Chapter 41: Echoes Beneath the Skin

Ryan didn’t sleep.

Even after Chris fell into a tense, protective silence beside him on the couch, Ryan stayed awake with the blue notebook open on his lap and a half empty cup of cold coffee by his side.

His fingers traced the name Elias written in looping, ghostlike handwriting on the first page, over and over again. Every word inside was like a cracked mirror Elias’s grief, paranoia, longing, and obsession spilling out in fragmented entries.

“He said I was special. He said I reminded him of the stars he used to look at when he was a boy. I think he wanted to believe in something again. I think he chose me because he couldn’t forgive himself.”

“The bruises fade. But I still dream of the night he stood at my door with that look in his eyes. Like he already knew he’d ruin me.”

Ryan shut the book.

The words clung to him like fingerprints.

Adrien hadn’t left the notebook for guilt or sentimentality he left it to leave a mark. To show Ryan what came before him. To show him what came next.

“Hey.” Chris’s voice was rough from sleep. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. “Still reading?”

Ryan nodded.

“You okay?”

“I don’t think I’ve been okay in weeks,” Ryan admitted, looking down. “But… I think I’m seeing things more clearly now.”

Chris reached out, his hand resting gently over Ryan’s. “You’re not alone.”

“I know,” Ryan whispered. “And that’s the only reason I haven’t broken yet.”

They sat like that for a while quiet, steady. And then Ryan spoke again.

“I think Adrien’s trying to re-create something,” he said. “Not just with me. With… everything. The way he talks about Elias, it’s like he’s building a story in his head. Like he wants to rewrite it. Make it end differently.”

Chris frowned. “And how does he think it’s supposed to end?”

Ryan looked haunted. “With me choosing him.”

Chris stood up, pacing. “That’s delusional.”

“I know. But Adrien doesn’t live in our world. He lives in a version where pain makes people stay.”

Chris stopped. “So what do we do?”

“We make sure he can’t write the ending.”

Ryan stood, shoulders squaring.

“I want to talk to Daniel,” he said. “He knows how people like Adrien think. He used to” Ryan hesitated, then forced it out. “He used to be like that.”

Chris flinched a little, but nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

The next day, they met Daniel in a small off campus café, one that smelled like burnt espresso and old floorboards. Daniel looked tired but sharper than usual, his hair pushed back and a faint bruise still yellowing near his jaw from the last confrontation.

“So,” Daniel said, folding his arms. “You decided to believe me.”

“I believe Adrien is dangerous,” Ryan replied. “And I believe you’ve seen parts of him I haven’t.”

Daniel’s mouth twisted. “I saw everything.”

He leaned forward, voice low.

“Adrien doesn’t think he’s a monster. He thinks he’s the cure. He thinks pain purifies love. He’ll hurt you, Ryan not because he hates you. But because he loves you.”

Ryan shivered.

Daniel’s voice dropped even lower. “And he’ll make you thank him for it. That’s how far it’ll go.”

Chris looked ready to explode. “So how do we stop him?”

Daniel tapped his fingers against his coffee cup. “We find what’s still human in him. And we burn it down.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow. “And if there’s nothing human left?”

“Then we burn the rest.”

That night, a message slid into Ryan’s inbox. No name. Just an audio file.

He hesitated.

Then clicked play.

Adrien’s voice came through, soft and sharp like glass dragged over silk.

“You read his words. You saw what he wrote about me. But Elias lied. He always did. He wanted to be the victim so badly, he forgot how much he begged to stay.”

“I’m not angry, Ryan. Not yet. But you need to understand: this isn’t a game. This is a story. And I don’t lose in stories. People like me… we become legends.”

“So ask yourself. How do you want to be remembered?”

The file ended.

Chris stood behind Ryan, fists clenched.

“We’re ending this,” he said. “Now.”

And Ryan nodded.

Because legends could bleed too.