Riley Ross
Chapter 40: I need you here, in this moment. With me.

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: I need you here, in this moment. With me.

"Hi, Stephanie."

"W-who’s there?! Where are you?!"

Stephanie yelped, her almost cracking from how surprised she was—she clearly hadn’t expected a response, let alone one so immediate. Riley watched her stumble in place, eyes darting wildly as she stuffed the letter back into her pocket. Then, stretching her arm to the side, Riley watched as her body began to... change.

Her fist clenched—and then expanded, growing larger and larger as her arm extended unnaturally. It didn’t stop until it was longer than her entire body, the bloated fist now as wide as her upper torso.

So you didn’t use your ability when you punched Sister in the face after your duel. Should I add that to your redeeming qualities, too?

Riley tilted his head slightly to the side, and Steph caught a glimpse of his shifting shadow. She twisted her body, reacting on instinct, and launched a massive punch in the direction his shadow’s head had been.

"Fuck, show yourself!" She screamed, retracting her mutated limb. As Riley’s head moved again, just barely visible in the moonlight, she caught sight of his outline and squinted upward, narrowing her eyes.

A moment passed... and then her gaze slowly lifted to the top of the wall.

And she froze.

There, standing tall above her like a statue, was the pale silhouette of a face—his skin almost glowing white against the dark. The first thing she saw, the only thing she could focus on, was his eyes—eyes that seemed to reflect everything around them.

"W-who are you?!" She shouted again. "Why the fuck are you doing this to—"

She flinched and paused as Riley suddenly moved—but only slightly, lifting one hand and pressing a single finger to his lips.

"Ssh," he whispered, almost soothingly. "Please, Stephanie. Do not be too loud—you’ll disturb the people walking along the riverside. We both do not want that, would we?"

"This note..." Steph’s oversized hand shrank back to normal as she pulled the paper from her pocket again. "Why the fuck would you do this? Who even are you? What did I ever do to you?"

"To me?" Riley echoed, tilting his head again. He tapped a finger to his chin as if sincerely pondering the question. "Hmm... nothing. You did nothing to me, Stephanie. And before I forget—thank you for coming."

Steph’s mouth opened, but she didn’t get a word out.

Because Riley moved again. He stepped forward and simply dropped from the top of the wall.

She gasped—but his fall slowed just feet from the ground, as if something unseen caught him.

His feet touched down softly amidst the rubble and dead grass, and Steph took a cautious step back, narrowing her eyes as she peered closer to see his face.

And of course, she recognized him.

It would’ve been strange if she didn’t—he was the first albino she had ever seen in her life, after all. Even in passing, she would remember him.

"You... you’re Hannah’s brother!" She snapped, violently pointing a finger at him. "Did she put you up to this?!"

He didn’t respond immediately. He just kept walking toward her, slow, and then even slower as he shook his head.

"No," he said. "Sister has no inkling of what I am doing here tonight, Stephanie."

He raised a finger, almost as if once again pondering something.

"That is your name, right? Stephanie?"

"What...?" Her voice cracked. "You expect me to believe that bitch doesn’t have anything—"

"Shh." Riley raised a hand again. "I do not appreciate you calling her that."

"Fucking hell..." Steph grimaced as she moved further back. "How old even are you?"

"I am twelve years old, Stephanie," Riley nodded. "Thank you for asking. I would ask your age in return, but clearly, age does not matter to you. Nor the location, it seems."

He paused, tilting his head once more—his voice now dipping lower.

"I must say, what I saw earlier ... was very unsanitary. But it is not my place to judge, I suppose."

Steph didn’t say anything at first. She just stared at Riley with a deeply perplexed expression. After a few more seconds of looking at him like he was some kind of deranged lunatic, which, to be fair, he probably was, she let out a sigh of frustration.

"Look..." She shook her head. "I don’t know what kind of twisted games your messed-up generation is playing, but this isn’t one of them. I want you to promise me you won’t say a word about me and Anthony, and I won’t say anything to your parents about this. Deal?"

"Oh?" Riley tilted his head slightly.

"I don’t think you understand what you’re doing. This is blackmail." She waved the note in her hand. "You can go to jail for this."

"What note, Stephanie?"

"Wh—"

Before she could even finish the word, the note suddenly flew out of her grasp. She reached for it, her arm stretching in an unnatural blur—but before it could get far, the paper shredded itself in the air on the way to Riley, torn into hundreds of tiny pieces that scattered like fine ash.

"I am not blackmailing you, Stephanie," Riley sighed while shaking his head. "I do not enjoy torment I can’t see or hear—at least, I don’t think I do. I need you here, in this moment."

"Huh...?" Steph’s brow furrowed in confusion.

"I need you, Stephanie."

"Wait... what?" Steph let out a sharp, nervous laugh as she stared at his face. "Wait, wait, wait... Don’t tell me you like me. Are you stalking me now? Is this what this is all about? You’re a fucking stalker? You’re fucking crazy."

She chuckled, more out of disbelief than amusement. But as she went to retract her elongated arm, she froze. Or rather, her hand froze in the air.

"What..."

"Thank you, Stephanie."

"H-huh?"

Riley started walking toward her slowly, very slowly. Steph’s eyes flicked from him to her extended arm—and that’s when panic started to creep into her voice. She tried pulling her arm back again, even shifted her shoulders, but it didn’t move. Worse, the more she struggled, the longer it seemed to stretch.

"What the fuck—?!" Her breath hitched as she stumbled backward. But her arm still remained fixed in place, stuck, like it had latched onto an invisible wall.

"You... you’re doing this?" She gasped. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t retract or even shrink her own limb.

"I am not doing anything, Stephanie," Riley shook his head. "I’m merely..."

He reached her, then calmly placed his hand on her outstretched arm. His fingers began tracing lightly across her skin, as slow as his steps—his index and middle fingers walking across it like a child playing with a toy.

"...I am merely letting you do nothing."

"Go to hell!" She screamed. In a flash, she snapped her other arm like a whip, cracking it toward Riley’s legs.

Snap!

But instead of hitting him, her strike collided with something unseen—an invisible barrier surrounding him like steel. The impact reverberated up her entire arm, the pain shocking her system as if she’d slammed into solid metal.

And then, the panic bloomed into horror—she found that she couldn’t retract that arm either.

Both of her limbs now hung in the air, useless and slowly stretching far beyond her control. She screamed again, the sound raw and desperate... but no one could hear her. The soft roar of the river, the murmur of traffic, the distance of the pedestrians near the banks—they swallowed every sound she made.

But Riley? Riley heard everything.

This is it.

He closed his eyes for a moment, his head slightly tilting back as a tingle rolled down his spine. Her screams filled his ears like music. If only it could overlap with the memory of Roman’s groans as the life slowly fades away from him, perhaps this sound would be even more perfect.

And to think... he hadn’t even done anything to her yet. Not really.

"This is how I bond with all of you," he whispered, his voice trembling—not with fear, but with something far more disturbing. "This is how I’ll be normal, Stephanie."

He took another step closer, his voice lowering to a hush.

"I feel something. This is how I’ll connect with Sister... with all of them. Your pain... is what will connect me to them."

"W... what?"

"I am truly sorry, but you are going to die tonight. And all you can really do is... hurt."