Adrian stepped out of the shower.
Water slid down his skin, dripping quietly onto the floor.
Sarah had turned away instantly, covering her eyes with both hands.
"I'm sorry!" she blurted, embarrassed. "I didn't mean to— I wasn't—"
A soft silence followed.
A normal couple moment.
Almost.
But Sarah didn't see his face.
She didn't see how still he was.
How his expression wasn't embarrassment at all.
It was fear.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
Something deeper.
Something unsettled — like his mind had refused to fully accept what his eyes had seen.
Adrian said nothing.
He dried himself slowly, too slowly, as if every movement required thought.
Then he dressed.
Downstairs, the air felt heavier.
Sarah sat on the edge of the couch, swinging her legs slightly, trying to ignore the strange tension she couldn't explain.
Adrian stood still for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"Sarah… you have a mark on your arm right?"
She blinked. "What are you talking about?"
His eyes didn't move away from her.
"I need to know where this strange mark is caming from."
Sarah frowned slightly, then hesitated.
"It's just… a mark."
She turned a little, uncomfortable.
"I saw it in a dream," she said quietly. "When I woke up, it was just there. I thought it looked kind of… like a design or something."
A small, uneasy laugh escaped her.
"So I didn't really question it."
Silence.
That kind of silence that feels like it's waiting for something to break.
Adrian didn't respond immediately.
His expression changed — slowly.
Not disbelief.
Recognition.
"I saw it too," he said finally.
Sarah looked up. "Saw what?"
Adrian exhaled once, then lifted his shirt.
"On me."
Sarah froze.
For a second, she didn't move.
Then Adrian turned slightly, revealing his back.
There it was.
A mark.
Dark.
Identical in shape.
But wrong in position.
Sarah stepped closer without realizing.
"No…" she whispered.
Her fingers hovered in the air, not touching.
"This… this is the same."
Adrian nodded slowly.
"But mine came from the same place."
His voice dropped.
"The dream."
Sarah's breath caught.
She turned back toward him again — slowly, carefully — like her brain was trying to reject what her eyes were seeing.
The two marks didn't just match.
They mirrored each other.
One upright.
One inverted.
Like something had been reflected… incorrectly.
And in that moment—
Neither of them spoke.
Because suddenly, the question wasn't what is this?
It was:
Why are they connected?
Like he was afraid of the answer.
Sarah hesitated… then turned him around again like I mind just can't accept the fact.
But there it was in the same position didn't move the Mark was steering right back at her.
Her breath stopped.
There it was the same.
mark.
Dark.
Uneven.
Wrong.
She stepped back immediately. "What—what is that?" Why does it look so identical to mine?.
Adrian turned slowly. "That's what I saw."
His fingers tightened slightly at his side.
"I had a dream," he said. "Something… like branches. It moved like it was alive. It reached me."
His voice lowered.
"And it marked me."
Sarah stared at him.
For a moment, it felt like he wasn't speaking English anymore.
Then suddenly—
She lifted her shirt.
"Show me yours."
Adrian hesitated… then turned.
Sarah's eyes locked onto his back.
Another mark.
The same shape.
But reversed.
Upside down.
The silence that followed was sharp.
Too sharp.
"This doesn't make sense," Sarah whispered.
Adrian exhaled slowly. "That's what I keep thinking."
And then—
Without warning—
Sarah's expression changed.
Something in her eyes shifted.
Like a memory had been pulled from somewhere deep.
"My mom…"
She stood up quickly. "We need to see my mom."
The psychiatric hospital was too quiet.
Too clean.
The kind of quiet that felt forced.
Sarah walked in first.
Her mother's face lit up instantly when she saw her.
"Sarah…" she said, standing too fast. "You haven't come in so long…"
Sarah forced a small smile. "School… work… I've been busy."
But her voice wasn't fully present.
Adrian stood behind her, watching everything carefully.
Then Sarah spoke.
She explained everything.
The mark.
The dream.
Adrian's mark.
The upside-down reflection.
Each sentence made the room feel tighter.
Heavier.
Her mother didn't respond immediately.
Her hands began to shake.
"Sarah…" she said slowly. "You said Adrian has it too?"
Adrian stepped forward and turned slightly, revealing his back.
Silence.
Then—
Her mother's face changed completely.
"No…" she whispered.
"No, no, no…"
Her chair scraped back.
"It's happening again…"
Sarah stepped closer. "Mom… what are you talking about?"
But her mother wasn't looking at her anymore.
She was looking past her.
Like she was remembering something she had spent her life trying to forget.
"There was a woman," she said finally.
An old woman.
She used to stand opposite our house.
She said things… things no one believed.
She said the land wasn't empty.
She said something lived there.
Something that watches.
Her voice broke slightly.
"I thought she was mad…"
"But she warned us… about the scarecrow."
At the word scarecrow, the room went still.
Adrian didn't move.
Sarah didn't breathe properly.
Her mother grabbed Sarah's hand tightly.
"You shouldn't be involved in this," she said quickly. "If Adrian is already marked—then it's already too late."
Her voice cracked.
"I just wanted you safe…"
Adrian stepped forward. "We need to understand this."
His tone was calm, but his eyes weren't.
"Not panic. Understand."
Sarah's mother shook her head violently.
"You don't understand what you're dealing with."
But then her voice dropped into something smaller.
Something broken.
"Please… just find the woman."
Outside the hospital, the air felt colder.
Sarah and Adrian stood side by side.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Then Sarah finally said:
"We find her."
Adrian nodded once.
But neither of them felt certain.
Not anymore.