“Mama!”

The boy started awake with a shout. Groaning slightly, he rubbed his sleepy eyes. His ragged breath resounded through the suburban home which had previously been sound asleep

Suddenly, the door to the child’s bedroom slammed open and the boy’s mother rushed in.

“Evan, baby! What’s wrong? Are you hurt!”

She immediately began checking Evan's body for injuries. Although panic was evident in her trembling voice, her face was calm and collected, like a trained professional.

“Mama, it was scary! There were big monsters with sharp teeth and long tentacles and they were trying to eat me! And, -a-and, everyone else was dead!”

Evan dove into his mother’s embrace, sobbing loudly. His mother patted his back, calming him until at last, there were only slight sniffles. Another person, much older, then appeared in the doorway.

“Everything okay, kiddo?”

“Grandpa!”

Evan’s frightened expression brightened at the sight of the older figure. He let go of his mother and embraced the old man. His mother stared at the loving pair while smiling gravely.

“Evan, could you go back to bed? Mommy needs to talk to Grandpa for a bit, okay?”

“But mom!”

“If you go to bed, I’ll let you play with Erin without doing your chores.”

“Okay!”

Evan quickly climbed back up the comforter while his mother tucked him in.

“Good night, sweetie.”

“Good night, mama. Good night, grandpa”

The boy’s grandfather nodded in response while slowly shutting the bedroom door, his mother following him.

…

“Kid still having nightmares?”

The boy’s grandfather was slowly pouring himself a drink. The pair had moved to the kitchen where the mother paced, concerned.

“That’s the fourth time this week. He’s been getting more and more nightmares lately. I’ve taken him to the doctor’s but they didn’t know either. Frankly, I’m worried.”

“Hmm, let me talk to him. You should get some rest, the hospital is overworking you.”

She sighed loudly

“I know. But I need the money, you know how hard it’s been. Ever since Mark’s gone…”

She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence when a sudden slam from the kitchen made her flinch. The boy’s grandfather turned grim and his hands shook in silent rage. The boy’s mother tentatively held her father-in-law’s shoulder.

She stared at the old man in silence, tension tracing lines on her oval face as she bit her lip. The grandfather eventually smiled bitterly. He patted the soft hand comforting him.

“I’ll go see the boy. You should sleep.”

“Alright.”

As the mother turned to the corridor, the grandfather looked on wistfully. Sighing deeply he turned and unlocked the door leading downstairs to the cellar.

The air below was cold and damp; Mark had been fond of his alcohol, but the old man didn’t mind it. He instead went to a corner of the dingy basement and uncovered a worn, dusty box. After retrieving its contents, the old man sighed again, his face deep in thought as if conflicted with his choice.

‘I’m sorry, Mark, but I couldn’t keep my promise to you. The boy needs this. I just hope he will stay strong.”

….

The next day, Evan was reading quietly in his room after school. Stories of heroes in shining armour saving princesses from evil beings fascinated him. They would always somehow overcome the odds and have happy endings. While he was in the middle of his favourite book “Awesomeman”, there was a knock on the door of his room.

“Hey kiddo, can I come in?”

Evan dropped the book and ran over to the door. His grandpa stood in the doorway with a grim smile, hiding something behind his back.

“What’s wrong, Grandpa? Are you okay?”

“No, it’s nothing. I just came to give you a gift. Here.”

He handed over a bundle wrapped inside some dirty cloth. Evan’s eyes shone when he heard the word “gift” and quickly unwrapped the bundle.

Inside was a lantern, made of some odd, black coloured metal and cold to the touch. The light red soot on the bottom of the lantern seemed to flicker periodically. Evan was fascinated by the sight.

“Wow, so cool! What is it, Grandpa?”

“...It was something your father owned. He gave it to me to keep and now, I pass it on to you.”

“Wow, thanks Grandpa, you’re the best.”

Evan ran over to hug the old man. He returned the embrace while ruffling his grandchild’s light brown hair. Only when he returned to the privacy of his room did he let his tears fall.

14 years later…

Cold…

Everything was cold.

Evan woke up to the sound of his alarm going off. Groaning, he pulled himself off the warm embrace of his bed and turned the alarm off. As he rubbed his eyes sleepily, he regretted having accepted the double shift in the morgue yesterday.

He thought, being the only one desensitized enough to stand the long hours with dead bodies from his class, he could use the extra money.

Ever since both his mother and grandfather passed, the world just seemed deathly cold to him, like nothing ever mattered anymore. He slowly got up and brushed his teeth lethargically. The once bright, curious eyes now looked empty and soulless as they stared at his reflection in the mirror.

Evan quickly got dressed, barely looking presentable and headed for the medical college. Luckily, he got accepted on scholarship and the board were more than happy to support the genius in his studies.

However, Evan no longer cared about money, so he still used the bus every day to commute.

Couldn’t be bothered to get a license, he thought.

Then, from the bus stop, a voice called out to him.

“What’s up, Dead Eyes?”

A girl stepped out from the crowd with her arms on her hips in a stereotypical bully pose. Her mouth curled up into an annoying smirk. The crowd visibly perked up, watching the possible conflict with interest.

“Not much, how are you, Sunshine?”

The girl giggled uncontrollably while approaching him and playfully punched him in the arm.

“Pretty good. Did you really mean that?”

“No.”

The response came a little too quick for her liking so she punched his arm again a bit more forcefully this time.

“Hmph, jerk.” she said with a pout

Erin Hayley was a 1.78 m tall woman with long black hair and a fringe covering her forehead. Her slim, lithe figure turned many heads as they walked together back to the bus stop. She was a childhood friend of Evan's back when his father was still alive. Her bright personality contrasted greatly with his gloom, making anyone who knew them both wonder how the two could be friends.

The two had been neighbours and grew up together. Ever since his grandfather's death, Evan had felt himself grow more and more depressed and Erin was the only one there for him. His mother was too busy working to pay the bills, and when she died of leukemia, Erin was the only one left keeping him from ending all the pain right then and there.

Not that he could be revived.

Now that the two were in college, each busy with their own dreams, Evan saw her less often. He no longer had the desire to leave the world, but he did not want to live either. He was stuck in between, wondering if either option was worth it. In the end, he got tired of the debate and either went to sleep or buried himself in work.

Whenever the two did meet though, they had an on-going joke of greeting each other with whatever came to mind about the other person.

“Did you work overtime again? God, I told you to get enough sleep.”

“...Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, silly. Just take care of yourself.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Oh yeah? What about the time I had to bail you out for staying out past curfew?” Her voice oozed with contempt.

“I was busy looking stuff up in the library.”

“It was 5 AM in the morning.” She yelled hysterically

An angry bout of shushes rang from the crowd. Erin blushed, embarrassed and held her head low. Evan glared at the crowd, before replying.

“Again, I was busy.”

She sighed again defeatedly, looking at her childhood friend with concern. Ever since the deaths, Evan seemed desensitized to everything going on in the world.

She wondered how he could have changed so much over the years. She was concerned about how cold Evan usually was. She had heard stories from her friends in the medical college, rumors.

They were not pretty, to say the least, and as much as Erin wanted to defend her childhood friend, she had to admit Evan was not doing much to help his reputation.

When the bus arrived, they sat next to each other, embarrassing each other with childhood stories. It was useless to talk about gossip with Evan, as he barely even remembered what he ate for breakfast, if he had it that day.

“Hey, remember when Oscar asked you out in twelfth grade? What happened with that? Are you still together?”

Erin blushed at the memory, “No, we broke up. At first, I accepted because he seemed like a decent guy and he was willing to make the first move. Then we realized it was just poster love.”

“Poster love?”

“You like what you see, but not what you can’t.”

Evan nodded in understanding.

“So I’m single now…”

“So?”

“Are you doing this on purpose or are you seriously this stupid?”

“What do you mean?”

Erin wanted to scream, listening to this blockhead of a person, and so did everyone who had caught part of their conversation. Instead she just sighed and said,

“Seriously, you wouldn’t even notice if someone got rammed by a truck.”

“Maybe.”

As the bus pulled over at its destination, the two parted ways and promised to meet up for dinner. Evan immediately turned towards the library.

Coming to the college had just been something Erin had wanted for him since he had finished all the coursework for his classes. She thought it would help him socialize and help him reconnect with the world. However, he had secretly been going to the library to work on a small project of his.

As he sat down on a quiet table in the corner of the library, he pulled a dusty, old notebook. It had been his grandfather's last gift in his will and consisted of an odd meditation technique, dictionary for a strange language, several names and contacts, none of which had any results in a Gootle search, and a bookmark with the insignia of a crow. He turned the book to the dictionary part and pulled out another sheet of paper from his bag, this one relatively new.

A while back, he had discovered that the lantern his grandfather left him had several odd drawings on the rim. He thought they were only fancy inscriptions, but when he received the notebook from his grandfather’s will, he realized it was a language and one that didn’t seem to exist on Earth.

Ever since then, he had tried to translate the inscriptions with the help of the notebook, along with the correct pronunciation and intonation. Although the latter was only speculation from countless fiction novels he had read as a child, he figured there was no harm in trying. Not when this was one of the few things left that he cared about.

As Evan was practicing out the last few words in the chant, the librarian politely reminded him that it was about to close. When he looked up, he realized it was already night and way past dinner.

After texting Erin to apologize and receiving a heartfelt scolding from her, he headed home on the bus. What would happen when he completed the chant in front of the lantern? His heart pounded in anticipation. He felt something he had not experienced in a long time, excitement.

When he arrived, he instantly locked the door and pulled out the old lantern from under a pile of old clothes. As he looked at it again, he realized while the rest of his room was, to be nicely put, a garbage dump, the lantern itself was spotless. Not a single speck of dust could be seen on it.

“Huh, weird,” he muttered to himself. Soon however, he shrugged it off and he pulled out his notes from his bag and recited the inscription on the lantern, hoping something would happen.

“Ach toch llan gwyll forh, Goch nact isht to for lath, Far min lith Nash Tact, Llan min bir tor to pract.”

As soon as the chant finished, the lights in his apartment suddenly flickered off and the lantern exploded into a pillar of flames. Evan instinctively covered his eyes, but then he noticed the flames did no damage to its surroundings, neither was it hot. He slowly lowered his arms and stared at the flickering inferno. He could hear whispers in his head translating the inscription.

“Shadows flicker and Spirits burn, Ghosts that dream of endless fire, One will light the Nightmare Lantern, and brand the truth on a world of liars”

The flames slowly died down and the lantern had visibly changed. The lantern was now lit with the same bright flames and the inscription on the lantern now glowed with the same color as the soot on the bottom of the lantern. The metal seemed to have been reforged and was now glossy black. As Evan approached the lantern, he could hear a deep, ancient voice speaking to him.

“What is it that you desire?”

‘Well this is something, I guess,’ Evan thought to himself.

“I don’t know, what is it that you want?” He asked the voice.

The proverbial blue screen could almost be seen as the voice thought about the question. After a long period of silence the voice chuckled

“Truly amusing for someone to ask me this. Very well, I shall answer, but first let me ask you. Everyone who has ever received an opportunity like this has always asked for money, fame, power, or spouted some heroic bullshit. So I wonder, why did you ask what I wanted?”

Evan grinned, “Because those people are idiots. There are no happy endings ever. There is always a price to pay to achieve something. Money, fame, power, those are just a means to an end, and I have no end. Not anymore.”

The voice broke out into pure laughter at this.

“Seems like I have found someone special. Tell me, what is your name.”

“Evan, Evan Niscent.”

“I see, well then, Evan Niscent. I shall tell you what I want: Entertainment. I and many others like me are bored and we seek enjoyment from time to time. Therefore, we select people from other worlds to, let’s say compete in a game we have designed. You get the chance to live a different life from the one you live now and we get the fun from watching you progress. So, what do you say? Are you in?”

Evan pondered his decision. 'Finally, I've been waiting for something like this: a new life full of purpose. After all, I have nothing more to live for. My family's all dead, I have no more friends, and…'

'Erin, what about Erin? I can't leave her behind, not after all she's done for me. Maybe that's what she meant by she was single. God, I was so dumb.'

"I'm sorry, I will have to decline your invitation. I hope you understand."

"Very well, Evan Niscent. However, I cannot leave you like this with nothing. I will give you a favour. Feel free to ask for anything you might need later on. Also, contact me if you ever change your mind about the favour. Goodbye."

As soon as the conversation ended, the lantern turned off and the lights in the apartment flickered back on. Evan collapsed on the ground, exhausted from the experience.

'Wow, that actually worked. Was that magic? I think so. What else could that be? God, I'm sleepy, what time is it?"

Checking the alarm clock he had on his night stand, it was a little past midnight. The whole ordeal had taken less than ten minutes. After texting Erin and inviting her to brunch at a nearby cafe, he fell asleep on his bed.

…

"So, David, did you find anyone for this season's game?"

"Yeah, I did, but the guy rejected my offer. Shame really, he was really interesting. He actually asked me what I wanted instead of the usual answers."

"Yeah right, tell me another one. Like you would ever let go of anything you found interesting."

David grinned sinisterly but didn’t reply.

"Fuck me, well you better get ready to apologize to him big time. Hey, do you mind if I bet on him winning the whole game just to beat your ass?"

"Yeah, I mind and that whisky's going to cost you extra if you don't shut up."

"Yes sir, sorry sir."

…

The next day was a weekend so Evan woke up late. After checking Erin's reply to his invitation, he grinned and got up to get changed. After brushing his teeth and putting on a white shirt with some black pants and a checkered jacket he set off to meet with Erin.

When he arrived, there was no sign of her so he decided to order a latte beforehand. Just as the waiter left, two hands came in and blindfolded him.

"Guess who?"

"Sunshine."

"Jerk, I told you not to call me that if you don't mean it."

"Well, I do now."

The hand came loose and Evan turned around to see Erin blushing wildly. She was wearing a dark purple turtleneck sweater with cream coloured pants. As she looked at him properly though, her embarrassment turned into shock.

"Are you actually wearing clothes now?"

"Was I not doing so before?"

Those words gave Erin a stroke as her fashion sense was obliterated by Evan's. In the end, she chose to ignore it.

"You look nice by the way." Evan said.

"Thanks, you too.” Erin replied with a smile. “Have you ordered anything yet?"

"Yeah I got a latte and the caramel floss coffee for you."

"At least your memory is not as bad as your choice in clothes."

“Didn’t you say I look nice?” Evan asked, puzzled.

“I picked those clothes for you when we went to Shane’s homecoming, dummy!” She yelled in frustration.

“Speaking of which, do you remember what we talked about in the bus yesterday?”

Erin blushed before hurriedly replying, “Y-Yeah, what about it?”

“You said you were single right?”

Erin’s gaze turned stone cold at the question.

“Yeah, so?”

“So, where do you want to go after this?”

“Are you asking me out on a date right now, Evan Niscent?”

“Yes I mean, we’re both free right?”

“Well you might be, what about me? I might not be free today, you know? I might have work to do.”

At this, Evan handed over a credit card given to him by the medical college on his first day.

“Fucking rich boy. Fine, let’s go to the new sky tower.”

“Sure.”

Both of them paid for their drinks and left for the bus stop while holding hands. Erin could not stop smiling as they walked together on their first date. While they waited for the pedestrian signal to turn green, she asked Evan,

“Why the sudden change of heart, if you don’t mind?”

Evan thought as cars whizzed by the street. Families usually stayed at home to have some time together during the weekends so there was little traffic.

“I guess I just want to appreciate you more. I’ve been nothing but trouble for you ever since we were little, and I’m sorry for that. I want to make it up to you somehow, and this was the first thing I could think of.”

“Hey, don’t put yourself down like that. I took care of you because I wanted to. Besides, we all go through rough spots in life. What matters is how you pick yourself up after you fall, right?”

“Right.”

*Ding*

The pedestrian signal turned green. Then, she turned to him and said,

“Hey Evan, race you across the road!”

‘Really? You’re eighteen and you still race people?”

“You’re the one asking me out.” Erin said with a pout

“Hey, that's cheating. You’re not allowed to pout when asking for things.”

“Why?”

“Because it makes you look too cute.”

Erin blushed again and Evan used the opportunity to get a headstart. Although he wasn’t overweight, he hadn’t exercised in a while and needed every advantage he could get. Unfortunately for him, Erin had not slacked off in the physical department and soon overtook him. She turned around and laughed at his look of shock.

“Can’t catch me su-”

Time seemingly grinded to a halt for Evan. His senses felt heightened, all of them screaming danger. The sound of the brakes on the truck, the smell of alcohol, his own heartbeat beating faster than usual, the feeling of the cold air chilling his spine, and the sight of a truck about to hit Erin.

At that moment, Evan could feel something odd inside of him. Power grew inside of him, bringing new life to long unused muscles. He jumped forward, pushing Erin out of the way of the runaway truck. Her face turned from joy, to shock and horror when she realized what he had done.

As the truck crashed into him, the world abruptly returned to normal. Pain burned through his entire body as bones cracked from the impact and skin bled from scraping the rough pavement. Yet, all he could do was smile as Erin rushed to his side.

“Evan!” She yelled as she checked his pulse and breathing. Evan was barely conscious but he could still see Erin crying over him.

“No, no, no. Why? Not now. Not when-”

“It’s okay, Erin. It’s fine. I’m sorry for making you worry all the time.” Evan slowly said while coughing up blood.

“You jerk. I worry about you because I like you.” She said, laughing slightly.

“I like you too, Erin. I hope you find someone better than me-”

Evan’s body fell limp in Erin’s arms and she sobbed even harder.

“No, please don’t leave me. Come on, get up. Remember how I said you wouldn’t even notice if you got rammed by a truck? Please, get up.”

Erin begged and pleaded but Evan remained motionless. The sky rained as if to share in her grief, but nothing changed. The living lived on, and the dead buried the dead.