4338.206 · July 25, 2018 AD
What Waited in the Driveway
The dogs are gone. The driver is missing. The truck sits abandoned in the driveway, keys swinging in the ignition like a pendulum counting down. Luke searches the empty house, calling a name that doesn't answer. Then the wind catches the truck's back door—slams it, slams it again, slams it against something in the shadows. What's gone is in Clivilius. What's found is worse.
July 25, 2018. Morning. Luke's driveway, Berriedale.
Luke stumbles out of the Portal, back into his study. The house is wrong—too quiet without Duke and Henri. He closes the gateway quickly.
Joel. The delivery driver is still here somewhere.
But first, the phone call. Luke dials Dr De Bruyn's office. An urgent appointment. It must be Dr De Bruyn—no one else will do. The receptionist tries to redirect him to emergency. Luke insists. Finally: four-fifteen. Late afternoon. Too many dangerous hours between now and then.
Why does Luke need this appointment so desperately? What injury requires such urgency? And why specifically Dr De Bruyn?
Then Luke searches. "Hello?" No answer. The hallway. The bathroom. Empty. The truck sits in the driveway—door open, keys dangling in the ignition. Where is Joel?
The truck's back door slams against its frame. Something stops it from closing.
Luke approaches. Peers into the shadows.
Experience Luke's discovery. What he finds. What it means. The moment everything fractures.
This is Luke alone—before witnesses, before explanations, before the performance begins.
