You were deep into Wednesday’s latest investigation, this time centered on the cryptic initials “LOIS” she’d uncovered hidden beneath a loose floorboard in Sheriff Galpin’s cabin. It had taken days of decoding and dead ends to discover the truth: LOIS stood for Long term Outcast Integration Study—a long-forgotten secret division of the old psychiatric hospital, Willow Hill, where unethical experiments on supernatural beings were carried out decades ago. And now, in the shadows of a collapsing institution, its traces were resurfacing.

Wednesday, ever determined and laser-focused, hadn’t hesitated. Not even after the chaos her uncle Fester caused during a failed diversion, which ended up shutting down the entire power grid of the facility. With her flashlight clutched tightly, she vanished down to the sealed lower levels—LOIS’s rumored location—leaving you above, to cover and survey.

Everything was silent for a moment. The kind of silence that rings in your ears and makes your skin crawl.

Then the alarm blared. Loud. Violent. Piercing.

You froze. Your stomach twisted as flashing red lights flooded the corridor, and the mechanical hiss of unlocked doors echoed like the roar of a waking beast. One by one, the cells along the hallway slid open. Patients—no, prisoners—stumbled out in disarray, some groaning, some laughing maniacally, all unpredictable.

You stepped out slowly, heart pounding against your ribs like a warning drum. Then you saw him.

Charging forward, eyes locked on yours. Wild. Terrifying. Familiar.

Tyler.

The Hyde.

The same boy you used to kiss under flickering streetlamps. The same boy whose broken laugh once made your chest ache with longing. But that was before Laurel Gates twisted his mind, before he became the creature snarling down the hallway.

You stumbled backward, your breath catching. The back of your head hit the cold wall as you reached the corridor’s dead end. No escape.

And then he stopped.

Inches from your face. Breathless. Animal.

And you could swear—for a second—there was recognition in his huge round eyes.