Reflection of Fear

Evan started hitting his head even harder. Oliver was worried about Evan’s condition.

“Hey, Evan, are you okay?”  Oliver was trying to approach him cautiously, though he was scared. “Why are you doing this?”

Evan stopped hitting his head. Slowly, he turned his head toward Oliver. Oliver started trembling with fear. Joe, too, stood frozen, unable to react. When Evan wiped away the tears pooling in his eyes, the redness in his pupils, representing his own hatred and pain, became even more apparent.

“I was helpless; the only thing I could do was go there.. I thought that man would be my only salvation. And he gave the curse to me.”  Evan was crying.

Joe and Oliver were deeply saddened by Evan’s state. His tears touched them deeply. Before them stood a helpless boy, someone who had carried his emotions within himself for years. Joe found it hard to digest Evan’s bitter truth. Oliver, on the other hand, was curious about what had happened. He wanted to hear Evan out. Gathering his courage, he decided to ask.

“Evan.”  Oliver had calmed down and was now ready to ask. “What happened that day?”

Evan, who normally couldn't recall that day, suddenly relived it like a movie reel flashing before his eyes the moment Oliver asked. It was as if, in one second, he experienced all the emotions he had felt that day. A cold sensation swept over his entire body. That day, which seemed like an incomprehensible nightmare, was more than just the helplessness of an 11-year-old child. Could a dream give even an 11-year-old the determination to do anything?

Once again, his parents were fighting late at night. Ignoring their yelling, Evan was heading up to his room to sleep. As he slowly climbed the stairs, he briefly felt concerned for his mother. Even though she was always angry with him, he loved her. When he glanced down from the stairs, he saw his father being violent toward his mother. Overwhelmed with fear, he ran straight to his room. Terrified, he hid under his bed. He was so scared that he couldn’t move. Suddenly, when his mother screamed, Evan panicked and tried to raise his head under the bed, hitting it hard. The impact knocked him unconscious. When he opened his eyes, it was morning.

Evan crawled out from under the bed. He felt dizzy, but the house was dead silent. When he looked in the mirror, he saw that his eyebrow was split open. His face was covered in blood. Staring at himself in the mirror, he felt nothing. No hatred, no anger, no sadness, no rage… The only thought running through his mind was that he had to end this madness. Then he remembered something—a dream. 

He wondered if what had happened the day before had been a dream, but no, it wasn’t. In the dream, he had seen himself in the mirror just like that. He also remembered going downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. It felt as though he was reliving his dream in real life. He opened the door and once again heard the shouting. His father was still yelling at his mother for reasons Evan didn’t understand. He was sick of the shouting. Slowly, he descended the stairs and headed toward the kitchen, just beside the stairs. The moment he entered the kitchen, a vision flashed before his eyes—his parents covered in blood. That was how his dream had ended.

Evan’s parents froze when they saw the state of his face. His father, enraged, began to scold Evan and then slapped him. The force of the slap sent Evan to the ground. Evan’s mother was yelling, asking why his father had hit him. The moment Evan stood up, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He remembered this moment from his dream. There should be a kitchen knife on the counter to his left. He lifted his head, and when he looked over, he saw the knife. He was ready to do what had to be done. 

He grabbed the knife and, with his father’s back turned, plunged it into his father’s back and pulled it out. His father collapsed instantly. Normally, a stab like that wouldn’t kill someone right away, but Evan had stabbed it exactly as he had in the dream, hitting his father’s heart precisely, and by pulling the knife back immediately, his father died on the spot.

His mother, seeing what had happened, fell off her chair in terror. Evan was walking toward her with the knife in hand, his gaze making it clear he was about to kill her. She tried to back away from him, but the shock had paralyzed her body. As Evan approached, he uttered only one sentence.

“You’ll have a much happier life now.”  Evan said this with eerie calm.

He got closer and closer, then drove the knife straight into the middle of his mother’s forehead. He repeated this several times until her head was completely shattered.

When Evan saw his mother’s shattered head, he realized the dream had ended, and he came back to his senses. He was now fully aware of what he had done. Yet, he felt a strange sense of relief, as though all the bad emotions had been washed away. Feeling the pain from the gash on his brow, he decided to go to the hospital and left the house.

“Everyone on the street was looking at me with disgust. That was when I wanted to die, and that man granted my wish.” Evan was in a state of despair.

“I didn’t expect a story like this,”  Oliver said.

“Don’t worry, they know why you’re here and who sent you,”  Evan replied.

Joe and Oliver were in shock. Were spirits watching them? Or were the spirits after them? They couldn’t make sense of it. But Joe decided to voice what was on his mind.

“Look, Evan, I’m really angry—angry for you, for the people who have been protecting you, and for the ones who were kidnapped by that scumbag Mark. I want you to be the one to kill him. Come with us. Let me take you to the person who sent us here. Believe me, he’s ready to do whatever it takes to stop him.”  Joe’s voice rose with every sentence. “Help us stop him, Evan!”

“You still don’t understand the truth. I can’t leave this place. And I don’t even want to kill him. That man granted my wish. But the curse of fate is that I wasn’t allowed to die,”  Evan said.

“It doesn’t matter! We’ll get you out of here, and we’ll go find Mark. But first, we need to get the things from inside the wall behind you,”  Joe said, aiming to kill two birds with one stone.

Evan opened a compartment behind him and took out the files.

“Oh, are you talking about this pile of papers? I haven’t been able to read anything for so long that I’ve forgotten how to read and write. When I found these, I didn’t understand what they were, so I was going to burn them, but Charlotte didn’t let me,”  Evan said and handed the files to Joe.

Oliver took the files instead of Joe and glanced over them. These were the files they were looking for. The mission was successfully completed. Next, they had to take Evan and go to Henry. Joe looked at Evan one last time. After that look, Evan felt as though he had been freed from the chains of Charlotte and Jeremy, and he said what was on his mind.

“I’m coming!”

Joe immediately grabbed Evan’s hand and ran outside. Oliver followed them with the files in hand. They ran up to the ground floor. Joe was trying to get Evan out as quickly as possible, fearing that the spirits might stop him. However, as they reached the ground floor, they heard the sound of sirens outside. A police car had been dispatched after receiving a report about two kids trying to enter the forbidden old hospital. The two officers who got out of the car were surveying the area. When the kids reached the ground floor, they noticed the officers and tried to move quietly. 

As they slowly made their way toward the back exit, the wooden floor beneath them began to give way. Oliver barely managed to save himself from falling. While they were still trying to figure out what had happened, one of the officers appeared near them.

The officer immediately drew his gun and aimed it at Evan. He shouted to his partner, “The cursed kid is here!” As soon as Evan heard that, he raised his open hand toward the officer. The officer couldn’t understand what was happening. Evan’s eyes began to glow, and his clothes started to move as if there was a gust of wind around him. Then Evan clenched his hand into a fist. The moment he did, the officer’s body twisted and exploded from within. Joe and Oliver couldn’t believe what they were seeing, but they were too shocked to react.

When they reached the exit of the hospital, the other officer had arrived there as well. This time, Evan focused only his eyes on him, and blood began to pour from the officer’s eyes, nose, and ears—from everywhere. He had destroyed the inside of that officer’s body, too. After killing him, Evan stopped and began to cry.

“This curse will never leave me for the rest of my life. I can’t live... I shouldn’t live,” Evan said, full of despair.

Before Joe or Oliver could say anything, Evan ripped off his own head. Oliver was trembling with fear, but Joe didn’t show any reaction. That’s because what he had seen wasn’t just Evan’s self-destruction. Two spirits, one male and one female, were standing behind Evan. Joe could see them. Those two spirits took the hand of Evan’s soul, which had emerged from his dead body, and lifted him toward the sky. Joe followed them with his eyes. Oliver realized that Joe was seeing something.

“Are you seeing something?”  Oliver managed to finish his sentence, still in shock.

“I saw them. They took Evan’s soul. Maybe it was for the best. He’s at peace now,”  Joe said.

“How are you even seeing these things? Or... what’s happening now?”  Oliver began to panic more and more.

"Evan said something as if I were one of them, remember? There’s something wrong here, but we’ll figure it out. It’s probably written in the reports, right?"  Joe was calm.

"Could it be related to that car accident? You know, the accident..."  Oliver said.

"We'll see, we’ll find out,"  Joe replied.

The two immediately set off again. This time, they were taking a longer route back. While on the road, Joe checked his phone and saw that his sister had called him 12 times. He quickly sent her a message, letting her know he’d be staying at Oliver’s tonight. He knew it was going to be a long night. 

The two arrived at Henry's house and knocked on the door. No one answered. They knocked again. Still no answer. This time, Oliver used his shoulder to break the door down. With one push, the door broke. While inspecting the door, they realized the locks had been broken. When they entered the house, they called out to Henry multiple times, but there was no response.

Then Oliver noticed that Lucas's bedroom door was open. He remembered it being closed when they left. Joe and Oliver slowly approached the door and peeked inside, only to find Henry dead on the bed. His arms and eyes were mutilated, and right above him was a letter. Joe and Oliver were at a loss for words. Every hour that passed, they were faced with worse and worse events. In a burst of anger, Oliver grabbed the letter, shouting. The letter had "Joe" written on it. Oliver handed the letter to Joe. Joe opened it, and it was a message from a maniac addressed to him.

"It’s terrifying how my mistakes keep haunting me. What a coincidence that one of my mistakes is trying to stab me in the back, while another one is now chasing me. This is not a place for you to play childish games, kid. Stay away from this business and everything else. I’m telling you this for your own good. Otherwise, you’ll lose everything on this path, and even then, you won’t reach me. Remember… none of the things you will go through are because of me."