Chapter 37: The black Card

      The black card 

The sun was already beginning to set by the time Ryan stepped out of his last lecture. The sky was a wash of burnt orange and gray, like someone had smudged charcoal across a canvas.

He paused at the edge of the walkway, watching students scatter across campus laughing, moving in groups, untouchable by the kind of darkness he’d lived through.

It felt like he was walking through the wreckage of someone else’s life.

Daniel was waiting by the fountain. He looked up as Ryan approached, offering a quiet smile. “You made it.”

“I said I would,” Ryan said, even though he hadn’t been sure this morning if he’d be able to handle being outside for this long. “Thanks for waiting.”

They sat on the stone edge, watching the water ripple.

Daniel leaned back on his hands. “You’ve changed.”

Ryan didn’t answer at first. “I know.”

“Not in a bad way,” Daniel added. “It’s like… you’re still you, but harder to knock down.”

Ryan chuckled softly. “That’s one way to say I’m numb.”

isn't it 

Daniel shook his head. “No. You’re not numb. You’re guarded, sure. But I see you even trying. Every time you smile even when you’re scared.

Every time you stay instead of run.”

Ryan stared at the water, then admitted, “I still feel like Adrien’s shadow is following me. Even with him gone. I still dream about him. I still wake up afraid.”

I don't know"

“That’s okay,” Daniel said. “Healing isn’t about forgetting. It’s about surviving anyway.”

Ryan looked at him. “Is that what you’re doing? Surviving?”

“I was,” Daniel said. “But now… now I think I’m waiting.”

“For what?”

“For you.”

Ryan’s breath caught.

And then a voice behind them shattered the quiet.

“Funny,” Chris said, stepping into view with a coffee in each hand, “I could’ve sworn I was the one Ryan texted to meet.”

Ryan grinned, tension slipping from his shoulders. “I texted both of you.”

Chris handed him the coffee. “You’re playing dangerous games, Ry.”

“I think I already won the most dangerous one,” Ryan replied.

They walked back to the dorm together Chris teasing, Daniel quiet but present, Ryan in between, trying to find his balance in a life that was finally, slowly, beginning to feel like it belonged to him again.

But that night, as he sat by the window, he noticed something strange.

An envelope had been slipped under the door.

No name. No return address. Just his.

He picked it up with trembling fingers and he opened it.

Inside was a single black card with silver lettering. It read:

“There are worse monsters than Adrien. And one of them is watching you.”

Ryan felt the world tilt slightly under his feet.

He turned sharply, heart in his throat.

But the hallway was empty. Silent.

Still.

The past wasn’t finished with him yet.