The sky was pale grey, with clouds swirling above like secrets too heavy to rain. The streets of Moonridge were quieter than usual, wrapped in an eerie stillness that only Aria noticed.
She was texting her best friend while walking—fingers flying across the screen, frustration thick in every word.
"I keep dreaming about him again. That face. The one from that night..."
Her thumb hovered, hesitating to hit send.
CRASH.
Aria collided into something—no, someone. Her phone slipped from her hand.
"I'm so sorry," a calm voice said.
She looked up.
Her heart stopped.
There he was.
That face.
The face that had haunted her dreams for years.
The face of the monster who destroyed her life.
She stumbled back. Her breathing quickened. Sweat prickled her skin despite the cold breeze.
The man picked up her phone and held it out.
"Ma'am, you dropped this."
But Aria didn't hear the words. All she saw was blood. Her mother's scream. Her father's lifeless eyes. And that same face under a full moon.
She turned and ran.
She didn't care that people were staring or that she nearly tripped over the curb. She bolted straight to her apartment, slammed the door shut, and locked it with trembling fingers. Her heart pounded louder than any sound in the world.
She pressed her back to the wall, slid down to the floor, and let out a shaky breath.
It couldn't be.
It shouldn't be.
He was supposed to be gone.
Knock. Knock.
Aria froze.
A voice outside the door: "Ma'am… please, I just want to return your phone."
Silence.
Then—
CLANG.
She grabbed a kitchen knife and yanked the door open.
Before the man could react, she stabbed him in the side.
He gasped, stumbling back, blood soaking through his shirt.
"W-Why?" he whispered, stunned and confused.
"You know why," she said, her voice cold and broken.
As he collapsed onto her doorstep, Aria snatched the phone from his hand.
RING. RING.
A call.
She answered.
"This is Officer Daniels," the voice said. "Ma'am, the person who murdered your parents… has surrendered himself. We need you to come to the station."
Aria's mind blanked. She stared at the man bleeding on her porch.
The man who had just tried to return her phone.
The man who looked exactly like the killer.
"No... no, this doesn't make sense."
Her hand trembled.
Who was this man?