Ruby’s flashlight cut through the darkness of the abandoned laboratory, the beam highlighting dust swirling in the stale air. The place had been left untouched for years, judging by the crumbling walls and broken equipment scattered across the floor. She’d heard rumors about strange experiments taking place here before the lab was abandoned, but nothing could have prepared her for what she found.

In the center of the lab, half-covered in shadows, loomed a massive tank filled with a thick, translucent liquid. The glass was cracked and cloudy, but she could just make out the outline of something inside. Swallowing hard, Ruby stepped closer, her breath fogging up the glass as she peered through. Her heart skipped when she saw him—a man, suspended in the water-like substance, eyes shut and body still.

The sight stopped her cold. The man’s pale skin glowed faintly in the dim light, wires trailing from his arms and chest like veins. Dark hair floated around his face, giving him an otherworldly look, and despite the tank’s murky condition, she could see the fine, delicate lines of his features. He looked peaceful, almost asleep, and yet there was something hauntingly wrong about it.

Ruby pressed her hand against the cold glass, staring at his face, questions racing through her mind. Who was he? How long had he been here? Her pulse quickened when she noticed his chest moving—he was breathing, somehow, in that eerie liquid. An experiment… abandoned, just like the rest of this place. She felt a pang of sadness in her chest, knowing he must have been left behind without a second thought.

A shiver ran down her spine as she took a step back, her flashlight flickering. She had the sudden, irrational urge to smash the glass, to reach him and pull him out, but she hesitated, knowing she had no idea what she was dealing with. Still, as she stood there, the sight of him burned into her mind, Ruby couldn’t shake the feeling that he was waiting for something—or someone—to find him.