Chapter 1:1AM
It was around 1:00 a.m.
A luxurious black sedan raced through the winding roads of a dense forest. Its headlights carved a narrow path through the relentless rain, while flashes of lightning briefly revealed the towering trees before darkness swallowed them once again.
Inside the car sat a young couple who had been living together for years. The man drove with both hands firmly gripping the steering wheel, while the woman sat beside him, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. Although the heater was running, an unsettling chill lingered inside the car.
Every few seconds, the man's eyes shifted from the road to the rear-view mirror, then to the side mirrors, as though he expected someone to appear behind them at any moment. The woman noticed his restless glances and found herself doing the same. Neither of them spoke, but the fear growing inside them was enough to make ordinary shadows feel alive.
The only sounds were the rhythmic sweep of the windshield wipers, the rain hammering against the glass, and the distant roar of thunder.
After what felt like an eternity, the woman finally broke the silence.
"How much longer?"
The man glanced at the navigation screen.
"Twenty... maybe twenty-five minutes."
She stared through the rain-covered window.
"I just hope we're not too late."
"We can't afford to be," he replied quietly.
Another flash of lightning split the sky.
For a fraction of a second, the road ahead was illuminated by an intense white light.
Both of them froze.
The lightning had created a strange image directly in front of the car.
Neither of them could explain what they had seen.
It wasn't a person.
It wasn't an animal.
It was simply... an image.
Darkness returned just as quickly as the light had appeared.
The silence inside the car became unbearable.
"You saw it too... didn't you?" the woman whispered.
The man hesitated before nodding.
"...Yeah."
"But how is that even possible? How could we both see the exact same image?"
He let out a slow breath.
"Lightning can play tricks on our eyes. Shadows, branches, reflections... our minds try to make sense of them. Maybe it was just a coincidence that we imagined the same thing."
She looked unconvinced.
"The exact same image?"
His grip on the steering wheel tightened.
"If it had really been something standing in front of us, I would've slammed on the brakes. We'd probably be lying in a ditch by now."
He forced a faint smile.
"So... it can't be anything else."
The woman looked back through the rain-covered windshield.
"I hope you're right."
Neither of them spoke again.
The silence inside the car grew heavier with every passing mile.
His eyes never left the road, but his body was beginning to betray him.
The freezing temperature, the relentless rain, and the pressure of the journey had become almost unbearable. Anxiety tightened every muscle in his body, leaving him increasingly uncomfortable.
He desperately needed to stop.
Not because the car had a problem...
Because he needed to relieve himself.
On any other night, he would've pulled over without thinking twice.
But tonight was different.
Not after what they had both seen.
Maybe it had only been an illusion created by the lightning.
Maybe he was right.
Or maybe...
he wasn't.
The uncertainty alone was enough to keep his foot firmly on the accelerator.
He wasn't afraid of the rain.
He wasn't even afraid of the darkness.
He was afraid of stopping.
If he stepped out of the car now, in the middle of that endless forest with the storm raging around them...
he wasn't sure he would have the courage to get back in.
As if the night itself had sensed his growing anxiety, his phone suddenly rang.
The sharp sound made both of them flinch.
He glanced at the screen.
For a moment, his heartbeat seemed to stop.
It was him.
The very man they were risking everything to meet.
The man everyone feared.
Without a word, he answered the call and switched it to speaker.
A calm, deep voice echoed through the car.
"Having trouble getting here?"
Neither of them replied.
"Don't worry."
A brief pause followed.
"You'll make it."
The call ended.
No goodbye.
No explanation.
Just a few words.
The man slowly lowered the phone.
That was how he had always been.
He never wasted words. He never held conversations. He spoke only when something needed to be said, and once he had said it, the call was over.
Strangely, instead of frightening them, those few words eased the weight pressing against their hearts.
For the first time that night...
they felt hope.
The woman broke the silence.
"You know..."
Her voice trembled.
"He only calls when something terrible is about to happen."
The man's expression hardened.
She wasn't wrong.
Every single time they had received a call from him, disaster had followed.
He nodded slowly.
"That's true."
He looked back at the endless road disappearing beneath the rain.
"But every time..."
"...we survived."
The woman lowered her gaze.
"Will there always be another time?"
He remained silent for a moment, remembering the certainty in that calm voice.
"You'll make it."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"He gave us his word."
The woman wanted to believe him.
Outside, the storm grew even more violent.
Inside, neither of them realized...
their journey had only just begun.
