---

Chapter 24 – The Shadows That Follow

The sky cracked open with thunder as Jake walked home alone, his hoodie drenched and his mind more clouded than the storm above.

Don hadn’t come to school that day.

And neither had Gor.

Jake was left surrounded by empty seats and heavier thoughts. Their trio, once unbreakable, now felt like a fading photograph — familiar but painful to look at.

Every footstep Jake took echoed the same question in his head:

Who is Don really?

---

Across town, Don stood quietly in front of an old abandoned house — the place where his gang had once met. It was a ruin now. Cracked bricks, shattered windows, and graffiti that no longer made sense. Yet to him, it held memories too sharp to forget.

He looked at a broken wooden crate at the edge of the room and sat down, pulling out a folded letter from his coat.

It was from Reaper.

> "The city is changing, Don. And soon, you’ll have to choose a side. There’s no middle ground in fire."

He clenched the paper until it crumpled.

He never wanted this life.

But the past had sharp claws — and some memories don’t let go.

---

At school, Gor waited under the same tree where they used to eat lunch.

Don didn’t show.

Jake walked past, their eyes met briefly, then both looked away.

The silence between them wasn’t empty — it was filled with all the things they weren’t saying.

---

That night, Jake couldn’t sleep. So he did something he hadn’t done in years — he opened the Time Capsule Journal they had buried in his backyard during 5th grade and secretly dug it up.

It was a metal box, now rusted.

Inside were three things:

A group photo of Don, Jake, and Gor with matching caps.

A drawing of a rocket ship, signed “Captain Don”.

A note from Don:

> “When we grow up, even if we change, let’s never forget we once dreamed the same dream.”

Jake sat there in the dirt, rain soaking his back.

Tears blurred his vision.

---

Meanwhile, Reaper wasn’t waiting anymore.

He stood in an alley behind the market, flanked by a new batch of recruits — wild-eyed boys who craved power.

“Don’s heart is soft,” Reaper said coldly. “So we’ll remind him what pain feels like.”

One of the boys lit a match.

Another opened a can of paint thinner.

---

The next morning, Don stood frozen outside the school gate.

The walls were scorched.

Spray-painted words in blood-red:

“You can't run from your blood.”

Jake saw it too.

And for the first time in weeks, their eyes didn’t look away.

They stared at each other — not as classmates.

Not as friends.

But as two people caught in something deeper, older, and dangerously unresolved.

---

End of Chapter 24

---