His Protective Barrier

Following my confession of stark reality, no sooner had our hushed whispers and teary-eyed confidences faded to a close, Aiden, Penelope, and I quietly parted ways.

Perfectly aligned twines of destiny abruptly severed, and our paths diverged in the eerie semidarkness of late evening. While Aiden's silhouette melted into the dimly lit corridors of our separate dormitory while Penelope's car roared to life, whisking her away into the mist enveloped roads, I stood alone under the dying, fluorescent street light.

With the last rusty screech of Penelope's ancient Ford receding in the distance, my tentative steps led me back to the ghostly silence of my dorm room.

Depositing my weary body on the worn-out armchair, I found myself impulsively reaching for the witch's book - an enigmatic link to our tangled past and an uncertain future.

It lay forsaken on the corner desk, bathed in the yellow warmth of the desk lamp, an instrument harboring potent knowledge - knowledge