Kieran sat on the edge of the small bed, his hands gripping the thin blanket wrapped around his shoulders. The fire in the stove crackled softly, casting flickering shadows across the wooden walls. His breath trembled as he stared at the floor, his body still aching from the fall, but the pain inside him was worse.
A single tear fell onto his clenched fist. Then another.
He hadn't cried in years. Not when he took the job in Antarctica. Not when the loneliness consumed him. Not even when he fell into the ice, thinking he was going to die.
But now, in the quiet warmth of the cabin, the reality of it all came crashing down.
His parents were gone. Dead. He had lost twenty-five years of his life—time he could never get back. Everyone had moved on. The world had moved on. But he was still stuck in the past, lost in a time that no longer existed.
And then there was the bear.
Kieran's breath hitched. His fingers dug into his own arms as the memory surfaced—the look in the polar bear's eyes just before he tore into him.
It wasn't a mindless beast. It thought. It spoke. It had a family. And yet…
I didn't hesitate.
He had killed in pure instinct. He wasn't sure which part of him had done it—the human, or the thing he had become.
A shudder ran through him. "What am I?" he whispered to the empty room.
More tears rolled down his face, but he didn't wipe them away. He just sat there, letting the weight of it all crush him.
And in that moment, he made a promise to himself.
Never again.
No matter what happens, no matter what instincts try to take over… I will never hurt anything again. I will never let myself become a monster.
Jack Holloway stood near the doorway, silent, watching him with unreadable eyes. He had seen men break before—out here, in the frozen silence of the world, isolation had a way of breaking even the strongest souls.
But Kieran wasn't broken. He was mourning.
And Jack knew there was only one thing that could pull him back from the edge.
"Kieran…" Jack finally spoke, his voice softer than before. "What do you need?"
Kieran sniffed, wiping at his eyes roughly. His throat was raw, but his voice came out clear. "I want to go home."
Jack nodded. He had expected that.
"I'll report it to my superiors. They'll send transport."
Kieran didn't reply. He just turned back to the fire, watching the flames flicker. The warmth didn't reach the cold hollow in his chest. Would home even feel like home anymore?
The days passed in a blur. Jack made the call, and within forty-eight hours, a research vessel was dispatched to retrieve Kieran. The scientists who had once worked at this outpost were long gone, but the station was still in use. And when news spread that a man who had vanished twenty-five years ago had suddenly reappeared, people took notice.
The ship arrived at the icy shore, the metal hull groaning against the frozen currents. The crew helped Kieran onboard, murmuring to each other as they stole glances at him.
He could hear them whisper.
"Is that really him?"
"They said he fell into the ice. How did he survive?"
"No one should have lasted that long…"
Kieran ignored them. He just pulled his hood over his head and stared out at the sea. His mind was somewhere else.
The journey home was painfully slow. Too much time to think. Too much time to feel.
He barely spoke. He ate when he had to. Slept when his body demanded it. But mostly, he sat on the deck, watching the ocean stretch endlessly before him.
And when the ship finally docked…
When he finally stepped back onto land for the first time in twenty-five years…
The world felt too big. Too loud. Too fast.
Nothing looked the same.
Kieran Vale was home. But did he still belong here?