Hours crawled by with agonizing slowness, each passing moment a test of Daniel's patience. He wished for time to move faster, to speed through the day and free him from the constant stares and whispers. But as if mocking him, time seemed to drag its feet.
When the bell finally rang for lunch, Daniel remained seated, fiddling absently with a broken pen in his hand. His classmates, on the other hand, had other plans. They swarmed around his desk like moths to a flame, their voices a cacophony of curiosity and excitement.
"Daniel, what happened in the forest?"
"Did you see the reindeer again?"
"Is it true you killed it?"
Daniel clenched his teeth, forcing a polite smile as he navigated their inquiries with carefully chosen words. He tried his best, answering in bits and pieces, offering just enough detail to keep their curiosity sated without revealing anything substantial.
"I remember falling from the bus… tumbling down the slope," he said. "I think I saw the reindeer, just… glimpses of it. And then… everything is hazy."
He omitted much—most of it deliberate.
Daniel knew their sudden attention was fleeting. These were the same classmates who had once ostracized him, ignoring his existence unless it was to mock or humiliate him. Now, they flocked to him because of the mystery surrounding his accident and his unexpected transformation.
His words were carefully curated, just enough to satisfy their curiosity without giving away the truth. The truth that he didn't trust them with.
But Daniel had his reasons for indulging them. Somewhere in their chatter, among their half-baked theories and wild speculations, he hoped to uncover a clue—something that could lead him to the truth.
"So you don't remember fighting the reindeer?" one boy asked skeptically.
Another chimed in, "I heard you killed it with your bare hands."
"Of course not," a girl scoffed. "That thing knocked the bus off the road! Something else in that forest must've saved him."
Daniel remained calm outwardly, but inwardly, his quickened heartrate told a different story.
The reindeer was dead.
Their words confirmed what he had known but could not verify. The reindeer—the monstrous creature he had battled—was truly gone. The fight was not a hallucination or a figment of his trauma.
But why had no one told him during his stay at the hospital? Why was its death shrouded in mystery?
His mind raced back to Doctor Aksel's words in the hospital.
"It's nothing short of a miracle that you're alive—and even more remarkable that you've woken up so soon."
The doctor had been evasive when Daniel tried to recount his memories, plus, his refusal to divulge any details about the state in which Daniel had been found had only deepened his suspicion.
Doctor Aksel knows something, perhaps more than the detectives. But they're all hiding what they know from me.
"But like," a girl's voice broke through Daniel's thoughts, "it took them three days to find you, right? Were you really in a coma for six days?"
Daniel looked up, startled, to see Adelia Brandt. Her glossy black hair framed her sharp features, and her piercing blue eyes held a curious intensity that made his skin prickle.
"I… that's what the doctors said," he replied hesitantly.
Adelia hummed thoughtfully, tapping her chin. "Weird, though. If we rule out the first day, how can they be so certain you were in a coma for exactly six days?"
Her words sent a ripple of whispers through the crowd. Daniel frowned deeply, her question embedding itself in his mind like a thorn.
How could they know?
[She's right.] "She's right…" the other voice whispered in unison with his own.
The gears of Daniel's mind turned frantically. Was it possible that his timeline had been manipulated? That there were gaps in his memory even he wasn't aware of?
Just as the tension in the room reached its peak, Adelia shrugged, her demeanor shifting abruptly.
"Well, I guess they have ways of knowing," she said lightly, dismissing her own speculation. "They're professionals, after all."
The group seemed to accept her dismissal, moving on to other topics. But Daniel remained on the subject, his thoughts swirling.
He was jolted from his trance by the soft pressure of a finger under his chin. His heightened senses flared to life, zooming in on the sensation. He could feel the fine texture of the skin, the warmth radiating from it, and even the faint scent of strawberries and roses wafting from her hand.
Slowly, his head was tilted upward until he was face-to-face with Adelia once more. Her blue eyes locked onto his, a playful smirk tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Hey," she said, her voice low and almost hypnotic. "Penny for your thoughts?"
Daniel's heart slammed against his ribs. "I… I was just…" he stammered, unable to string a coherent sentence together.
Adelia giggled, clearly enjoying his reaction. Before he could muster a reply, an arm slung around his shoulders, pulling him away from her touch.
"Yo, yo!" Ethan's voice broke the moment. "I look away for one second, and you're already trying to seduce him? Damn!"
[Seduce me?!] the other voice shouted in Daniel's head. [I was being seduced?!]
"What?!" Adelia exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "I was just concerned because Danny looked lost in thought."
[Danny?!]
Daniel's mind spiraled as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Was the girl genuinely flirting, or was this just her natural demeanor?
"What do you mean, concerned?" Ethan teased. "You looked like you were about to gobble him up."
"Ugh, what's your deal, gamer boy?" Adelia shot back, crossing her arms. "Are you his spokesperson or something?"
"Someone's gotta protect him from the succubus queen!" Ethan shot back, his grin widening.
[Are they teasing me… or actually arguing?]
Daniel's mortification grew as their banter escalated, drawing laughter from their classmates. He felt heat creeping up his neck, his face turning crimson.
"Wait, don't tell me you swing that way, huh, Danny?" Adelia teased, her smirk wicked.
"No!" Daniel blurted out, his voice louder than he intended. The laughter in the room doubled, and he felt like sinking into the floor. "I mean… this is—"
A sudden, loud bang cut through the chaos, silencing the room instantly.
Daniel's heart leapt into his throat as the sound echoed through the classroom. All eyes turned toward the source, the air heavy with tension.