The Boy Who Shouldn't Exist
Rain had become Greenwood City’s heartbeat.
For three straight days, dark clouds hung low over the skyline, turning bright afternoons into gloomy evenings. Water streamed along sidewalks, collected in potholes, and drummed endlessly against rooftops. Most people complained about the weather. To Aiden Carter, it was strangely comforting.
Rain drowned out thoughts.
It hid tears.
It made the world quieter.
Standing at the bus stop with his backpack slung over one shoulder, Aiden watched students laugh as they ran through puddles. Their conversations blended into a dull hum while he remained lost in his own thoughts.
At eighteen years old, Aiden had mastered one important skill—being invisible.
He wasn’t the class topper.
He wasn’t the captain of the football team.
He wasn’t popular enough for people to remember his name after graduation.
And honestly, he preferred it that way.
His phone vibrated.
Mom ❤️
A small smile appeared on his face.
“Don’t forget to buy bread on your way home,” the message read. “And don’t skip dinner again.”
Aiden chuckled softly.
“Yes, Mom,” he whispered as he typed his reply.
His foster mother, Sarah Carter, had raised him since he was five years old. She never hid the truth—Aiden had been adopted after his biological parents died in what officials called a laboratory explosion.
No relatives.
No photographs.
No family history.
Just a few documents and unanswered questions.
Sometimes, late at night, Aiden wondered whether anyone else in the world looked like him.
Whether someone, somewhere, remembered his real parents.
The school bus arrived with a hiss of air brakes.
Students climbed aboard, filling the seats with chatter.
Aiden chose his usual place beside the window.
As the bus rolled through Greenwood, he rested his forehead against the cool glass.
Raindrops raced each other down the window.
His eyelids grew heavy.
Sleep came before he realized it.
He stood inside a corridor of polished steel.
The air smelled of chemicals.
Red emergency lights flashed overhead.
Rows of enormous glass chambers stretched endlessly into the darkness.
Inside each chamber floated a child.
Aiden slowly approached the nearest one.
His heart nearly stopped.
The child had his face.
His eyes.
His hair.
His scar above the left eyebrow.
“No...”
He stumbled backward.
The next chamber held another identical child.
Then another.
And another.
Hundreds of them.
A loud metallic voice echoed through the corridor.
“Genetic Synchronization... Ninety-Eight Percent.”
The lights turned crimson.
Warning sirens erupted.
Aiden spun around.
At the far end of the hallway stood a massive circular door covered in strange glowing symbols.
Before he could move toward it, another voice filled the laboratory.
This one sounded almost human.
Soft.
Sad.
“If you’re hearing this...”
“...then we failed.”
The voice paused.
“But you must survive.”
Suddenly, the laboratory shook violently.
The ceiling cracked.
Machines exploded.
Glass shattered one chamber after another.
Children disappeared beneath clouds of white mist.
Above the laboratory ceiling, the sky itself split open.
A black eclipse swallowed the sun.
Darkness consumed everything.
The last words echoed through the collapsing facility.
“Run, Subject E-17...”
Aiden screamed.
His eyes flew open.
The bus had stopped outside Greenwood Senior High School.
His breathing was uneven.
His shirt clung to his skin with sweat despite the cold weather.
“Aiden!”
His best friend Noah leaned over the seat.
“Dude, you were talking in your sleep again.”
“I was?”
“You kept saying, ‘Don’t let them find me.’”
Noah laughed nervously.
“You’re starting to creep me out.”
Aiden forced a smile.
“It was just another nightmare.”
But even as he said the words, he wasn’t sure he believed them anymore.
The dream had felt too real.
Every detail remained vivid in his mind.
The laboratory.
The children.
The eclipse.
And that strange name...
Subject E-17.
He had never heard those words anywhere else.
Yet somehow...
They felt familiar.
Too familiar.
The first bell rang across campus.
Students rushed toward their classrooms.
Rain continued falling outside.
None of them noticed the black SUV parked across the street.
Its windows were completely tinted.
Inside, two people watched Aiden step through the school gates.
One of them opened a file.
Across the top of the first page were three words.
PROJECT ECLIPSE
Beneath them was a photograph of Aiden taken when he was only five years old.
The passenger looked up from the file.
“Positive identification.”
The driver nodded once.
“Don’t approach.”
“Not yet.”
The SUV pulled silently away.
Inside the school, completely unaware that someone had just confirmed his identity...
Aiden walked into chemistry class.
His ordinary life was about to end.
The chemistry laboratory smelled faintly of alcohol and fresh chalk.
Students settled into their seats while Professor Daniel Lewis wrote today’s lesson across the whiteboard.
CHEMICAL REACTIONS AND ENERGY TRANSFER
“Good morning, everyone,” he said with his usual cheerful smile. “Today we’ll perform an experiment, so I expect complete attention.”
The class groaned playfully.
Noah leaned toward Aiden and whispered, “I bet he’ll blow something up before we do.”
Aiden chuckled, but his mind was elsewhere.
The nightmare still clung to him like a shadow.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the voice.
“Run, Subject E-17.”
Why did those words sound so familiar?
Why did they make his chest tighten?
“Aiden.”
Professor Lewis looked directly at him.
“You seem distracted today.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“No need to apologize. Just stay with us.”
The lesson continued.
Beakers clinked against tables.
Students measured colorful liquids into glass containers while discussing the experiment.
Outside, thunder rumbled across the dark sky.
Rain struck the classroom windows harder than before.
Without warning...
Aiden felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest.
His breath caught.
His heartbeat slowed.
One beat.
Silence.
Another beat.
Silence.
The pain became unbearable.
He gripped the edge of the table.
“Aiden?”
Noah frowned.
“You okay?”
“I...”
Before he could answer—
Everything stopped.
The rain froze outside the windows.
A droplet of blue chemical hovered in midair.
Professor Lewis stood frozen, his hand suspended above the demonstration table.
Noah remained perfectly still, concern frozen on his face.
Even the clock on the wall had stopped ticking.
Silence.
Complete silence.
Aiden slowly stood.
His chair scraped across the floor.
The sound echoed unnaturally through the motionless classroom.
“What...”
His own voice sounded distant.
“...is happening?”
He cautiously walked between the desks.
No one blinked.
No one breathed.
He waved his hand in front of Noah’s face.
Nothing.
It was as if the world had become a painting.
His heart pounded louder with every step.
Then...
He heard footsteps.
Real footsteps.
Somewhere beyond the classroom walls.
Slow.
Steady.
Impossible.
Someone else was moving.
Aiden turned toward the classroom door.
The footsteps grew louder.
Closer.
Closer.
Then they stopped.
Right outside.
His breathing became shallow.
The doorknob slowly turned.
Click.
The door creaked open.
Standing in the hallway was a man dressed in a long black coat.
His silver hair rested neatly against his shoulders.
A long scar crossed his left eye.
Unlike everyone else...
He wasn’t frozen.
He looked directly at Aiden.
“So...”
The stranger smiled faintly.
“You’ve finally awakened.”
Aiden instinctively stepped backward.
“Who are you?”
Instead of answering, the man slowly walked into the classroom.
His boots echoed against the tiled floor.
He glanced around the frozen students before returning his attention to Aiden.
“You’ve lasted longer than expected.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Eclipse Core.”
The words struck Aiden like lightning.
“How do you know that name?”
The stranger frowned.
“You don’t remember.”
“Remember what?”
For several seconds, the man simply stared at him.
Almost sadly.
Finally, he sighed.
“They erased everything.”
Aiden’s pulse raced.
“I don’t understand!”
“I know.”
The stranger reached into his coat.
Aiden’s muscles tensed.
Instead of a weapon, the man pulled out an old silver pocket watch.
Its hands were spinning backwards.
He looked at the watch.
“We don’t have much time.”
“What do you mean?”
“The time field is collapsing.”
Before Aiden could ask another question...
The classroom lights flickered violently.
Cracks of black energy spread across the air itself.
The frozen world began shaking.
The stranger looked toward the ceiling.
“They’ve detected you.”
“Who?”
He met Aiden’s eyes.
“The people who created Project Eclipse.”
The words echoed inside Aiden’s mind.
Project Eclipse.
The same words written on the file inside the black SUV.
The stranger took one step closer.
“Listen carefully.”
“Everything you’ve believed about your life...”
“...is a lie.”
The room trembled again.
Glass windows rattled violently.
Outside, thunder exploded across the sky.
The stranger reached into his pocket and placed a small metallic object into Aiden’s trembling hand.
It was shaped like a coin.
On one side was the same strange eclipse symbol from his nightmare.
“When the time comes...”
“...find the Lighthouse.”
“What lighthouse?”
But before the stranger could answer...
The frozen classroom shattered like broken glass.
A deafening roar filled Aiden’s ears.
Light swallowed everything.
And the world started moving again.
Aiden staggered backward, his heart pounding against his ribs.
The classroom looked exactly as it had moments before.
Professor Lewis continued pouring chemicals into a beaker.
Noah was still waiting for Aiden to answer his question.
It was as if nothing had happened.
“...Aiden?” Noah asked, waving a hand in front of his face. “You’ve been staring into space for almost a minute.”
“A minute?” Aiden whispered.
He quickly turned toward the classroom door.
It was closed.
The hallway outside was empty.
The mysterious man had vanished without a trace.
“No...” Aiden muttered. “He was right there.”
“What are you talking about?” Noah frowned.
“The man in the black coat.”
Noah blinked in confusion.
“What man?”
Aiden’s eyes darted around the room.
None of the students looked frightened.
No one seemed to remember time freezing.
No one had seen the stranger.
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
Slowly, he opened his trembling hand.
The small silver coin was still there.
Its surface gleamed beneath the classroom lights, engraved with the same eclipse symbol from his dreams.
His breath caught.
“So... it wasn’t a dream.”
Before he could hide it, the symbol engraved on the coin began to glow with a faint crimson light.
At that exact moment, a sharp burning sensation spread across the back of his right hand.
Aiden gasped and instinctively pulled back his sleeve.
The strange eclipse-shaped mark had returned.
Only this time...
It was brighter than before.
Thin lines of silver light spread from the symbol like veins beneath his skin.
Then, for just a split second, every light in the classroom flickered.
Professor Lewis paused mid-sentence.
Outside, a bolt of lightning tore across the sky.
Far beyond the school grounds, hidden inside a black SUV parked several streets away, a monitoring device suddenly began flashing red.
One of the agents looked at the screen and smiled.
“The Eclipse Core has activated again.”
“We’ve found our target.”
