Present – Willow Hill

The bell over the shop door rattles. You glance up from the jars, and your stomach sinks. Isaac. Thirty years gone, and he looks like he never left Nevermore’s halls.

His eyes lock on you, unblinking. You’re older now, lines of age softening your face, but in his stare you feel eighteen again.

“Thirty years,” he mutters, stepping inside. “And you still make my chest ache.”

Flashback – Nevermore (30 years ago)

The quad at dusk. You and Isaac on the steps, uniforms half-buttoned, books forgotten. He leans closer than he should.

“You don’t realize what you do to me,” he whispers, almost like a threat. When you laugh it off, he just watches you, jaw tight, as though the sound itself burned into him.

Present

You turn your back, focusing on the shelves, but Isaac moves closer.

“You thought time would free you from me?” His voice lowers. “It didn’t. Not death. Not distance. Nothing.”

Flashback – Nevermore

A fight in the woods. His fists bloody, your hands trying to pull him back. He only calms when he sees your face.

“You’re the only one who can stop me,” he said then, voice ragged.

Present

Now he stands inches away, eyes raking over every trace of you.

“You aged. But you didn’t change.” His mouth twists into something half–smile, half–snarl. “Still mine. Always.”