Yandere Stream

Kai stared at the page for so long that Luna eventually reached over and took it from his hand. She read it once, then again, and her expression immediately changed. ”That’s not funny.”

”I know.”

”You didn’t write this?”

”No.”

”Finn?”

”No.”

”Adrian?”

”No.”

Luna looked toward the hallway. ”Then who did?”

Kai didn’t answer. The printer clicked, causing both of them to jump. Another sheet slowly began sliding out. Kai approached it cautiously. This time there wasn’t a sentence. There was only a name.

KAI MERCER.

Beneath it, another line appeared.

I KNOW YOU’RE THERE.

Kai felt his stomach tighten. Luna stepped closer and looked over his shoulder. ”What does it want?”

”I don’t know.”

The printer continued working. Another page emerged.

YOU LEFT SOMETHING BEHIND.

Kai frowned. ”I didn’t.”

The machine fell silent for several seconds before starting again. One page emerged, then another, then another. Soon hundreds of sheets poured from the printer and spilled across the floor. Luna instinctively stepped backward.

”What the hell?”

Kai bent down and grabbed one of the pages. It contained a memory. Not a description of a memory, but the memory itself. Kai standing beneath the tree. Adrian beside him. Finn sitting in the grass. Luna laughing. He dropped the page in shock. Another landed at his feet. This one showed Adrian dying. Another revealed Kai rewriting the story. Another showed Luna disappearing. Another showed Finn alone. Another showed the Reader. Another showed the white room. Another showed the train. Kai looked around the apartment in disbelief.

”These are all the timelines.”

Luna nodded slowly. ”But they’re gone.”

”No.” Kai picked up another page. ”They’re not.”

The printer continued producing them without stopping. He stared at the growing pile. ”The worlds didn’t disappear. They’re still somewhere.”

Luna’s eyes widened. ”Then where?”

Kai looked upward. ”I don’t know.”

A voice answered from behind them.

”I do.”

Kai spun around. Adrian stood in the doorway with Finn behind him. Neither looked amused. Adrian held a sheet of paper.

”These aren’t coming from the printer.”

Kai frowned. ”What?”

Adrian placed the page on the table. ”Look.”

Kai did. The sheet was completely blank. Then letters slowly appeared across its surface, not printed but written by an invisible hand.

WE ARE STILL HERE.

A chill ran through Kai. Finn looked at him.

”They’re asking to come back.”

Kai stared at the sentence. ”Who?”

Another answer appeared.

EVERYONE.

The apartment lights flickered once, then twice, before every light suddenly shut off. Kai immediately reached for Luna.

”Stay close.”

”I am.”

Outside, the city went dark. Every building, every street, every window disappeared into darkness. For a few seconds the entire world seemed silent. Then a single apartment light turned on across the street. Another followed. Then another. Soon thousands of windows glowed throughout the city. Kai stepped closer to the glass.

”Look.”

The lights weren’t random. Together they formed words stretching across entire buildings.

REMEMBER US.

Luna whispered, ”Oh my God.”

The letters shifted.

YOU PROMISED.

Kai felt his chest tighten. ”I didn’t promise them.”

Adrian stepped beside him. ”You did.”

Kai looked at him. ”When?”

”Every time you rewrote us.”

Adrian pointed toward the city. ”Every time you refused to let someone disappear.”

Kai shook his head. ”I didn’t know.”

”I know.”

The words changed once more.

WE DON’T WANT TO DIE.

Finn’s expression hardened. Kai looked toward him.

”What do we do?”

Finn stared at the city. ”We find the first page.”

Kai frowned. ”The first page?”

”The one before everything.”

”Where is it?”

Finn looked toward the printer. ”Somewhere between your memory and the world.”

Kai sighed. ”Of course.”

They left the apartment and stepped into the empty streets. The city wasn’t abandoned. It was simply empty. Cars sat motionless in intersections. Store doors stood open. Traffic lights continued changing despite there being nobody around to see them. The entire city felt paused. Kai walked beside Luna while Adrian and Finn followed close behind. No one spoke for several blocks.

Eventually they reached the park. The tree still stood exactly where it always had. Kai approached it, expecting something to happen, but everything seemed normal until he noticed words carved into the dirt beneath it.

DIG.

Kai stared at the message. Finn sighed.

”Of course.”

The four of them began digging. Nearly twenty minutes passed before Adrian’s fingers struck something solid.

”Found something.”

Kai crouched beside him and together they pulled a small wooden box from the earth. It looked old. Ancient. The moment Kai saw the handwriting on the lid, his heart tightened.

His mother’s.

Slowly he opened the box.

Inside rested a single sheet of paper.

The first page.

Kai carefully lifted it. For several seconds it remained blank. Then words slowly appeared.

In the beginning, there was no story.

Kai swallowed.

Another line formed.

There was only a boy who didn’t want to be alone.

Luna gently touched his arm.

”Keep reading.”

Kai nodded.

So he created someone to stay.

A name appeared.

Adrian.

Then another sentence formed.

Then someone to understand him.

Luna.

Another appeared.

Then someone to protect them.

Finn.

Kai’s eyes burned as he continued reading. Then the next sentence appeared.

And then he created himself.

Kai froze.

”What?”

Luna looked at him in confusion. ”What does it mean?”

Kai shook his head. ”I don’t know.”

The page continued writing.

Kai Mercer was not the boy.

Kai Mercer was the character.

Kai stared at the words.

”No.”

The page continued.

The boy who created them had another name.

Kai’s breathing stopped.

Slowly, a name appeared. Not Kai. Not Adrian. Not Finn. Not Luna.

A name none of them had ever seen before.

Kai stared at it while his mother’s handwriting surrounded the letters. Then one final sentence appeared.

He has been watching the entire time.

Kai’s blood went cold.

”Who?” Luna whispered.

Kai never answered.

Because someone was standing behind them.

A tall man wearing a dark coat.

Older.

Familiar.

Not like Kai. Not like Adrian. Not like Finn.

But like someone who had always existed in every memory without ever appearing in any of them.

The man smiled.

”You finally found it.”

Kai slowly stood.

”Who are you?”

The man glanced at the page before looking back at him.

”I was wondering how long it would take.”

Kai tightened his grip on the paper.

”Answer me.”

The man’s smile remained.

”You’ve been calling me the wrong name.”

”What name?”

He stepped forward as the streetlights flickered back to life. His face became clearer.

Kai’s heart stopped.

He knew him.

Not from the story.

From real life.

From the oldest memory he possessed.

The man standing beside his mother.

Holding the original notebook.

The notebook Kai had spent his entire life believing belonged to him.

The man smiled.

”My name is Elias.”

Kai stared.

”You’re...”

Elias nodded.

”Your father.”

Silence followed.

Kai couldn’t breathe.

His mother had always told him that his father died before he was born.

Yet here he stood.

Alive.

Older.

Holding a pen.

Elias looked down at the first page.

”You weren’t supposed to find this yet.”

Kai finally found his voice.

”Why?”

Elias’s smile disappeared.

”Because now that you’ve remembered who you are...”

He lifted his gaze toward the dark sky.

”...the others can remember too.”

The city shook violently.

Thousands of windows shattered at the same moment.

Voices filled the streets. Not one voice. Not ten.

Thousands.

People began emerging from buildings. Some cried. Some laughed. Some screamed names that had been forgotten long ago. Names from worlds that no longer existed.

Adrian looked around in disbelief.

”What the hell is happening?”

Elias answered calmly.

”The dead are coming back.”

Kai stared at him.

”That’s impossible.”

Elias met his gaze.

”Your mistake was thinking death was ever the ending.”

At that moment every phone in the city activated simultaneously. Every screen displayed the same message.

Chapter ONE HAS BEEN REOPENED.

Kai lowered his eyes to the first page in his hands. The words were changing again. A final sentence slowly appeared.

And this time, the boy gets to write himself.