Chapter 3; When time stopped

PSSSHH—

The bus doors slid shut behind him.

With a low mechanical hum, Public Bus No. 23 pulled away from the curb and merged into Sacramento's morning traffic.

Lucas quietly walked toward the center aisle, wrapping one hand around the cold metal rail while adjusting the strap of his worn backpack with the other.

Every seat was occupied.

Office workers stared absently at their phones.

University students laughed as they argued over weekend plans.

An elderly couple sat together in comfortable silence.

Near the front, a young mother gently rocked her sleeping daughter.

Everything...

Looked perfectly ordinary.

Lucas wished his life could be just as ordinary.

Lucas Yoroshin was twenty years old.

To everyone at Westbridge University...

He was almost invisible.

The quiet student who always sat alone.

The strange boy who rarely smiled.

The one who carried medicine wherever he went.

The student everyone whispered about when they thought he couldn't hear them.

No one ever asked why.

No one cared enough to.

If someone had...

They would have discovered that Lucas wasn't always like this.

Once...

He had dreams.

Simple dreams.

Graduate from university.

Find a stable job.

Take care of his mother.

Maybe...

Someday...

Fall in love.

Nothing extraordinary.

Nothing heroic.

Just an ordinary life.

But two years ago...

Everything changed.

At first, he saw shadows where no shadows should exist.

Then he began hearing whispers inside empty rooms.

Soon...

The whispers became voices.

Eventually...

The dead no longer hid from him.

They spoke.

They cried.

They begged.

Doctors diagnosed him with severe hallucinations caused by psychological trauma.

They prescribed medicine.

His classmates simply called him insane.

Even Lucas...

Had started believing them.

So he learned to smile.

To pretend nothing was wrong.

To act as though he couldn't hear the voices that followed him wherever he went.

Because pretending...

Was easier than being feared.

Little did he know...

Everything he had experienced over the past two years...

Was only the beginning.

Outside the window...

Sacramento stretched beneath the blood-red sky.

People hurried to work.

Children crossed the streets with their parents.

Restaurants opened their doors.

Life continued.

High above the city...

The colossal crimson portal watched over everything in absolute silence.

Lucas looked at it for only a moment.

A strange feeling tightened inside his chest.

"...Why..."

"...does it always feel like it's watching me?"

He quickly looked away.

"...I'm imagining things again."

His fingers slipped into his pocket.

He pulled out a small bottle of white pills.

His medicine.

He stared at it for several long seconds.

"...You don't help anymore."

With a quiet sigh...

He returned it to his pocket.

Maybe...

Nothing could help him anymore.

The bus continued through the city.

Its engine rumbled steadily.

Traffic lights changed.

Pedestrians crossed the road.

Everything remained...

Normal.

Lucas glanced down at the digital watch on his wrist.

7:10:38

7:10:39

7:10...

His expression froze.

The seconds...

Never changed.

His breathing caught in his throat.

"...No."

His fingers tightened around the handrail.

"...Not again."

Slowly...

He raised his head.

The driver sat perfectly still.

His hands remained frozen around the steering wheel.

A businessman stood halfway through adjusting his tie.

A little girl remained trapped in an unfinished laugh.

Even the blinking lights above the emergency exit had stopped.

Lucas turned toward the window.

Outside...

The impossible unfolded.

Cars stood motionless in the middle of the road.

Birds floated silently above the city.

Leaves hung suspended in the air.

Even the drifting clouds had stopped moving.

The world...

Had frozen.

A cold shiver ran down Lucas's spine.

"...Why is this happening?"

No answer came.

Instead...

A whisper drifted through the silent bus.

"...Help..."

Lucas froze.

Another voice followed.

"...Please..."

Then another.

"...Can you hear us...?"

His heartbeat thundered inside his chest.

He already knew those voices.

Very slowly...

He turned toward the empty seats behind him.

They were no longer empty.

A middle-aged man sat quietly with his chest torn open.

Beside him...

An elderly woman clutched a broken family photograph.

A little girl hugged the charred remains of a teddy bear.

A teenage boy stared blankly ahead, dried blood staining his school uniform.

Then another appeared.

And another.

And another.

Within moments...

The entire bus was filled with spirits.

Every one of them slowly turned toward Lucas.

Their empty eyes carried endless sorrow.

"You..."

"...can hear us..."

The little girl smiled.

It wasn't the smile of a child.

It was the desperate smile of someone who had forgotten what happiness felt like.

Lucas instinctively stepped backward.

"N-No..."

"...leave me alone."

One by one...

The spirits stood.

Their whispers filled the bus.

Help me...

Find my family...

It hurts...

Don't leave us...

Why did I die...?

Please...

The voices multiplied.

Growing louder.

Faster.

More desperate.

Lucas covered both ears.

"Stop..."

The whispers continued.

Tears formed in his eyes.

"I said..."

"...STOP!"

The screams exploded inside his mind.

Thousands of memories.

Thousands of regrets.

Thousands of deaths.

They crashed into his consciousness like an endless ocean.

Warm blood trickled from both ears.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!"

THUD!

The bus lurched violently over a speed bump.

Time resumed.

Passengers stumbled.

The engine roared.

The ghosts vanished.

Everything...

Returned to normal.

The driver glanced into the rearview mirror.

"You alright, kid?"

Lucas looked around frantically.

Nothing.

Only ordinary passengers.

Some glanced at him with concern.

Others ignored him completely.

Lucas leaned against the window.

Cold sweat soaked his forehead.

His breathing refused to steady.

This nightmare...

Had followed him for nearly two years.

Ghosts.

Frozen time.

Voices no one else could hear.

No medicine could stop them.

No doctor could explain them.

And every day...

They grew stronger.

Several minutes later...

The bus slowed before the towering gates of Westbridge University.

PSSSHH—

The doors opened.

Lucas stepped onto the pavement.

Students streamed through the entrance, laughing as though the world wasn't hanging by a thread.

He adjusted his glasses.

Tightened the strap of his backpack.

Forced a faint smile.

"...One more day."

Without another word...

Lucas walked toward the university.

Completely unaware...

That before the day came to an end...

Everything he believed about himself...

Would begin to shatter.

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