DEAD
The front door swung open with a heavy thud, and the second my foot crossed the threshold, the hallway light hit my face, and the bruise on my cheek pulsed like a second heartbeat.
But that pain was nothing compared to what hit me next.
A violent, gut‑deep shift that stole the air from my lungs. I staggered, grabbing the wall to keep myself upright.
A crushing, twisting pressure bloomed low in my abdomen — sharp and hot — like my insides were rearranging themselves.
I gasped, fingers digging into the doorframe.
Nate turned, eyes widening. "Kris—?"
I shook my head hard, unable to speak.
The pain surged again — deeper this time, radiating outward, a horrible, foreign sensation like something was forming where nothing had been before.
A hollow feeling.
A space opening.
A structure knitting itself together inside me, cell by cell, nerve by nerve.
My knees buckled.
I bit down on my lip, tasting blood.
No.
Not here.
Not in front of them.
Not while my mind was already spiraling from the creeps, the fight, the police, the way the officers kept calling me "young lady" while I shook and tried not to fall apart.
Not while my identity was already slipping through my fingers.
And then—
A different kind of shock hit me.
Lower.
A sudden absence.
An emptiness so sharp it made my stomach drop.
I didn't need to check.
I already knew.
Something that had always been there — something I had lived with my entire life — was simply... gone.
Erased... no, replaced.
My breath hitched, and the world tilted.
I couldn't let them see me.
I couldn't let anyone see me.
Before Riley could turn around, before Charlie could step out of the kitchen.
I ran.
A full sprint.
Up the stairs.
Two steps at a time.
My breath tearing out of me in ragged bursts.
Every step sent another wave of deep, wrenching pain through me, like my body was finishing something it had started long before I was ever ready.
"Kris?" Riley called behind me, confused. "Hey— wait—"
But I was already gone.
I reached my room.
Slammed the door.
The lock clicked.
And the moment I was alone—
I collapsed to my knees.
My hands shook violently.
My breath came in sharp, panicked gasps.
My whole body felt foreign, unfamiliar. Like I had crossed the threshold as one person and arrived upstairs as someone else entirely.
Because I had.
Something fundamental had shifted.
Something irreversible.
I wasn't him anymore. I wasn't even halfway him.
I was—
I didn't know.
Not yet.
But the truth was clawing its way up my throat, desperate to be spoken.
I didn't want to look.
God, I didn't.
But the panic clawing up my throat wouldn't let me sit still. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely get a grip on my waistband, but I forced my fingers under the fabric anyway. I already knew what I was going to find.
Or not find...
My mind kept screaming that it couldn't be real, that the pain and the absence were just shock, just adrenaline, anything other than what I knew. My breath hitched as I pulled the waistband forward, just enough to see.
The world dropped out from under me.
It wasn't there.
It was just... gone.
Like it had never existed at all.
And in its place, a flatness.
A cold wave crashed through me, so strong it made my vision blur. My stomach twisted violently, and I let the waistband snap back into place as if the sight had burned me.
My hands flew to my face, fingers digging into my scalp as a choked sound tore out of my throat — not quite a sob, not quite a scream, something trapped and broken in between. My chest tightened until it hurt to breathe. My thoughts scattered, slamming into each other, none of them making sense.
I curled forward, shaking so hard my teeth clicked, the truth pounding through my skull with every heartbeat.
I wasn't him anymore.
My body had taken that from me.
Without asking.
Without mercy.
And the worst part was the way my mind kept trying to deny it. Kept insisting I'd looked wrong, imagined it, even though I knew, deep down, that there was no mistake.
The absence was real. The loss was real. And it felt like a piece of me had been ripped away while I was still awake to feel it.
I pressed my back to the door, chest heaving, trying to breathe through the panic clawing up my throat.
Downstairs, I heard Charlie's voice.
"What— what was that? What happened?"
Her tone was sharp.
Worried.
Nate and Lucas didn't answer right away.
I heard the shift in her voice, the one that meant she was about to tear someone apart.
"What happened..."
Not a question.
A threat.
Nate tried to speak. "Charlie, we..."
"No," she snapped. "Tell me. Now."
Lucas's voice came out low, tense. "Some guys cornered him outside the store."
My stomach twisted.
"They weren't normal," Nate added. "They had... scales."
Charlie gasped.
"And one of them hit him," Lucas said quietly. "Hard."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
"HIT... KRIS?" Charlie's voice cracked.
Lucas swallowed. "We fought them off. We had to. They weren't human anymore. They were transformed, Charlie."
Nate added, "I called the police when they showed up. They questioned him. They kept calling him 'young lady.'"
Charlie went still.
I could picture her face, the way her jaw clenched, the way her eyes went sharp and wet at the same time.
"And why didn't you call me?" she whispered, voice trembling with anger and fear.
Nate's voice was small. "We didn't want to scare you."
Charlie's voice broke. "I'm her sister. I'm supposed to protect her."
I squeezed my eyes shut.
The words resounding in my head again—
Her,
She,
Girlie,
Miss...
I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want to hear any of it. But I couldn't stop listening.
A scream tore out of me before I could stop it.
Raw.
Broken.
Ugly.
The kind of sound you make when something inside you finally snaps.
I heard Charlie's breath hitch.
"Oh God... KRIS!!!"
Her footsteps pounded up the stairs.
Riley whispered something.
Nate cursed under his breath.
Lucas muttered, "Kris..."
But I was already unraveling.
Already falling apart. The words pounding through my brain as pain seared through my lower abdomen.
Young girl.
Miss.
She.
How weak I was.
How scared I was.
How helpless I felt.
How I froze.
How I looked like prey.
How the whole world sees me that way.
How even Charlie sees me as a girl.
And Charlie was coming.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
"Kris? Sweetheart? Open the door."
I curled tighter.
I can't.
I can't face her.
I can't even face myself.
"Kris," she tried again, voice trembling. "Please talk to me."
I didn't answer.
She tried the knob, but I had locked it.
"Okay," she said, her voice shifting into that big‑sister mode. "You don't have to open it. But I'm right here. And I'm not leaving."
Her shadow settled under the door.
And something inside me snapped.
I sat up so fast the room tilted, and screamed—
"WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?!"
Charlie flinched on the other side of the door.
"Kris, I'm trying to—"
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" I shouted, voice cracking. "You're trying to FIX me! You're always trying to FIX me! Everyone is trying to put me in a BOX I don't fit into!!!"
My breath shook violently.
"You treat me like I'm fragile! Like I'm breakable! Like I'm some little GIRL who needs protecting! And the teasing. SHIIIT!!"
Charlie's voice broke. "I'm sorry, Kris, I'm just trying to help—"
"HELP?!" I laughed, a sharp, broken sound. "I FELT LIKE PREY, CHARLIE! I froze! I couldn't fight back! I didn't do ANYTHING!"
My hands clenched.
The air temperature dropped.
A thin crack of frost spidered across the wooden floor beneath me.
"I felt weak," I whispered, voice trembling with rage. "I felt helpless. I felt like— like—"
My voice collapsed.
"Like a... like a—" A sob stopped me from finishing.
Charlie's breath caught.
"And the worst part?" I choked. "EVERYONE sees me that way. The world. Strangers. Nate. Lucas. Riley... EVEN YOU."
"Kris—"
"DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" I screamed, and the frost cracked outward like lightning, racing across the floorboards, up the legs of my bed, creeping toward the door.
Charlie gasped softly as the cold seeped under the crack of the door.
"Kris, baby, your powers—!"
"I DON'T CARE! I couldn't even use them when it mattered! I didn't want to—!" I couldn't finish, the pain still pulsing in my stomach making me pause.
"I don't know what to do, Charlie! I'm confused! I'm scared! We're being HUNTED?! Everything is changing, and I don't understand ANY of it!"
My voice shook.
"My body. My voice. The way people look at me. The way I FEEL. It's all wrong. It's all— it's all—"
The frost climbed the walls.
"I don't know who I am anymore!"
My wrist burned where he'd grabbed me.
My throat felt raw from holding back tears.
I could still hear the hit.
Still feel the shock of it.
Still see the scales on his arm.
Still hear the snarl in his voice.
"Little girlie—"
I swallowed hard.
I couldn't think about it.
I couldn't think about any of it.
I heard the lock click. Charlie had picked the lock; I didn't even have time to breathe.
Immediately, the door opened a crack.
Just enough for Charlie to slip inside.
The moment she saw me — shaking, pale, eyes red, and the frost crawling up the walls — her face crumpled.
"Oh, sweetheart..."
She kneeled in front of me, and everything inside me snapped like a frozen branch.
I fell into her arms.
And I broke.
Not a quiet cry.
Not a whimper.
I shattered.
A raw, guttural sob tore out of me — the kind that rips your throat open on the way out.
My whole body convulsed.
My fingers clawed at her shirt.
My forehead pressed into her shoulder so hard it hurt.
Charlie wrapped both arms around me instantly, pulling me tight against her chest, rocking me without thinking.
"It's okay," she whispered, voice trembling. "I've got you. I've got you."
But it wasn't okay.
Nothing was okay.
My sobs echoed off the walls, sharp, broken, and animalistic.
The frost on the floor spread in jagged lines, racing outward like cracks in glass.
The air temperature plummeted.
Charlie tightened her hold, shielding me with her whole body, her breath misting.
"Let it out," she whispered. "Let it out, baby. I'm right here."
I couldn't stop.
I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't think.
All the fear, all the confusion, all the helplessness — it all poured out at once, violent and unstoppable.
"I— I can't—" I choked, voice shredded. "I can't do this— I can't— I'm so scared— I'm so— I'm so—"
"Shh," Charlie murmured, stroking my hair. "You're safe. You're safe with me."
But the words didn't reach me.
Because the truth was still lodged in my chest like a blade.
And it finally ripped free.
"I DIED!" I sobbed into her shoulder, voice cracking so hard it hurt. "I DIED, CHARLIE!"
Charlie froze.
My sobs echoed down the stairs.
Charlie pulled back just enough to look at me, her hands cupping my face.
"What... what do you mean?" she whispered, horrified.
"Hestia told me," I sobbed. "She said I died. For real. When she saved me. I died. I'm not— I'm not supposed to be here, Charlie."
Her eyes filled instantly.
"Oh my God..."
"She said she pulled me back," I choked. "But Kris— Kris didn't come back. Not all the way. Not really."
My voice broke again.
"Kris is dead." The tears ran hot down my face.
Charlie's breath stuttered. Her hands trembled against my cheeks.
I collapsed against her again, sobbing so hard my whole body shook.
"I don't know who I am anymore," I cried. "Everything is wrong. Everything is changing. I feel like— like I'm losing myself. Like the me I've always been has disappeared."
Charlie held me tighter, burying her face in my hair.
"You're not disappearing," she whispered fiercely. "You're right here. I've got you. I'm not letting you go."
But I shook my head.
"No," I whispered. "No, you don't understand."
I wiped at my face, but the tears kept coming anyway. Charlie waited, her hands steady on my arms, her eyes soft but sharp.
"I wasn't just scared of them," I whispered. "I was scared of the devs finding me."
"I kept thinking... if I used my powers, even a little, even by accident... they'd see it. They'd track it somehow."
My hands trembled in my lap.
"But it wasn't just that," I said, my voice barely audible. "I wasn't even sure I could use them."
"I mean, yeah, I used them in the game. But here? In the real world?" I shook my head, my breath shaking. "I didn't know if they'd work."
I swallowed hard.
Charlie's face softened, but I kept going, the words spilling out faster now.
I squeezed my eyes shut as the memory hit me again.
"But when that asshole grabbed me..."
My breath hitched.
"I froze. Completely. My mind just shut down. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't even breathe right."
My fingers curled into Charlie's shirt.
"I wanted to fight back. I wanted to use my powers. But I didn't know if I could. And I didn't know what would happen if I did. And all I could think was— if I mess up, if I slip, if anything happens—"
My voice cracked.
"They'll find us."
A tear slid down my cheek.
"I wasn't just scared of him. I was scared of them. And I was scared of myself. Scared that I didn't know how to control anything anymore. Scared that if I tried to use my powers, nothing would happen. Or something awful would."
I looked up at Charlie, tears streaming down my face, but my voice was calm now.
"I can't be Kris anymore."
Charlie's eyes widened.
My voice steadied, calm and certain.
"Kris is gone. He's not coming back.
And... and I don't want him to. That person was weak."
"Kris is dead..." My words felt like an epitaph on a tomb.
The frost on the walls stopped spreading.
The air stilled.
I took a trembling breath, quivering as I inhaled, frost crackling off of me.
"I want to be Zora."
Charlie's lips parted.
I said it again, stronger this time.
"I am Zora."
Her face broke — not with confusion, not with fear, but with love so fierce it hurt to look at.
She pulled me into her arms again, holding me like she was anchoring me to the world.
"Okay," she whispered into my hair. "Okay, Zora. My Zora. I've got you."
—————————————————————-
The moment the first scream hit the air, the entire living room stilled with a physical tension.
The pizza box forgotten.
The TV still playing some random show no one was watching.
But the house was dead silent.
Nate was standing halfway through the kitchen door when he stopped, hands in his pockets.
Lucas's knee bounced repeatedly with anxiety.
Riley's eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat.
They heard everything.
Every sob.
Every gasp.
Every broken sound.
Then the next scream hit like a gunshot.
Raw.
Shredded.
Painful.
"WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?!"
Nate flinched like he'd been slapped.
Lucas's jaw tightened.
Riley whispered, "This is bad."
Lucas nodded slowly. "Yeah. This is really bad."
Nate's hands were shaking. "I've never heard Kris sound like that."
Lucas swallowed hard. "I don't think any of us have."
Another scream tore through the air.
Riley cried, "Oh God..."
They all looked toward the stairs.
The house was old enough that sound traveled easily — too easily. Every word from upstairs echoed down the stairwell like it was happening in the same room.
Then they heard Kris's voice again — cracking, furious, terrified.
"You treat me like I'm fragile! Like I'm breakable! Like I'm some scared little GIRL who needs protecting!"
Lucas's eyes widened.
Nate's face fell.
Riley covered her mouth with her hand.
The next sound was worse — a sob, sharp and broken.
Riley stood up so fast her chair screeched across the floor. Lucas grabbed her arm immediately.
"Don't," he whispered. "Charlie's got him."
She swallowed hard, eyes shining with something she refused to let fall.
"But she's— she's hurting."
"I know," Lucas said quietly. "But this isn't something we can fix."
Another scream blasted through the house.
"I FELT LIKE PREY, CHARLIE!"
Lucas's hands curled into fists.
Riley whispered, "She's been holding all of that in..."
Then the temperature dropped.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
A cold draft swept through the living room.
The air turned sharp, biting.
Lucas's eyes widened. "His powers—"
Nate whispered, "She's losing control."
They all stared at the ceiling.
Then—
"I DIED!"
The word hit like an explosion.
Riley gasped.
Lucas's face drained of color.
Nate stumbled back a step, his hand gripping the counter for support.
"What— what did she say?" Nate whispered, his voice shaking.
Lucas swallowed hard. "He said he died."
Riley's voice cracked. "Hestia... she must've told her something. Something big."
Upstairs, my sobs grew louder — violent, heart‑wrenching, unstoppable.
Charlie's voice was muffled but desperate.
"I'm here. I've got you..."
Nate pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to breathe.
"I didn't know," he whispered. "I didn't know she was going through all that."
Lucas's voice was low, rough. "None of us did."
Riley wiped her eyes. "She felt alone."
Another sob echoed down the stairs — louder, sharper, like something breaking apart.
Riley's voice cracked. "I want to go up there."
Lucas shook his head, but his voice was soft. "I know. Me too."
They stood there — helpless, frozen, listening to the girl they cared about fall apart.
Then they heard it—
"Kris is dead..."
"I want to be Zora."
Silence.
Then Charlie's voice, soft and breaking:
"Okay... Zora."
Nate's breath caught.
Lucas closed his eyes.
Riley pressed a hand to her heart.
They didn't speak.
They didn't move.
They just stood there, letting the weight of the moment settle over them.
A new name.
A new truth.
A new beginning.
And they all knew, without saying a word, that everything had changed in that moment.