The box let out a wheeze—thin, metallic, and unsettling. Then it vibrates softly, twice. And freezes as if it had been caught.
Bradley whipped around, eyes locked onto it like a predator watching prey twitch. You felt your heart thrum faster, like it was trying to escape your ribs. You slowly realise there was another sound coming from it—tick... tick... tick...
It started.
Your eyes widened.
It really was a bomb!
There was no time to hesitate. Instinct flared brighter than fear.
The sound hammered into your brain, and it started to make you go crazy.
You lunge forward, scoop the box into your hands—metal warm and humming with pressure—and bolt to the door. With every step, the ticking quickened. Faster. Sharper. Louder.
You didn't think. You acted.
And then—YEET!
You hurl it skyward with every scrap of strength you have. The clouds broke just enough to catch a gleam of silver as the box twirled through the air like some bizarre firework.
It hung there for a moment, slowing at the peak of its arc.
Then it begins to fall.
No—no, no, no! Had you thrown it too early?
Your hope sinks into dread.
And then—
BOOM.
A surge of heat and light erupts above the clearing in a fireball of pressure. Wind blasts outward, a concussive wave hammering into the house.
You fly back like a leaf caught in a hurricane—but before you hit the ground, Bradley was there. His arms catch you mid-fall.
You freeze.
He stares at you for a brief, unreadable moment. Then—with cold detachment—he drops you onto the floor and turns away.
"...Thanks for doing that," he says, voice distant. "We could've died. And everything I tried so hard for would have been for nothing."
You sit up slowly, dust and shock still buzzing through your head. His words stick like burrs.
Everything he tried so hard for…
That was no casual comment. That was the thread that pulled the whole tapestry tighter.
What had Bradley been doing this for?
Why the traps?
Why the secrets?
You watch him walk away, tail low, shoulders tense. And you realize—
You weren't just part of his story anymore.
You were inching closer to the truth.