The first thing Mateo noticed was the sound—a low, almost imperceptible hum.
It was subtle, like the faint vibration of an engine coming to life, but it resonated in his chest, matching the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Then, the room changed.
The air grew dense, pressing against his skin as if the very fabric of reality had thickened. His desk warped before his eyes, its edges twisting and bending like molten metal. Mateo''s breath hitched.
He blinked, trying to refocus, but the distortion only deepened.
The walls of the dorm shimmered, fading in and out as though they were caught between existing and dissolving. Shadows stretched unnaturally along the floor, curling upward like dark tendrils reaching for him. The lamp on his desk flickered, its light dimming until it cast jagged streaks across the room.
Mateo whispered, his voice trembling.
"What the hell... What the hell is happening?!"
And then, he heard it.
"Mateo..."
The voice was faint, almost carried by the hum itself, but it froze him in place. His father''s voice. Calm, familiar, and unmistakably real.
"Mateo... you have to understand..."
His pulse quickened.
"Dad?"
It couldn''t be him. His father had been gone for years—vanished without a trace. And yet, the voice carried a weight that pulled at something deep within him.
The hum grew louder, vibrating through the floor and into his bones. The shadows twisted faster, spiraling around him as if alive. His chest tightened, and his breath came in short, shallow bursts.
Mateo whispered again, his voice cracking.
"Dad?"
The room trembled, the flickering shadows and warped walls threatening to close in on him. The voice came again, stronger this time, as though it were echoing from every corner of the room.
"Mateo, you must—"
A sudden crackle of static pierced the air, sharp and jarring, breaking through the trance.
Mateo''s hands shot up to his ears as the sound drilled into his skull. The room snapped back into focus, the walls solidifying, the shadows retreating.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Mateo sat frozen, the Reality Tuner still in his hands. His fingers were ice-cold, and a sheen of sweat coated his palms. The low hum had stopped, but the weight in the air remained, an unseen presence pressing down on him.
He muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
"What the hell just happened?"
He looked down at the device, its surface still faintly glowing, as if taunting him.
The room around him was unchanged, yet it felt profoundly different—off, somehow. It was as though something had shifted, something he couldn''t see but could feel in every fiber of his being.
His mind raced. The voice—his father''s voice—had been so vivid, so real. But how?
He closed his eyes, willing his breathing to slow, and focused on the memory of what he''d just heard.
"Mateo, you must..."
Must what? What were you trying to say? Wait, why is he even there? He left me and my mom years ago. I shouldn''t...
The Reality Tuner sat heavy in his lap, its cold surface almost pulsating under his touch.
He said aloud, his voice steadier now, though the unease still lingered.
"I need answers."
He reached for his phone with trembling hands and quickly typed out a message to Kale.
"Need help. Something weird happened. Call me."
Without missing a beat, he opened another chat and messaged Thalo.
"Hey, Thalo. That device—the Reality Tuner—it''s... doing something. I think I need your help with the code. Call me when you can."
As the messages sent, Mateo''s gaze returned to the device. He traced the faint lines etched into its surface, the grooves that seemed to glow ever so slightly.
There was no denying it now—this wasn''t just some failed invention.
It was something far more powerful, far more dangerous.
And yet, despite the fear gnawing at him, he felt an undeniable pull. Whatever this thing was, it was tied to his father—and to answers he had sought for years.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Mateo murmured, gripping the Reality Tuner tightly.
"I don''t know what you are. But I''m going to find out."
The room remained silent, but the memory of his father''s voice lingered in his mind, intertwining with the hum that had vibrated through the air.
Mateo''s phone buzzed almost immediately, pulling him from his spiraling thoughts.
Thalo''s reply lit up the screen first.
"Dumbass. We just left. We haven''t even made it home, and now you want us to come back to the dorm?"
Mateo let out a small huff, a mix of irritation and relief. Thalo''s bluntness was a weird comfort, grounding him back in the moment.
A second buzz followed. This time, it was Kale.
"We''ll visit tomorrow morning. Just be safe and explain your experience to us tomorrow."
Mateo stared at the screen, his grip on the phone tightening.
Safe? He wasn''t even sure what that meant anymore. Whatever had just happened wasn''t something a good night''s sleep could fix.
But he knew Kale and Thalo were right—dragging them back now wouldn''t solve anything.
He typed out a quick response to both of them.
"Okay. Tomorrow morning. But seriously, this is weird. Just... hurry."
Setting the phone down, Mateo glanced at the Reality Tuner once more. It sat there, innocuous and unassuming, a silent enigma that had just shaken his entire world. He rubbed his temples, trying to process the chaos in his mind.
For now, he was alone with it. And the night stretched ahead, heavy with unanswered questions.
Mateo leaned back against the wall, staring at the Reality Tuner as if it might spring to life again. His hands were still trembling, but his mind raced to dissect what had just happened.
He muttered to himself.
"Electromagnetic waves... spatial distortion... Is that what this is? The device must emit some kind of electromagnetic pulse that interacts with... something. But how? And why did it—"
His voice caught as a realization struck.
Mikhail had mentioned it, hadn''t he? Something about the Reality Tuner not being a gimmick, about it tapping into fundamental forces of the universe.
Mateo had brushed it off at the time, thinking it was just his Mikhail''s eccentric ramblings, but now...
He whispered aloud, his voice barely above the hum of the dormant device.
"Mikhail was telling the truth."
The weight of those words hung in the air. His father, who had disappeared without explanation, who had left behind nothing but fragments of his work and a hollow ache in Mateo''s life, had been right all along.
Mateo shook his head, trying to focus.
"If this is real... then that hum, that vibration... maybe it wasn''t just in my head. Could it have been electromagnetic resonance? Or some kind of quantum field response?"
He ran a hand through his hair, the logical part of his mind clawing for a foothold amid the growing chaos.
"But if that''s true, then... what exactly did it tune into?"
The thought sent a shiver down his spine.
The distortion, the flickering walls, the shadows—they hadn''t been tricks of the light or his imagination.
They were real. As real as the faint echo of his father''s voice that still lingered in his ears.
His chest tightened. If his father had been telling the truth about the device, then maybe he''d been right about other things too. About why he had to leave. About why this device was so dangerous.
Mateo''s gaze returned to the Reality Tuner, his voice shaking as he muttered.
"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"
Mateo''s ears perked up at the sound of the knock echoing from the front door.
He froze for a moment, clutching the Reality Tuner in his hand as his pulse quickened.
He muttered to himself, swallowing hard.
"Who the hell would come at this hour?"
He slipped the device into his desk drawer, trying to shake off the lingering unease from earlier.
As he walked toward the living room, his hand instinctively checked his phone in his pocket. 11:03 PM.
Mateo hesitated at the door, a swirl of curiosity and apprehension knotting in his stomach.
Should I even open it?
He clenched his jaw, half-considering ignoring it entirely, but the persistent knock came again, sharper this time.
His hand gripped the doorknob tightly before he turned it and swung the door open.
Standing there was Lila.
She looked distinctly out of place for the hour, dressed in loose, casual sleeping clothes—a tank top and short shorts that stopped just above her knees. Her hair was slightly messy, as if she''d left in a rush, and her expression carried a mix of defiance and unease.
Mateo''s eyes involuntarily darted downward, and as soon as he realized what he was doing, his face flushed a deep red.
"Lila?" he stammered, trying to steady himself.
"Oh, hey... you again. Wait—why are you here this late?!"
His voice rose slightly, a mix of embarrassment and genuine concern.
"You''re Kale''s classmate, so you don''t have any classes this weekend, right? Why aren''t you at home? I mean, I know our dorms are close, but—seriously—you shouldn''t be walking alone this late! This is a subdivision; it''s not safe! What if something—"
Lila cut him off, her voice calm but sharp.
"Who are you to tell me what to do?"
Her brow arched slightly, a teasing glint in her eyes.
"You''re not my boyfriend, Mateo."
Before he could protest, she stepped inside, brushing past him as if the threshold of the door wasn''t a boundary at all. Mateo blinked in surprise, momentarily speechless.
He asked, shutting the door behind her as she made her way into the living room.
"I—what are you doing?"
Lila turned to face him, a small sigh escaping her lips.
"Sorry about that," she said softly, her tone gentler now.
"I just... I didn''t know where else to go."
Mateo crossed his arms, studying her with a mixture of concern and confusion.
"Lila, seriously, what''s going on? Why aren''t you at your dorm?"
She hesitated, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I couldn''t sleep."
She admitted finally, her voice quieter.
"I... I was scared, okay?"
Mateo''s expression softened slightly.
"Scared? Of what?"
She let out a nervous chuckle, though it lacked humor.
"It''s stupid, really. My dorm is so close to the campus, and... with everything that''s been happening lately, I just—I couldn''t stay there alone tonight."
Mateo furrowed his brow.
"Wait, what do you mean? The same thing you told me back at Mikhail''s shop?"
As Mateo and Lila settled into the living room, the tension was still thick between them.
Lila was curled up on the couch, her knees drawn to her chest as she glanced nervously at the walls, occasionally looking at Mateo like she expected something to happen. Mateo, on the other hand, was trying to keep his composure. But deep down, a gnawing sense of unease continued to grow.
Lila spoke first, breaking the silence.
"About it being haunted..." she started, her voice tinged with uncertainty.
"People say weird things have been happening lately—things that can''t be explained. Lights flickering in classrooms, shadows in the corners of the halls. Weird stuff."
Mateo frowned, remembering what she had said before.
Rumors. Weird noises at night. People saying they''ve seen things moving where they shouldn''t.
"Yeah, I remember you mentioned it last time," Mateo replied, trying to sound more dismissive than he felt. "But that''s just college gossip, right? People always need something to talk about."
Lila''s laugh was quick but hollow, her fingers tapping nervously against the side of the couch. Mateo could see her unease and realized it wasn''t just the whispers of strange happenings she was afraid of—there was something more to it.
He chuckled uneasily.
"Probably just faulty electrical stuff. This dorm''s got that vibe, right? Old wiring, old everything."
But as he spoke, the overhead light flickered once again.
Mateo''s eyes snapped toward it, his heart thumping in his chest. The bulb blinked erratically, casting distorted shadows that stretched across the room in strange, unnatural angles. His breath hitched.
For a brief moment, he thought he saw something—something standing in the corner of the room, still and silent, its shape unclear.