Nothing. Well, that’s not really true. There are some things. Against the cabin's wall is a long wooden desk with a wide drawer underneath it. A layer of grey dust coats the top of it. At the end of the cabin stands a closed wardrobe and another door, leading to what should be another room inside the cabin. Scattered around are the thin sparkling strands of cobwebs in every nook and cranny. He’s not arachnophobic, but he still hopes that there aren’t any spiders living in the cabin.

He takes a few steps to look down at the desk. Curious, he opens the drawer. A plume of dust flies up at him, and he quickly waves his hand in front of his face to stop it. Once the dust settles, he takes a peek inside. Just more dust. He was hoping for something useful, but suppose that’s just wishful thinking. He turns his attention over to the wardrobe. It’s almost as tall as him and looks like an antique from a thrift store. He slowly pries open the doors, expecting skeletons or something to come out, but he’s thankfully proven wrong. Within the wardrobe is a jacket with dark red accents and a plain monochrome cap. They’re a bit dusty, but nothing a good shake can’t fix.

Finally, he goes over to the closed door. He takes a deep breath before turning the knob on the door and pushing it open. The door creaks open just a bit but hits something on the other side. With a little more force, the door swings open and a chair falls to the ground. Inside this new room, it’s also just as bare as the first. The only things of note would be the fallen chair that was blocking the door, a sink, and a cracked mirror above it. From the looks of it, the room could be a washroom, except there aren’t any other amenities. He walks to the sink, wondering if it even works. Turning the faucet on, only a small drip of water comes out. He looks up at the mirror, with a snaking fracture on it from one side to the other. Besides the two horns sticking out from behind his hair and the folded wings on his back, he notices his eyes. From dark brown, his irises now had a strange reddish hue to them. Not obviously, he could pass it off as more of an amber. Still, the change made him feel uneasy. He raises his hand to the protruding horns on his head. They feel like teeth, or, more like bone, and are firmly part of his skull. He tenses up and looks away from the mirror.

Kyle exits the cabin and looks out off the cliff, taking it all in again. The soothing waves rock back and forth, giving him some peace of mind. Maybe he’s not completely hopeless, maybe he can find a way to be normal again, maybe he can go get his life together. A whole bunch of ‘maybes’, but the slim chance that things will be better gives him hope. Tomorrow, he’ll figure out where he is, and how to get back.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“Please! I’m telling you! Something happened to him and I don’t know where he’s gone!” Laura slams her hands on the receptionist’s desk. The receptionist stares at her blankly.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but it hasn’t been long enough to really file a missing persons case, plus he’s an adult, not a child. You’re worrying too much.” They wave their hands dismissively in the air and continue typing away at their computer. Laura grabs her hair in frustration.

“FINE! I guess I’ll go looking for him myself!” She storms out of the building. The receptionist grumbles to themself as Laura exits. She tries to soothe her head as she walks along the busy sidewalk. It’s been nearly a whole day since Kyle’s last phone call, and the stress she’s been dealing with is driving her mad. Any attempts to call him led straight to voicemail, calling where he worked just gave her more questions, and going to his apartment to ask his girlfriend, she had no idea where he went either. Laura believes that his girlfriend is lying about something, the nervous and apprehensive tone she had when speaking about Kyle sent off alarms in her head, but she had no definitive proof. Besides, it didn’t help figure out where he went.

That phone call. That last phone call she got at 12:17 am. He was frantic, worried, about something. He was babbling and she couldn’t even register what he was saying. Then two blunt noises, multiple things fall to the ground, and then the call cuts off. What happened? From the text messages she got, he needed help, but it was written so incoherently. She thinks he mentioned something about his girlfriend, but it was all garbled and gibberish. Laura lets out a disheartened sigh and pinches the middle of her brow. Just then, she steps on some broken glass. She backs away for a second to look at the ground. Scattered on the concrete ground are flecks of glass. Her eyes are drawn to the alleyway to the side, following the faint trail of debris. She proceeds with caution into said alleyway and finds a smashed cell phone. Carefully, she picks up the broken device. Laura brings it closer to her face just to confirm. That’s his alright. The same lame black phone case and silly little dog chain on the side. But it’s cracked, not from a little fall, no, from something or someone smashing it. She tries to turn it on and gets no response. Her mind is racing, the possibilities of this mystery keep on unravelling, yet it’s so far from being undone. Who did this? It couldn’t have been Kyle himself, so who? Laura shoves the phone into her purse and hurriedly leaves the alleyway. Kyle’s in big trouble, she knows it, and she has to find him before it’s too late. Maybe it’s already been too late.