Fires Within

Jade watched in horror as he slowly rose to his feet, every movement deliberate, like some predatory creature waking from a long, restless slumber. His muscles rippled beneath his skin, taut and alive, as though something dark had awakened inside him—something monstrous. He stretched lazily, his arms reaching above his head, the sickening crack in his neck breaking the silence between them. Then, his eyes—once filled with warmth and a glimmer of the boy she had loved—locked onto her with a gaze so cold, so empty, it sent a shiver down her spine.

Ben wasn’t the boy she knew anymore. He wasn’t even human the way he once had been. Moments ago, those eyes had been alive, glowing with the soft light of affection, but now they were pits of black, devoid of anything recognizable. No spark of humanity, no trace of the man who had held her close on countless nights. Now, they were hollow, soulless, as though something inside him had died and been replaced by darkness. Worse still was the contempt. Never had he looked at her with such loathing, as though she were less than nothing—less than prey. To him, she was no more than vermin, a nuisance to be crushed beneath his heel. Even from the moment they first met, when they were strangers, he had never gazed at her with such disgust.

“Aren’t you going to run?” His voice sliced through the air, low and mocking, each word dripping with cruel amusement. The smile curling his lips, a twisted version of the one she had fallen in love with, only deepened the wound already festering in her heart. How could he be so...gone? She had known the darkness called to him, had seen the shadows creep at the edges of his soul. But she had believed—no, hoped—that her love could be enough. That she could be his anchor, the light to pull him back. Yet here he was, surrendered completely, the man she loved devoured by something else entirely. The realization hit her like a blow, and for the first time, real, bone-deep fear sank its claws into her chest.

Her legs wavered beneath her, the urge to flee rising in her, even as her mind screamed for her to stay. Run? How could she run from him? How could she leave him behind, knowing the man she had loved was still somewhere in there, trapped beneath the layers of darkness? But how could she stay? The man standing before her wasn’t Ben—not anymore. He had become something else, something dangerous, something that would kill her without hesitation. The choices blurred in her mind, every memory of them together tangling with the brutal reality before her. Could she fight him? Could she forget the stolen kisses, the whispered confessions, the way he once held her, and fight back?

Or was she already too late?

“Ben...” The word slipped out, a broken whisper, barely audible, as she reached out with trembling fingers, one last desperate attempt to grasp onto the boy she had known—the boy she still loved.

His dark eyes flickered with amusement as his smirk deepened. “Yes, my love?” His voice, once sweet and filled with affection, now lashed out like a whip, dripping with venomous sarcasm. Every syllable twisted the knife deeper, turning their shared history into a cruel joke.

Jade’s heart shattered. She glanced upward, her eyes catching sight of the sun, still veiled by the shadow of the moon, the eclipse casting everything in a cold, unnatural light. There was no warmth here, no hope left in this moment. With a gasp, she turned on her heels and bolted, her feet pounding against the forest floor as she ran into the trees. The branches whipped against her skin, but she hardly noticed. She couldn’t leave him, not really—not in her heart. But she couldn’t stay, not now, not when he was lost to the shadows.

Maybe, just maybe, when the eclipse ended, she could find the strength to face him. To fight him. But until then, she ran, each step pulling her farther from the man she had once loved, and deeper into the unknown.