The hallways were darker than they should've been.
Lights flickered above as Donald ran, chest heaving, heart pounding so loud it drowned out the world.
He didn't know what he'd find.
But he knew this was the moment—the one that had gone wrong before.
Not this time.
"Not again"
The door to the art room was slightly open.
White light poured through the crack—too white, like fog, like memory.
Donald stepped in—
And stopped.
The room was quiet.
Yeon held a piece of paper in his hand.
A single signature was scrawled at the bottom.
He looked up at Donald, eyes full of sorrow—and strength.
"I'm not running anymore," Yeon said.
Donald stared. "What is that?"
Yeon didn't answer.
He stood slowly, walked to Jae, and handed him the paper.
Their fingers touched, briefly.
Jae looked down at it, his expression unreadable.
Then, he smiled. Not cruelly. Almost… fond.
"You finally chose," he whispered. "This time, without fear... See you next life"
Yeon nodded once.
Jae stepped back, and behind him—the white light bent.
It twisted into a doorway.
A corridor of memory.
Without another word, Jae turned—and vanished into the brightness.
Gone.
The room fell silent.
The lights flickered back to normal.
Donald rushed forward. "What did you do? What was that?"
Yeon was pale, shaking slightly, but standing.
He looked at Donald with tired eyes.
"I ended it," he said. "Whatever curse we've been caught in… it's done now."
"I chose you," Yeon whispered.
And for the first time in a long time, the dream didn't come back ever again.
Only silence.
Only peace.
Weeks passed.
No one remembered Jae.
It was like he'd never existed.
Only Donald and Yeon kept the memory—two boys walking forward from a life they didn't fully live, holding hands in the quiet morning light.
Sometimes Yeon freeze after looking at white corridors.
Sometimes Donald still think about that contract.
But the future was theirs now.
And the past?
"The past had finally let go."
THE END
Bleed Into Me
By StreamXcake