Evelyn sat at her desk for a long time, her thoughts in a chaotic mess like tangled threads. She tried to convince herself that all of this was just baseless speculation. Those blurry clues and absurd legends couldn't piece together the real answer at all. Lucas was still the man who smiled gently at her under the moonlight and chatted with her about art.
However, the doubts in her heart were like a stubborn pebble, making her feel uncomfortable and preventing her from deceiving herself. Finally, Evelyn bit her lip as if she had made a huge determination and decided to go out again to look for more evidence that could either prove or disprove this terrifying speculation.
She put on a coat and walked out of her home with somewhat heavy steps. The outside world was still bustling and noisy, with pedestrians coming and going and vehicles flowing continuously. But Evelyn felt that she didn't fit in with all of this, as if separated by an invisible barrier, trapped alone in the fog that surrounded Lucas.
Evelyn went to the library she used to frequent and walked straight to the sections on occultism and folk culture. Her eyes eagerly searched the bookshelves. Her fingers quickly ran across the thick books one by one, pulling out those that seemed likely to mention relevant content and carrying them to the table beside her. Then she began to read them eagerly.
Her eyes were focused yet tinged with nervousness. She examined every word and sentence carefully, not missing any detail. Every time she came across a description that might be related to that mysterious creature, her heart couldn't help but clench. In the illustrations in the books, those figures with pale faces, sharp fangs and teeth seemed to come alive on the paper. Although they were just imaginary drawings, at this moment, they seemed to be grinning ferociously at Evelyn, making her shiver down her spine.
After an unknown period of time, Evelyn finally found a more detailed record in an ancient folk culture research book. It described many characteristics of this kind of mysterious creature. For example, their power would be especially strong at night, their skin was icy cold, they had an extremely strong ability to recover, and they could heal at a speed beyond ordinary people's imagination even after being injured. Moreover, their senses were abnormally sharp, and they could detect the slightest movements around them.
Evelyn's hands trembled involuntarily. She remembered that once when she accidentally touched Lucas, his hands were indeed much colder than those of ordinary people. At that time, she just thought it was because of the weather and didn't think much about it. But now, combined with these descriptions, her heart sank to the bottom. And Lucas's ability to always appear quietly beside her as if he knew where she was in advance, was it also because of his extraordinary senses?
She closed the book, leaned back on the chair, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, trying to calm down her surging emotions. But the more she tried, the more the image of Lucas in her mind overlapped with the mysterious creature described in the book, almost driving her to the verge of collapse.
Evelyn also thought of the time when she and Lucas were together in the moonlit garden. Those gentle words and affectionate gazes, were they all just an illusory facade? If Lucas was really such a being, what would become of their relationship? Her eyes gradually turned red, and tears welled up in her eyes. How she wished that all of this was just a nightmare and that when she woke up, Lucas would still be the person she knew and loved deeply.
But at this moment, she knew that she couldn't escape anymore. No matter how cruel the truth was, she had to face it. Evelyn slowly stood up, put the book back on the bookshelf, looking lonely yet with a touch of determination in her expression. She decided that when she met Lucas next time, she would find an opportunity to talk to him frankly about these doubts in her heart. Even if she might lose him because of this, she didn't want to keep wandering in this relationship full of mysteries anymore.
Walking out of the library, the afterglow of the setting sun shone on her, casting a long shadow. The shadow seemed to be telling the story of her loneliness and helplessness at this moment. Evelyn looked up at the orange-red sky and prayed silently in her heart, hoping that all of this was just a misunderstanding and that the story between her and Lucas could continue, still full of love and beauty, instead of being completely destroyed by this terrifying secret.