Bullet Train to Murder | ONC novella ✓

14 | lost town

It had been eight months since Lena Mayers had abandoned her previous life and began a new one with Jasper. Though she attempted to concentrate on mundane topics like bake sales and missing kittens, tales of his sorrow rang through the grapevine, a continual reminder of their own tumultuous history.

However, this morning felt different.

Jasper's uneaten breakfast sat between them like a chasm, the distance between them stretching wider than the Grand Canyon. His silence was as loud as thunder, a tempest brewing beneath the surface of his somber facade. Lena couldn't help but wonder what secrets he was keeping, what shadows danced behind those once sparkling eyes.

She felt a chill skitter down her spine, like the cold fingers of a ghost brushing against her skin. Was she living with a stranger? Or was this just the ebb and flow of a relationship weathering a storm?

Curiosity piqued, she prodded it, revealing a concealed compartment. It was the first of many she'd discover – locked drawers with phantom keys, secret passageways leading to unknown destinations, and a pervasive sense of foreboding that clung to the air like dust motes in a sunbeam.

That unsettling evening, the unease festering within Lena finally boiled over. Jasper sat hunched in his study, surrounded by towering shelves crammed with leather-bound books. Candlelight cast flickering shadows on the walls, lending the room an unsettling air.

Lena tiptoed through the labyrinth of secrets within their home, she couldn't help but feel like a detective in a classic noir film, only without the fedora and trench coat. Each new discovery peeled back another layer of the mystery surrounding Jasper, revealing a man far more complex and enigmatic than she'd ever imagined.

The study was a sanctum of shadows, the candlelight dancing like a specter across Jasper's face, illuminating his furrowed brow and the deep crevices of worry etched into his once-youthful features. He was a man possessed, consumed by a darkness that seemed to be devouring him from within.

Lena's footsteps echoed through the silent room, a metronome counting down the moments until she could no longer contain the questions that burned within her. The weight of the secrets between them hung heavy in the air, suffocating in their intensity.

"Jasper," she began, her voice trembling with equal parts fear and determination, "what are you hiding?"

"What is it, Lena?" His voice was cool, devoid of the usual affection.

Lena took a deep breath, her heart hammering against her ribs. "What are you hiding from me? What secrets lurk behind these hidden compartments?"

A flicker of emotion, quickly suppressed, crossed Jasper's face before he settled on a practiced indifference. A smirk played on his lips, failing to reach his cold gaze. The tension in the room crackled, thick enough to cut with a knife.

Deliberately, Jasper set down his book, his movements measured and controlled as he rose and crossed the distance between them. He loomed over her, his presence a heavy weight. Leaning in close, his breath tickled her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

The smile on his lips remained, but it did nothing to mask the dangerous glint in his eyes.

"My dear Lena," he whispered, his voice a dangerous purr, "there are things in this world that you couldn't possibly understand. Secrets that would shatter the very foundation of your reality."

Lena swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. This man before her was a stranger, a figment of the person she thought she knew. Her mind raced, trying to connect the dots between the hidden compartments, the locked drawers, and the man she once believed to be the love of her life.