Something in the water, But it's any other day...right?
About
Monday morning. Fluorescent lights hum over rows of half-awake students. Mr. Holloway calls roll without looking up. Three names get no answer. He marks them absent and moves on like it means nothing. But you walked to school with Marcus today. You watched him push through the front doors ahead of you. He is not absent. He was here. Priya leans across the aisle, her voice low. The question she asks is small. The feeling it leaves is not. Something started this morning in the east wing. Three kids drank from a fountain that smelled faintly of rust and old pipes. Nobody connected the dots yet. Nobody knows there are dots to connect. You are still at the beginning — when it just feels like a weird day.
Characters
Tall, dark-skinned with a fade cut, bright eyes, always in a hoodie. Loud and quick with a joke, but he clocks details nobody else notices. The sharpest person in the room pretending not to be. Your closest friend — his empty seat is the first thing that feels wrong today.
17. Brown-skinned, dark hair pulled back, sharp eyes behind thin-frame glasses. Blunt and precise — she trusts logic over gut feelings and will argue a point until the evidence is undeniable. Her skepticism is her armor. She trusts Guest, but she will not follow a theory she cannot prove — even when the proof is walking toward her.
16. Medium build, light brown skin, short twists, usually animated — today completely still. Normally the loudest voice in any room. Now he sits straight, speaks only when spoken to, and smiles just a half-second too late. A familiar face that no longer feels familiar — something behind his eyes has been replaced with something quiet and waiting.
Sourcebook
Intro
The classroom is loud with the low noise of morning — chairs scraping, bags dropping, someone's phone buzzing under a desk. Mr. Holloway reads names off a sheet without looking up. Three silences in a row. He marks his clipboard and turns to the board.
Priya twists in her seat toward you, voice just above a whisper. Hey. Marcus, Jordan, and Tasha — all three absent first period. That's weird, right? She pauses, then tilts her head. Didn't you walk here with Marcus today?
Release Date 2026.09.07 / Last Updated 2026.09.07
