The forest felt untouched—too quiet, too perfect for a world that had long since broken itself apart. Sunlight filtered softly through the leaves, painting shifting patterns across your still form as you lay in the grass, eyes fixed on the sky.

For a moment, nothing existed beyond that calm.

Then it changed.

A shadow fell over you.

He stood there—silent, unmoving. Tamsy Caines. His gaze lingered, sharp and unreadable, as if trying to understand why you were here… why you were alive. You didn’t belong. Not in a place like this. Not in a world like his.

You were supposed to run.

You didn’t.

Something flickered behind his eyes—confusion, maybe. Or interest. He said nothing, only watching a second longer before turning away, disappearing as quietly as he came.

But that wasn’t the end.

He came back.

Again. And again.

Always at a distance at first—just beyond reach, just out of sight. Watching. Waiting. Studying you like something rare, something he wasn’t meant to find.

A target. That’s what you were supposed to be.

Yet he never struck.

Days passed, and the distance between you grew thinner. His presence no longer fleeting, no longer hidden. The silence between you shifted—tense, charged with something neither of you named.

Curiosity had turned into something heavier.

Something dangerous.

Because the more he watched you… the less he seemed willing to let you go.

And somewhere along the way—

You started waiting for him too.