CHAPTER 1: THE CRACKS BEGIN
The first thing kai noticed that morning was awkward silence.
It was the comforting type, like the quiet of dawn breaking from the day over a city or country of something like that. It was heavy, unnatural and very mysterious as if the world outside his apartment had paused to hold Its breath, to tell you how weird it felt. Kai rubbed his eye, the weight of another restless night sinking into his chest. Sleep has become luxury for the past few weeks ever since the whispers of "the sickness" started
spreading.
He stepped out of bed, his feet brushing against the cold floor. It felt heavier than usual thick with an unease he couldn't just ignore.
Outside his window, the city loomed. It looked normal cars packed as always neat in a row, laundry fapping lazily from balconies and laundry line but something felt off. No one was seen walking on the street. No children were playing in the courtyard as usual. Even stray cats which are usually seen on the alleyways were now nowhere to be seen. That's quite suspicious kai thought.
Kai sighed, running his finger in his unkept messy hair. Maybe he was overthinking it again.
The sound of a faint knock startled him. It came from the apartment next door. His neighbour, Mr Jewel, an elderly man with a habit of yelling at anyone who passed his door, he had become strangely quiet lately. Too quiet
"Mr. Jewel" kai called, pressing his ear to the wall.
The knocking stopped.
And then a voice in a low, guttural, and trembling saying
"Help...me"
Kai stomach turned. He hesitated, his hand hovering over the doorknob. Every instinct screamed at him to leave it alone, but curiosity won out. He opened the door and stepped into the dimly lit hallway.
"Mr. Jewel?"
The old man's door was slightly ajar. Kai pushed it open, the creak echoing in the stillness. The smell hit him first a rancid, metallic stench that made his stomach turn.
Inside, the apartment was in chaos. Furniture lay overturned, shards of glass shattered on the floor. And in the middle of the room, crouched over a shattered mirror, was Mr Jewel.
Or at least what was left of him.
His body contorted his arm twisted into impossible angles. His skin was pale, almost translucent, with dark veins spidering across it. But it was his face that froze kai in a place. His eye we're sunken, wide with terror, and his mouth stretched in a grotesque grin that didn't match the rest of his expression.
"help" Mr. Jewel rasped, his voice a wet gurgle. His hand reached out toward kai, trembling.
Kai stumbled back, his breath hitching. "w-w-what happened to you"
The old man didn't answer. His body convulsed violently, and a sound like bones snapping echoed through the room. Slowly, impossibly Mr. Jewel began to rise, his movement jerky and unnatural.
Kai's mind screamed at him to run, but his feet felt glued to the floor. Mr. Jewel head tilted unnaturally to the side, his grin widening.
'You'll...be...next" the thing croaked
That was all it took. Kai turned and bolted out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him. His heart pounded as he raced back to his own unit, locking the door and shoving a chair under the handle for good measures.
His breath came in shallow gasps as he sank to the floor, his mind racing. What had he just seen? What was happening to Mr. Jewel?
And then, from the hallway outside, he heard it
Knocking. Slow deliberate, and growing louder