Chapter 21 — Part 1
The reunion ended quietly.
Not with drama.
Not with confrontation.
Just the slow thinning of voices.
Glasses clinking less.
Laughter dropping in volume.
People leaving in pairs or alone.
Daryl stepped outside.
Night air hit his face.
Cool.
Clean.
Sharp enough to clear his head.
The streetlights cast long shadows across the pavement.
Cars passed.
Music leaked from a bar down the road.
Behind him, the building hummed with the last remnants of the reunion.
Ahead of him—
The city.
He exhaled.
Slow.
He checked his phone.
11:43 PM.
Earlier than he expected.
Earlier than he felt.
Lian Yue had hugged him goodbye.
Not awkward.
Not forced.
Warm.
"Message me when you get home," she'd said.
He nodded.
"I will."
He hadn't moved yet.
He stood there for a moment longer.
Hands in his pockets.
Looking at nothing in particular.
Then his eyes drifted.
Down the street.
Past the lights.
Past the traffic.
Toward the darker end of campus.
Where the streetlights thinned.
Where the buildings grew older.
Lower.
Quieter.
That's when he saw it.
Not directly.
Not clearly.
Just the shape of it.
The outline he already knew by heart.
The abandoned school.
Three blocks off.
Hidden behind overgrown trees and a rusted fence.
He had walked past it dozens of times as a student.
Every time, he told himself the same thing.
One day.
Not now.
Not tonight.
He should go home.
Shower.
Sleep.
Process the reunion.
Send Lian Yue a message.
Be normal.
His phone buzzed.
A notification.
Not a message.
A reminder.
Saved.
Pinned.
"Hunted Location — Old Eastwood School."
He stared at the screen.
His thumb hovered.
Then dropped.
Unlocked the phone.
Opened the map.
The route appeared instantly.
Seven minutes on foot.
He laughed softly.
"…Of course," he muttered.
Seven minutes.
That was nothing.
He told himself he wasn't going inside.
Just a look.
Just exterior shots.
Just to see if anything felt off.
No stream.
No risks.
Just curiosity.
He turned.
Started walking.
The city noise faded gradually.
Cars became distant.
Voices thinned.
The air changed.
Cooler.
Still.
He passed the last café.
The last vending machine.
The last brightly lit building.
The streetlights stopped working properly here.
Every second one flickered.
Buzzed.
Or stayed dark.
Trees crowded closer to the road.
Their branches tangled overhead.
Leaves rustled despite the lack of wind.
The fence came into view.
Chain-link.
Bent inward.
Broken in places.
A warning sign hung crookedly.
NO TRESPASSING.
The paint was faded.
Someone had scribbled over it years ago.
A crude smiley face.
Daryl stopped across the street.
He looked at the building.
Old Eastwood School.
Three stories.
Brick exterior.
Windows dark.
Some shattered.
Some boarded up.
The entrance doors hung slightly ajar.
As if the building were breathing.
Waiting.
His heart rate ticked up.
Just a little.
He smiled.
"Still standing," he murmured.
His phone buzzed again.
This time—
A message.
From MoonPetal.
> You still out?
He hesitated.
Typed.
> Yeah. Heading home.
Not a lie.
Not entirely.
He locked the phone.
Then unlocked it again.
Opened the streaming app.
His reflection stared back at him.
Tired.
Eyes sharp.
A faint bruise-colored shadow under one eye from old stress.
He adjusted the camera.
Framed his face.
Paused.
"…I shouldn't," he muttered.
Then he thought of the reunion.
Of watching people who had moved forward.
Of standing among them and realizing—
He had changed.
Just not in ways they could see.
He hit Go Live.
The screen flickered.
Then—
LIVE.
A small red dot.
The title field blinked.
He typed.
> Late Walk — Exterior Check | Old Campus
He didn't mention the school by name.
Didn't tag it as hunted.
Didn't exaggerate.
The stream stabilized.
Viewers trickled in.
12.
13.
14.
Chat appeared.
[hey]
[Night stream??]
[Where you at]
Daryl smiled slightly.
"Didn't expect to go live," he said. "Just walking."
He turned the camera outward.
Showed the dark street.
The fence.
The building beyond it.
The chat reacted immediately.
[WAIT IS THAT—]
[NO WAY]
[Eastwood??]
[Bro don't go in]
He chuckled.
"Relax," he said. "I'm not even inside."
A familiar system hum brushed the edge of his hearing.
Soft.
Barely there.
The overlay appeared.
Location Scan: Incomplete Structure Detected
Status: Dormant
Threat Rating: Low
He raised an eyebrow.
"See?" he said. "System says it's calm."
The chat didn't relax.
[THAT'S WHAT IT ALWAYS SAYS]
[Exterior only my ass]
[MoonPetal ⭐]: You just said you were heading home.
He winced.
"…Yeah," he said. "Home is that direction."
He gestured vaguely.
The fence creaked.
Not from him touching it.
Just—
Sound.
Metal shifting.
The camera picked it up.
Chat slowed.
[Did you hear that]
Daryl paused.
He listened.
Silence.
Then—
A faint echo.
Like footsteps.
Too soft.
Too far.
Probably nothing.
"Old buildings make noise," he said. "Temperature changes."
He stepped closer to the fence.
The camera light swept across the brick walls.
Something moved.
Not a figure.
A shadow.
High up.
Third floor window.
The system overlay flickered.
Ambient Reading: Fluctuating
He frowned.
"That's new," he said.
The chat spiked.
[BACK UP]
[That was movement]
[Please tell me you saw that]
Daryl did see it.
He just didn't say so immediately.
He adjusted the light.
Focused on the window.
Nothing there.
Boarded.
Still.
"…Probably a bird," he said.
He didn't believe it.
Neither did the chat.
The whisper coin in his pocket vibrated faintly.
Once.
Then stopped.
That bothered him more than anything else.
The coin usually reacted faster.
Stronger.
Like a dog barking at strangers.
This time—
It felt hesitant.
He swallowed.
"Okay," he said. "Exterior check. Two minutes."
He stepped through a gap in the fence.
The metal scraped loudly.
The sound echoed longer than it should have.
The yard was overgrown.
Grass knee-high.
Cracked pavement hidden beneath weeds.
A toppled sign lay near the entrance.
EASTWOOD SECONDARY SCHOOL.
The letters were peeling.
He approached the front doors.
Slowly.
The closer he got, the quieter the world became.
No insects.
No wind.
Even the city noise was gone.
The system overlay pulsed again.
Spatial Stability: Minor Deviation
Daryl stopped.
His breath fogged slightly.
"…Huh," he said.
Chat slowed.
[That's not good]
[Why is it quiet]
[Turn back now]
He reached for the door handle.
Stopped an inch away.
The whisper coin vibrated again.
Longer this time.
Not warning.
Not fear.
Attention.
He lowered his hand.
"Something's off," he admitted.
The chat exploded.
[NO SHIT]
[LEAVE]
[THIS IS HOW IT STARTS]
Daryl steadied his breathing.
He tilted the camera toward himself.
"Alright," he said. "I hear you."
He nodded once.
"Exterior only," he repeated. "I'm not stepping inside."
The door creaked.
On its own.
Opening slightly wider.
Cold air spilled out.
The system overlay flashed red for half a second.
Then returned to normal.
Threat Rating: Low
Daryl stared at the doorway.
The darkness beyond it felt thick.
Heavy.
Like water.
He took one step closer.
Then stopped.
The chat held its breath.
So did he.
"…I'll end the stream here," Daryl said. "Pick it up another time."
His finger hovered over the button.
The building exhaled.
A long.
Slow.
Sound.
As if disappointed.
Daryl looked into the dark doorway.
Then back at the camera.
"I'll be back," he said quietly.
And with that—
He lowered the phone.
The stream cut.
And Daryl stood alone.
Right outside the threshold.