Chapter 29: No One Survives Obsession Unchanged

The sky looked deceptively calm that morning.

Pale blue, a few scattered clouds, birds chirping like nothing had happened as if the world hadn’t tilted sideways under Ryan’s feet the night before.

He stood outside the cabin with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, the chill in the air brushing against his skin like fingers he hadn’t given permission to touch.

Adrien had found a way to reach him again.

The photo had been like a slap. Not just because it exposed something Ryan had only ever dared to think in private, but because it proved Adrien still had access. Still knew how to strike where it hurt most.

Behind him, the cabin door opened.

Chris stepped out barefoot, hair tousled, hoodie zipped halfway, holding two mugs of coffee. He offered one to Ryan wordlessly.

“Thanks,” Ryan murmured.

They stood in silence. Birds. Wind. A branch creaking high above.

Then Chris said, “I’ve been thinking.”

“Yeah?”

“If he still has your journal, and he’s still close enough to send you pictures… he’s not done.”

Ryan’s grip tightened on the mug.

Chris continued, more carefully now, “I know Daniel wants to go through the school, maybe even Adrien’s father, but I think at some point we’re going to have to decide how far we’re willing to go.”

Ryan turned his head. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” Chris said, his eyes hard now, “if he crosses another line, I won’t sit back and wait for the system to catch up.”

The words hit Ryan with a strange heat. Not fear but a fierce, grim comfort. Chris had always been the quiet one, the steady one. If even he was thinking like this, things were worse than Ryan had let himself believe.

He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.

Back inside, Daniel was already pacing.

“His father won’t respond to any of my calls,” he said, frustration laced in every movement. “But I heard through one of the law professors that Adrien’s family is trying to keep this under wraps. Silence it. He’s a liability.”

Ryan sat at the table. “Which means they’ll probably pull him out of school before he does more damage.”

“Or before we do,” Chris muttered from the kitchen.

Daniel paused, then walked over to Ryan, crouching in front of him.

“I need to ask you something,” he said gently. “And you don’t have to say yes.”

Ryan blinked, unsure.

“I want you to give me access to the rest of your journal.”

Chris spun around. “What?”

Daniel raised a hand. “Not to read it. Not unless you want me to. I want to document what Adrien took, how he got it, and what kind of emotional damage he’s causing.

If we go to the university board or even press charges we’ll need more than screenshots.”

Ryan looked down. He thought of the nights he’d filled those pages. The letters. The confessions. The fear. He thought of the one entry he barely remembered writing shaky handwriting, words like If he ever gets to me, please don’t let me pretend it didn’t happen.

That alone made his chest cave inward.

But Daniel’s voice grounded him.

“I won’t use anything without your permission,” Daniel said softly. “I swear. But you don’t have to fight him without armor.”

Ryan nodded, slowly. Then again.

“Okay.”

Chris didn’t look thrilled, but he didn’t argue.

By afternoon, Chris left to go back into town to gather supplies and check Ryan’s campus mailbox for any signs of Adrien’s activity. Daniel stayed behind with Ryan, and they spent the next hour cataloguing everything Adrien had already done each note, each intrusion, every strange, chilling message.

Daniel sat at the desk while Ryan hovered behind him.

“You wrote this entry a few weeks ago,” Daniel murmured. “The one where you said you felt someone watching you even when the blinds were drawn.”

Ryan nodded. “That was real. I wasn’t imagining it.”

Daniel looked up. “He’s been obsessed with you for longer than you think.”

Ryan met his gaze. “I know.”

The air thickened between them. Something deeper unspoken. Then Daniel’s voice dropped.

“Was I the one you were writing to?”

Ryan froze.

Daniel didn’t move, didn’t look away. He just waited.

Ryan swallowed hard, voice low. “You were the one I was always afraid to write about. Because if I did, it would make it real.”

Daniel reached up and brushed his fingers along Ryan’s wrist, slow and tentative.

“And now?”

Ryan’s voice barely rose above a whisper. “Now it’s already real.”

Later that night, the storm broke again not inside Ryan’s head this time, but outside.

Rain came hard. Thunder cracked above the trees. Chris hadn’t returned yet. Daniel double checked the locks and turned on the front floodlight. Ryan sat by the fireplace with a blanket around his shoulders and his phone in his hand.

One new message.

Unknown number.

“So many secrets in those pages. I wonder what Chris would think if he read what you wrote about him.”

Ryan’s blood ran cold.

Then, another message followed.

“Tell Daniel to check the basement. There’s something there I left just for you.”

His breath caught. His hands shook.

“Daniel,” he called, voice cracking.

Daniel came running. Ryan showed him the messages.

Without a word, Daniel grabbed a flashlight and motioned for Ryan to stay back. But Ryan followed.

The cabin’s basement door creaked open slowly, revealing narrow stairs and cold air that reeked of damp wood.

Daniel descended first.

The flashlight beam swept across the stone walls.

And then stopped.

A single page from Ryan’s journal was pinned to the wall with a hunting knife.

On it, Adrien had scrawled in red ink:

“Every story needs an ending. I’m coming to write yours myself.”