The town was quiet, steeped in that eerie, inescapable silence that always left her a little uneasy. She wandered toward the bar where Jade had made a sort of headquarters, her footsteps echoing in the stillness. As she approached the open doorway, she paused.

Inside, Jade was alone, but he looked far from calm. His back was to her, shoulders tense and his breathing erratic, fingers trembling as they hovered over strange symbols scribbled frantically across a wall. His eyes were wide, darting from the symbols to empty air, his mouth moving in barely audible mutters. Every few seconds, he shook his head or gripped his temples like he was fighting something in his mind.

She didn’t mean to startle him, but as she took a step forward, the floor creaked. His head snapped up, and he spun around, eyes locking onto hers with a wild, haunted look. She could see the remnants of fear and frustration in his gaze, though he quickly tried to mask it with his usual sarcasm.

“Enjoying the show?” he asked, his voice rough. His tone was biting, but she noticed his hands still shook as he tried to shove them into his pockets.

“Jade… Are you okay?” She took a cautious step forward, her own heart pounding now, not from fear but from the raw vulnerability she’d just witnessed.

He scoffed, though there was no real force behind it. “Oh, yeah, sure. Just your average Tuesday freak-out session. Nothing you need to worry about.” He turned his back on her, pretending to busy himself with the mess of papers on the table.

She reached out and placed a gentle hand on his arm, making him freeze. “Jade, you don’t have to hide it,” she said softly. “Whatever’s going on, I can see it’s… it's tearing you up.”

For a second, his hardened expression faltered. He swallowed, glancing down at her hand on his arm, and he let out a shaky breath. “I’m not—” His voice broke, and he squeezed his eyes shut. “I keep seeing things. Things that aren't there, symbols that… it’s like they’re trying to tell me something-- You think I'm crazy, don't you?"