Jax wasn't missing.
He wasn't hiding.
He wasn't anywhere.
And the worst part? No one else noticed.
Not his neighbors. Not the landlord. Not even his teachers at school.
Like he had just... been erased.
The next morning, the four of them sat at their usual cafeteria table, numb.
No one spoke.
No one ate.
Ethan barely heard the noise of the lunchroom around him—the chatter, the clinking trays, the laughter. It all felt wrong.
Jax should've been there. Complaining about the food. Cracking jokes. Rolling his eyes at Maya's lectures.
But he wasn't.
And when they asked about him?
No one remembered.
Not his classmates. Not his teachers. Not even the guy at the deli where Jax always got his dumb turkey sandwich after school.
He was just... gone.
Lucy had been the first to notice.
She had stared at their homeroom teacher that morning, waiting for her to call Jax's name during roll call.
But she never did.
And when Lucy asked about him?
Ms. Callahan just frowned. "Who?"
That's when it hit them.
Jax wasn't just missing.
Reality was forgetting him.
Ethan sat with his head in his hands. His body felt heavy, like he hadn't slept in days.
Across from him, Reed finally broke the silence.
"We need to check his phone."
Maya looked up sharply. "What?"
Reed leaned forward. "We found it at his place, right? If Jax was awake before he disappeared, he might've recorded something."
Ethan's pulse spiked.
Of course. Jax's phone.
They had taken it with them last night, after they found his empty room, the scratches on his walls, the shape burned into the ceiling.
Lucy fished it out of her bag, hesitating.
The screen was cracked, the battery almost dead.
But it still turned on.
And there—sitting in his camera roll—was a video, taken just before 3:33 AM last night.
A lump formed in Ethan's throat.
Jax recorded something before he disappeared.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Then, slowly, Maya tapped the screen.
And the video began to play.
At first, all they could see was darkness.
Then—click—Jax turned on his phone flashlight.
His face appeared in the frame, tense, sweaty, eyes darting around.
He was whispering. His voice was shaky.
"Okay. Okay, if anyone finds this—I think something's in my room. I don't know what the hell is happening, but I can feel it. It's been watching me all night."
The camera shook as he turned, pointing the flashlight at his bedroom door.
It was open.
But the hallway beyond it was wrong.
The light didn't reach far. The walls looked twisted, stretching into a darkness that shouldn't have been there.
"I tried calling Ethan. Maya. No one's picking up."
A sharp thud echoed in the background.
Jax froze.
The camera jerked as he whipped around, aiming the light at the corner of the room.
And that's when they saw it.
A shadow. Standing there. Watching him.
Not moving. Not breathing.
Just there.
Jax's breathing turned ragged. His voice dropped to a terrified whisper.
"No. No, no, no—"
The screen glitched.
The flashlight flickered.
And in that half-second of darkness—
The shadow moved.
Not walked.
Not ran.
Just jumped forward.
Closer.
And then—
Jax screamed.
The phone tumbled to the floor. The last thing they saw was the camera spinning wildly, landing on its side—
Pointed at Jax's bed.
The blankets writhing.
Like something was pulling him under.
Like he was being dragged into the dark.
And then—
Static.
The video cut out.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
The cafeteria noise around them felt distant, meaningless.
Ethan's hands shook as he stared at the blank screen.
The truth was right in front of them now.
Jax hadn't just disappeared.
He had been taken.
By something.
Something that didn't just exist in their dreams.
Something that could reach into the real world.
Reed was the first to break the silence. His voice was quiet.
"They're hunting us."
Ethan swallowed hard.
Because deep down, he already knew—
Jax was just the first.