curious, I thought I'd help you out. Here's what you're looking for."
Beneath her message was a link.
He stared at it for a long moment, his breath caught in his throat. He didn't need to click on it to know what it was. Somehow, he knew exactly what the link would lead to.
The group.
The one she had mentioned during their date—the one that discussed dark rituals and necromancy. The one she had hinted was more than just a place for idle conversation. She was daring him to look, daring him to take the plunge into the world she inhabited.
Ethan's hands were clammy, the phone slipping slightly in his grasp. He should delete the message, block her number, pretend this never happened. That's what any rational person would do. That's what he wanted to do.
But another part of him—a part he wasn't proud of—was tempted. The questions that had been swirling in his mind since their date resurfaced with a vengeance. What if he did click the link? What would he find? What was it about this group that had so thoroughly captured Lila's obsession?
Against his better judgment, Ethan's thumb moved toward the link.
He stopped just short of clicking it, his heart pounding in his chest. This was madness. He didn't want to get involved in whatever strange world Lila was a part of. He didn't want to know about ancient rituals or dark arts. He didn't want any of it.
And yet… he couldn't look away.
His phone buzzed again.
"Don't be afraid."
The words sent a chill through him, and in that moment, something inside Ethan snapped. He clicked the link.
The screen loaded slowly, as if the universe itself was giving him one last chance to change his mind. But he didn't. He watched as the page finally opened, revealing a dark, cryptic website, with strange symbols and words in a language he didn't recognize.
His mouth went dry.
At the top of the page was a banner: "Welcome to The Veil: Where Death Is Only the Beginning."
Ethan stared, his heart thudding in his ears. He scrolled down, skimming through the posts. They were exactly as Lila had described—discussions about death, about crossing the threshold between life and whatever came after. There were testimonies from people claiming to have spoken with the dead, others who said they had seen things that no living person should see.
And then, at the bottom of the page, a single message stood out, addressed directly to him.
"I knew you couldn't resist. The real question is: how far are you willing to go?"
It was signed simply: Lila.
Ethan's hand shook as he closed the browser, his mind reeling. He had taken the first step, and now, there was no going back.
He was in Lila's world now.
And he wasn't sure he'd make it out alive.