The Missing Boy

Chapter Thirteen - Cycle of Pain

The cold wind swept through the town, carrying with it an eerie sense of foreboding that had been there all along but now felt more suffocating than ever. The streets of the town, once bustling with a false sense of normalcy, now seemed abandoned and hollow, much like the history hidden beneath its surface. Alex stood at the edge of the old cemetery his gaze locked on the crumbling gravestones that marked the graves of those who had vanished long before Simon. Their names were nearly erased by time, but the pain and tragedy of their fates were etched deeply in the town's soul.

The weight of everything—the losses, the secrets, the sacrifices—settled heavily on Alex's chest, making it hard to breathe. Ethan's lifeless body still haunted his thoughts, the memory of his selfless sacrifice playing on repeat in his mind. The pain of that betrayal, that ultimate choice, was a knife twisting in his gut. And then there was Simon—broken, lost, and haunted by the entity that had stolen so much from him.

Alex's fists clenched at his sides. How could they break free of this cycle? Was there even a way out, or had the town's cursed history already sealed their fates long before they ever got involved? Every path they'd tried to take had led them here, to this moment of crushing hopelessness.

He turned to Simon, who stood beside him, his gaze distant, haunted by things that neither of them could fully understand. There was an emptiness in Simon's eyes that scared Alex more than the entity's presence. He had fought so hard to save Simon, to pull him back from the brink, but as time passed, Alex wondered if Simon was truly coming back—or if he was already too far gone.

Alex had spent the past few days diving into the town's forgotten archives, buried deep within the library that had once seemed quaint but now felt like a crypt. Old newspaper clippings, faded photographs, and town records told the story of a place that had been haunted long before Simon had disappeared. Every few decades, there were accounts of strange disappearances, of families that vanished without a trace, or individuals who were never seen again. It wasn't just Simon—he was part of something much bigger, much older. A cycle that had consumed generations, and now it was threatening to consume them too.

The townspeople had never spoken about it openly, but Alex could feel their fear in the way they had dismissed Simon's disappearance, in the way they had refused to see what was happening right in front of them. They were complicit in their silence, allowing the cycle to continue out of fear or ignorance—or perhaps, because they had accepted that nothing could be done to stop it.

The more Alex uncovered, the clearer it became that the entity had been a part of this town for centuries. It fed on the fear, the grief, and the unresolved pain of those it took. Each disappearance only strengthened its hold on the town, each sacrifice feeding its hunger. But what was most disturbing was the revelation that the entity didn't just take people—it manipulated their memories, their emotions, twisting reality in such a way that those left behind became complicit in its power. The entity thrived on the suffering it caused, weaving itself into the very fabric of the town's history.

It had taken Simon, had fed off his pain and loneliness, and now, it was feeding off Alex's too. The grief of Ethan's death, the helplessness of watching Simon slip further away—it was all part of the entity's plan. And Alex was starting to fear that they were too late to stop it.

Simon had been a victim of this town long before he had disappeared. The bullying, the neglect, the way the town had turned a blind eye to his suffering—it had all led to this. And now, Alex was starting to see the same pattern in his own life. He was trapped, just like Simon had been. Trapped in a cycle of pain that he didn't know how to escape.

But there was one piece of information that had eluded them until now. In the deepest corner of the archives, Alex found an old journal, written by someone who had lived through one of the previous cycles of disappearance. The entries were erratic, filled with paranoia and fear, much like Simon's journal had been. But there was one thing that stood out—a passage about how the cycle could be broken.

According to the journal, the only way to truly defeat the entity was to sever its connection to the town. The author spoke of a ritual that had been attempted but had ultimately failed because the participants had lost faith. They hadn't been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice necessary to break the entity's hold.

Alex's heart sank as he read those words. Ultimate sacrifice. Wasn't that exactly what Ethan had done? And yet, even that hadn't been enough.

He looked over at Simon, who seemed to be slipping further into his own mind with each passing day. Was it too late for him? Was there still a chance to save him—or was Alex holding on to false hope, doomed to repeat the same mistakes that had been made in the past?

The cycle of pain was relentless, and it was starting to break Alex. He could feel the entity's whispers creeping into his thoughts, sowing doubt and fear. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Ethan's final moments. He saw the look on Simon's face when he realized what Ethan had done for him. And he saw himself, powerless to stop any of it.

Alex had always been strong—strong enough to keep pushing, to keep fighting—but now, for the first time, he felt truly defeated. How many more sacrifices would it take? How much more pain would they have to endure before they could finally be free?

And what if there was no freedom to be found? What if the cycle could never be broken?

Alex standing at the graves of those who had disappeared before Simon, the weight of their stories pressing down on him like a physical force. He could feel the entity's presence even here, among the dead. It was always there, lurking in the shadows, feeding off their pain, their hopelessness.

But as Alex stood there, he realized something. The entity's power wasn't just in its supernatural abilities—it was in the way it manipulated people's minds, convincing them that they were powerless, that the cycle could never be broken.

Maybe that was the key. Maybe the only way to truly break free was to stop believing in the cycle, to stop feeding the entity with their despair.

But that was easier said than done. Because even now, with everything he had learned, Alex wasn't sure he could find the strength to hope again.