READY OR NOT - Landoscar

24 - What Will You Do?

Lando sat alone in his room, the soft glow from the lamp casting long, shadowy fingers across the walls. He stared at the familiar surroundings—books stacked on shelves, scattered sketches, the cluttered desk where his days normally unfolded. Tonight, though, it all felt foreign, as though he'd stepped into a dream that wasn't quite his own. The warmth and safety of his world felt fragile, ghostly, like it might dissolve if he closed his eyes for too long. The memory of Oscar, his pale skin gleaming under the moonlight and his unreadable eyes watching Lando intently, pulled at him like a force he couldn't resist.

He took a deep breath, trying to ground himself, yet his thoughts circled back to Oscar, the enigma who had somehow crossed the boundary from his dreams into reality. The pull was undeniable. Each time Lando tried to dismiss the thoughts, they grew louder, more insistent, like a song stuck on repeat, each note thrumming with the mystery and allure of the supernatural.

The questions spun through his mind, and he buried his face in his hands, grappling with the weight of it all. What am I supposed to do? He wondered. What can I do?

The allure of Oscar's world was powerful, like gravity itself was shifting, tugging at his very soul, luring him toward something unknown and exhilarating. It was a path lined with shadows and uncertainties, but its possibilities glimmered with the allure of escape, of transformation, of leaving the mundane behind for something... more. Something dangerous and beautiful, with Oscar at its heart.

Yet, there was a fear simmering beneath that allure, a fear rooted in the unknown and tangled with the sense that he was stepping too far beyond what he could control. Lando's world was here, in the safety of his routines, his friends, his life grounded in things he understood. Oscar, with his otherworldly aura and mystery, was a force that could easily unbalance everything he'd ever known.

"Why you?" he whispered to the empty room, as though Oscar's ghost might answer him. "Why can't I just forget you?"

The memories of their encounters lingered vividly—Oscar's quiet intensity, his eyes catching the moonlight, the flicker of sadness or longing in his gaze that Lando could never quite grasp. Each moment felt imprinted on him, every dream he'd had and every glance exchanged weighted with a kind of inevitability that pulled him forward, deeper into the mystery of Oscar's world.

For a fleeting moment, Lando wondered if he was simply drawn to the thrill, to the excitement of a life touched by the supernatural. But no, it was more than that. Oscar had an inexplicable hold on him, something that reached past reason or logic. There was a connection he couldn't name, something fragile yet fierce that made him feel more alive, more himself, and yet somehow less tethered to his own world.

The thought unsettled him.

He got up and moved to the window, pressing his forehead to the cool glass as he gazed out over the quiet street below. A gentle breeze stirred the trees, their leaves shivering under the faint glow of the streetlamp. There was a stillness, a quietness in the world outside, but it only served to heighten the storm brewing within him. A part of him longed to step outside and let the cool night air envelop him, to wander until he found answers or until he could leave his questions behind in the shadows.

But his heart knew it wasn't that simple.

What do you want from me, Oscar? he thought, almost as though the figure might be lurking nearby, listening, as he so often did in dreams. There was no clear answer, only the feeling that Oscar was, somehow, waiting—waiting for him to make a choice, to reach out and cross that final threshold between the life he knew and the life that called to him.

Would he lose himself in that darkness, or would he emerge changed, reborn in a way he couldn't yet comprehend?

The questions loomed, silent and powerful, and the weight of them pressed down on him. And yet, he knew with a strange certainty that he couldn't turn back now. Not after everything he'd seen, everything he'd felt. The line had been drawn, the choice implicit, as if woven into his very being, waiting to be uncovered.

Lando closed his eyes, letting the silence settle, embracing the pull of that unknown world. Maybe, just maybe, he could walk that path without losing himself completely. Perhaps he could find a balance, a way to explore Oscar's world without leaving his own behind entirely.

And with that thought, a quiet resolve filled him.