Secrets

Chapter 1 - Beginning

What is Normal?

Webster's Dictionary defines "normal" as adhering to a "particular standard" or "desired pattern."

In society, those who conform to laws, social expectations, and morality are deemed "normal," while those who deviate are labeled "abnormal."

Most people see normalcy as the "human condition"—a universal yearning for love, respect, freedom, and belonging. They seek success, peace, and happiness while striving to avoid pain and suffering.

But what if normalcy was a lie? What if the predictable rhythm of life was merely the calm before a storm?

Our story begins on an ordinary day—indistinguishable from any other.

Mia Abernathy had perfected the art of blending in. She was a girl of quiet presence, the kind of person who could sit in a room full of people and still go unnoticed. She had hazel eyes that shifted between gold and green in the light and hair of an unremarkable brown that seemed to reflect her carefully cultivated invisibility.

Her life was a series of routines—predictable, manageable, safe.

That morning, like countless others, she woke to the soft chime of her alarm clock. She brushed her hair into a loose ponytail, slipped into unassuming clothes, and walked to school along the same streets she'd traveled her entire life.

High school had been a minefield of social hierarchies, but Mia had mastered the path through it. She wasn't popular, nor was she a target for ridicule. She existed in the middle—a place where she could observe without drawing attention, participate without committing, and fade away without leaving a trace.

And she was fine with that. She had been fined with that throughout all her four years. This would be her last.

But normalcy is fragile. It can shatter with a single, seemingly insignificant decision.

The sun dipped low in the autumn sky as Mia zipped her books into her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. The air carried the sharp tang of fallen leaves and the hum of distant traffic.

She turned toward the school gates, ready to take her usual path home—a familiar route of cracked sidewalks, gnarled trees, and corner shops.

But something made her pause.

Her gaze drifted toward a side street she'd always ignored. It was quieter, narrower, lined with buildings that loomed taller than those on her usual route. A shortcut, perhaps. A harmless change.

Why not?

The decision felt inconsequential—until it wasn't.

At first, the street seemed ordinary. Just another stretch of pavement. But as Mia walked deeper, the atmosphere shifted. The hum of the city faded, replaced by an unsettling stillness. The shadows stretched longer, darker, swallowing the light.

The buildings here were older, their brick facades crumbling. Windows gaped like hollow eyes, and the air grew heavier with each step. A chill prickled her skin.

At an intersection where the path forked, a flickering streetlamp buzzed faintly overhead, casting uneven light over the crossroads.

And then she heard it.

A whisper.

"Mia..."

She froze, her breath catching in her throat.

The rational part of her brain dismissed it as the wind, the distant chatter of strangers. But her name—how could that be the wind?

Her heart pounded as she turned slowly, her eyes scanning the empty street behind her. There was nothing.