A Test of Loyalty

The late afternoon sun, usually a warm benediction over Oakhaven, felt thin and brittle, casting long, distorted shadows that seemed to writhe at the edges of Alex’s vision. He sat on the worn wooden bench behind the library, the same bench where he and Benji had spent countless hours dissecting comic books, planning elaborate pranks, and, more recently, whispering about the impossibility of it all. Now, the silence between them was a heavy blanket, suffocating and cold.

Benji sat beside him, his knees drawn up to his chest, his gaze fixed on a point somewhere beyond the wilting petunias lining the library’s foundation. His usual nervous energy had been leached away, replaced by a profound, unnerving stillness. It had been two days since Sarah Carter, Alex’s mother, had vanished from her own kitchen, the scent of freshly baked bread still clinging to the air. Two days since the horrifying realization had dawned, not just on Alex and Benji, but on the entire fractured town: Copycat wasn’t just a story. It was real. And it was here.

“Are you sure about this, Alex?” Benji’s voice was a low murmur, barely disturbing the quiet.