The last day

Lucian, wake up. You’re going to be late.”

The voice pulled him from sleep, breaking through the silence of the room like something distant yet familiar.

“Get ready. It’s your last day of high school.”

A pause followed.

“I’m already awake,” Lucian replied quietly.

His voice was calm, but his mind wasn’t. For a moment, he simply lay there, staring at the ceiling. The words last day should have meant relief or excitement, yet instead, there was a strange heaviness in his chest—like something unfinished was waiting just out of reach.

He got out of bed slowly. The floor felt colder than usual. As he moved toward the mirror, he caught his reflection—tired eyes, slightly unfocused. He blinked once.

Something felt… wrong.

Not in a clear way. Not something he could explain. Just a quiet unease pressing at the edges of his thoughts, like a warning without a voice.

When Lucian arrived at school, he noticed it immediately.

The usual chaos of students shouting, laughing, running through the hallways—was missing.

Instead, there was silence.

Not complete silence, but something worse. Controlled silence.

Students stood in small clusters, leaning in close as they whispered to each other. Their voices were low, sharp, urgent. Every few seconds, someone would glance around nervously, as if afraid of being overheard.

Lucian slowed his steps.

Something had happened.

Something serious.

“Hey, Lucian.”

A voice cut through his thoughts.

Henry approached him from the side, walking at an even pace. His expression was unusual—serious, focused, almost tense. The kind of look he didn’t normally wear at school.

“Did you hear what happened last night?”

Lucian frowned slightly, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.

“What happened?”

Henry hesitated for a moment before replying. His voice dropped lower.

“Kong Kong Mountain.”

The name alone made the air feel heavier.

“People suddenly collapsed,” Henry continued. “All of them. No injuries. No explanation.”

Lucian’s steps slowed completely.

For a moment, he didn’t respond.

Collapsed… all of them?

A cold sensation spread through his chest, tightening slightly as his mind tried to process it.

“When did this happen?” he asked finally.

“At night,” Henry said. “The police are investigating.”

Lucian didn’t speak immediately. His gaze drifted past Henry, toward the distant end of the corridor. His thoughts had already moved somewhere else.

Kong Kong Mountain.

He didn’t know why, but the name felt familiar in a way that unsettled him. Like something his mind was refusing to fully remember.

Then another thought struck him suddenly—sharp and immediate.

His father.

He hadn’t come home last night.

A faint unease deepened into something heavier.

Lucian’s hand tightened slightly around his bag strap.

Henry noticed the change in his expression.

“Your dad’s a police officer, right?” Henry asked, a little more carefully now.

Lucian nodded.

But he didn’t say anything else.

Not because he had nothing to say—but because for the first time that morning, he felt like any answer he gave might lead to something he wasn’t ready to face.

And somewhere in the silence of the school around them, the ordinary world quietly continued—unaware that something far from ordinary had already begun.