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Chapter 13 – The Distance Between Us

Rain came down in slow, lazy sheets the next morning.

The streets shimmered under grey skies as students rushed to school beneath umbrellas and plastic bags. Don stood by the school gate, soaked, cigarette in hand. He hadn’t even realized it was lit.

His eyes were distant.

The photo Gagan gave him was folded in his pocket, worn now at the edges.

He wasn’t sure why he brought it.

---

Jake noticed him from across the corridor.

There was something about Don lately—something unreadable in his eyes. Not anger. Not sadness. Just... silence. A silence that swallowed him whole.

Jake walked up and grabbed Don’s sleeve.

“Hey,” he said, forcing a small smile. “Let’s skip the first class.”

Don glanced at him.

“I know a place. We used to go there, remember? When we were kids.”

Don exhaled smoke and flicked the cigarette away.

He didn’t say anything.

But he followed.

---

They ended up near the railway tracks, by the old bridge where they once flew paper planes and shouted their dreams into the wind.

Now the place was rusted, abandoned, broken like everything else.

Jake sat down on the low wall and stared at the distance. “You used to say you wanted to fly. Like literally fly. Be free of the world.”

Don gave a weak chuckle. “Yeah. That was before I knew the world clips your wings early.”

Jake looked at him, truly looked. “Don… are we still friends?”

The question hit harder than Don expected.

He wanted to say yes, but something choked in his throat.

Instead, he said, “Do you believe people can come back from who they were?”

Jake blinked. “I believe people never truly change. They just hide better.”

---

Later, back at school, Gor cornered Jake near the staircase.

“You talked to Don?” he asked.

Jake nodded. “Yeah. He’s… distant.”

“He’s hiding something,” Gor said. “Something big.”

Jake stayed quiet.

Gor stepped closer. “If we don’t figure it out soon, it’ll tear everything apart again. I can feel it.”

---

That night, Don walked alone. His path led him to a rooftop—his favorite hiding place.

He lit a cigarette and stared at the city lights.

In his notebook, a page was half-written:

> “The sun is tired.

The moon is shy.

And I...

I am a ghost, walking the streets of yesterday.”

His phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

One message.

> "Come back. We need you. Before it's too late. – Blue Fang"

Don’s heart stopped.

---

He stared at the message for a long time, then deleted it.

But the words echoed louder than ever in his head.

He thought he had escaped the past.

But now… it was knocking again.

Louder.

And louder.

---

End of Chapter 13

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