The Introvert

Lena felt like she was standing at the edge of a cliff, staring into something vast and terrifying.

Her whole life, she had wanted to be invisible. But not like this. Not in a way that could get her killed.

Ethan watched her, waiting. He had dropped a bomb on her world, and now he was giving her the chance to walk away.

But how could she?

She took a slow breath, her fingers curling into fists. "How do I control it?"

Ethan's lips quirked up slightly, like he had expected this answer. "Meet me tomorrow. Same place, after school."

She narrowed her eyes. "That's it? No explanations?"

His expression turned serious. "Explanations won't help you if you lose control again."

Lena wanted to argue, but deep down, she knew he was right. She had already lost control once—what if it happened again? What if she disappeared and couldn't come back?

The thought sent a chill down her spine.

"Fine," she muttered. "Tomorrow."

Ethan nodded and turned to leave. But just before he stepped outside, he hesitated. "Oh, and Lena?"

She looked up.

"Be careful," he said. "You're not the only one watching."

And then he was gone.

Lena stood alone in the abandoned auditorium, his words echoing in her mind.

Not the only one watching?

Who else knew about her?

Who else was out there?

She had a feeling she was about to find out.

---

That Night

Sleep didn't come easy.

Lena tossed and turned, her mind replaying the events of the day over and over. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Ethan's face, heard his voice warning her about The Vanished.

And every time she drifted too close to sleep, she woke up gasping—because in her dreams, she wasn't just disappearing.

She was fading.

Like she had never existed at all.

At some point, exhaustion won, and she finally slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next morning, she moved through school in a daze. Classes blurred together, the noise of students around her becoming distant. For the first time, she wasn't just trying to stay unnoticed—she was afraid of being noticed.

If she lost control here, in front of everyone…

No. She couldn't think like that.

She had to stay calm.

But things weren't normal. Not anymore.

Because as the day went on, she started noticing them.

A boy she had never seen before standing at the end of the hallway, watching her just a little too long. A girl in her economics class who looked away the second their eyes met. A shadow flickering at the corner of her vision, vanishing before she could turn her head.

At first, she thought she was imagining it.

But by the time the final bell rang, she knew she wasn't.

Someone was watching her.

And whoever they were, they didn't want her to know.

---

After School: The Training Begins

The old auditorium was exactly as she had left it—silent, abandoned, forgotten. But when she stepped inside, Ethan was already there.

This time, he wasn't leaning casually against the stage. He was waiting for her, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

"You came," he said simply.

Lena swallowed. "I didn't really have a choice."

He gave her a knowing look. "Good. Then let's begin."

Before she could ask what that meant, Ethan vanished.

Lena's breath caught.

One second, he was standing there. The next, he was gone—not just invisible, but completely erased. The space where he had been felt… wrong. Like the world itself had skipped a frame.

Then, just as suddenly, he reappeared a few feet to the right.

Lena took a shaky step back. "How did you—"

"That's what you need to learn." Ethan rolled his shoulders, like this was no big deal. "Right now, you're losing control because your body is reacting to fear. But disappearing doesn't have to be random."

Lena's heart pounded. "You can control it?"

Ethan nodded. "Not just control it. Use it."

She had no words.

"I need you to try," he said. "Right now."

Lena hesitated. She had no idea how she had vanished before—how was she supposed to do it on purpose?

"I—" She shook her head. "I don't know how."

Ethan studied her for a moment, then suddenly reached for her arm.

She flinched. "What are you—"

He grabbed her wrist—hard.

Panic shot through her like lightning.

And then—

The world tilted.

The air around her shifted.

For the briefest second, the world went silent—like reality itself had paused.

And then—she was gone.

Lena stumbled back, gasping. She felt weightless, disconnected—like a ghost drifting through a world that no longer noticed her.

She looked down.

No hands. No feet. Nothing.

But this time, she wasn't frozen in fear.

This time, she could feel it.

The way the air bent around her. The way sound muffled at the edges. The strange pull at the center of her being, like a thread tying her to the world but threatening to snap at any moment.

Then, just as suddenly as it had happened, her body reappeared.

She collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air.

Ethan crouched down next to her, nodding. "Not bad."

Lena shot him a glare, still trying to steady her breathing. "What the hell was that?"

"That," he said, "was you controlling your power for the first time."

Lena swallowed hard. The weight of what just happened crashed over her.

She had disappeared. On purpose.

The fear was still there, but beneath it, something else had taken root.

Something dangerously close to excitement.

Ethan stood up, offering her a hand. "Come on. That was just the beginning."

Lena hesitated, then took his hand.

Because for the first time in her life, she wasn't afraid of disappearing.

She was afraid of what would happen if she didn't learn how to control it.

And she had the feeling that time was running out.

---

Elsewhere… Someone is Watching

Far away from the old auditorium, in a darkened room, a phone screen flickered to life.

A live video feed played—grainy, but clear enough to show two figures inside an abandoned building.

One of them was a boy.

The other…

A girl who had just vanished and reappeared.

A slow, amused chuckle echoed through the room.

"She's finally awake," a voice murmured.

Then, the screen blinked to black.

And in the darkness, someone made their move.

---