The wind moved softly through the house.
Juson lay still.
Then drifted into sleep.
The bulb above flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then went out.
Darkness.
A phone rang.
---
Morning.
Juson woke up.
A job offer.
Teaching.
He accepted without thinking.
Something stable.
Something normal.
---
Days passed.
Simple days.
Routine.
Morning tea.
Work.
Returning home.
Yokina adjusting to motherhood.
The baby growing.
Silence filling the spaces between conversations.
Nothing unusual.
And yet—
Not normal either.
---
Weeks turned into months.
Months into years.
Herik grew.
But not like other children.
His eyes shifted.
Grey… fading into a faint blue.
Unnatural.
Unsettling.
He didn't speak.
Not even at two.
Yokina noticed.
"His skin feels dry," she said once.
"And he barely reacts…"
Juson nodded.
But didn't answer.
Because he had noticed it too.
He just didn't want to say it out loud.
---
One morning, a call came.
An old friend.
A reunion.
Yokina smiled for the first time in days.
Juson agreed.
It felt like things might return to normal.
For a moment.
---
Until they didn't.
The car had no fuel.
The plan was cancelled.
A small problem.
But it left behind an odd silence.
---
That evening—
While Yokina slept with Herik—
Juson stepped outside quietly.
He told the maid to leave early.
Then drove away.
Far.
To the riverside.
The air was colder there.
Still.
He opened the trunk.
Pulled out a bundle of papers.
His fingers hesitated before flipping through them.
Some were marked.
Some crossed out.
Some rewritten multiple times.
Like failed attempts.
One page caught his attention.
"Attempt 4: Itagawa—"
The rest was covered
But not completely.
Something still remained.
Juson stared at it.
His jaw tightened.
Why did I keep this…?
His grip on the paper slowly hardened.
For a moment, it looked like he might fold it.
Keep it.
Instead—
He exhaled.
And threw it into the river.
The paper drifted.
Spun once.
Then slowly sank.
Juson didn't move.
He kept staring at the water long after it disappeared.
As if something important had just been erased.
Or buried.
---
When he returned—
Nothing had changed.
The house looked the same.
Yokina awake.
The maid back.
Dinner ready.
Normal.
Too normal.
---
Juson picked up Herik.
Looked into his eyes.
Blue.
Not natural.
Not before.
This time—
He didn't look away.
---
That night, as the lights went out, Juson lay awake.
The silence in the house felt heavier.
Not empty.
Not peaceful.
Watching.
Waiting.
And for the first time—
Juson wasn't sure…
if the nightmare had ever ended.
---