The Other Side

Chapter 4: Choices and Revelations

Morning light struggled through the half-drawn curtains, casting a greyish hue over the cramped room. The soft hum of the city outside barely reached through the sealed windows.

Donna stirred first. She blinked groggily at the unfamiliar ceiling before attempting to sit up—only to grimace and let out a strangled grunt.

“What the hell…?”

Her entire body ached. Not the sharp kind of pain from broken bones or bruised flesh—but something deeper.

Like her muscles had been torn apart and stitched back together overnight. She lifted her shirt carefully, fingers brushing across her side.

Smooth. No swelling. No fractures. Her ribs had completely healed.

“I don’t like this,” she muttered under her breath, swinging her legs over the couch, then letting out a low groan again. “Nope. Still hurts.”

Across the room, Raphael was curled awkwardly on the floor, an undersized coat serving as an insufficient blanket. He looked dead—until his eyes shot open, bloodshot and dazed. He sat up, then clutched his head with both hands.

“Fuck. My brain feels like it’s about to rip itself in half,” he groaned.

Donna looked over at him. “Headache?”

Raphael raised his head slightly, eyes squinting against the dim light.

“Like I got kicked in the head by a horse.”

“More importantly, last night wasn’t just a fever dream then.”

They exchanged a look. Silence fell for a moment—thick and uneasy.

“The hell was that thing last night?” Donna asked quietly. “The... wolf-thing.”

Raphael ran a hand through his tangled hair, the headache pulsating behind his eyes like a second heartbeat. “I don’t know. But why did this shit have to happen to us of all people? We aren't involved in any government affairs. Just our luck, I guess,” he sighed.

Before Donna could respond, the front door slammed open with a violent crack.

In a blur, Seamus—who had been rummaging in the kitchen—was hurled into the wall, hitting it with a thud and collapsing like a sack of flour. He groaned once before going limp.

Both Donna and Raphael instinctively moved—Donna reaching for a blunt bottle on the table, Raphael already halfway to the bathroom door.

Only—they couldn’t.

Their bodies refused to respond.

They were frozen. Not held down. Not bound. Just—immobile.

Donna grunted, trying to move her arms, her legs, anything. “What the—?”

The threshold filled with a tall figure in a dark coat, the silhouette sharp against the hallway light.

“Good morning,” the man said, his voice deep and casual. He stepped inside slowly, brushing nonexistent lint off his sleeve.

“Apologies for the abrupt entrance. And for your friend. He’ll be fine. Maybe.”

Raphael’s jaw clenched. “Who the hell are you?”

The man revealed a badge from within his coat. Government-issue. Clean, official, stamped with a bold number.

[2]

“Name’s Frank. Frank Boreas. I’m with the Department of Supernatural Management.”

He gave a small nod toward them.

“Diego. Sergio. You’ve made quite a name for yourself on the streets lately, for a pair of everyday con-men, have you not?”

Both of them froze—metaphorically. Their actual limbs still refused to move.

“You’ve got the wrong people,” Raphael said instinctively.

Frank gave a half-smile. “Oh, I don’t think I do. Especially after last night.”

Donna glared at him. “You came to arrest us, did you? Just try it and I’ll crush you like a twig.”

Frank sighed and rubbed his temple. “No, but I expected this reaction.”

He snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, the invisible hold vanished. Their bodies were free again. Both stumbled slightly before straightening.

Raphael narrowed his eyes. “What did you do to us?”

“I froze you, quite literally. It’s part of my ability. And before you ask—yes. Supernatural abilities are real. Have been for a long time. Just not public knowledge.”

Donna and Raphael shared a glance at that, recalling the incident.

Frank continued, stepping over Seamus’ still form without looking down. “You’re not the only ones to ever see or fight something like that... thing last night. That creature was a failed experiment. An abomination that shouldn’t exist. But the point is—you two encountered it, survived it, and more importantly—awakened from it.”

Raphael frowned. “Awakened?”

Frank nodded. “The beast's presence triggered your potential. It’s not uncommon. Prolonged exposure to supernatural entities or events sometimes does that. It causes dormant traits to surface. You’re changing.”

Donna winced as she stretched again. “So that’s why it feels like I got run over by a steam engine.”

“Exactly. Your body’s adjusting. Growing. Painfully, yes. But growing nonetheless.”

Raphael remained silent for a moment, processing.

Frank folded his arms. “The headaches, the pain—it’ll pass. But only if properly managed. Which brings me to my offer.”

“Come with me. Join the government's training program. Learn to control your abilities. Grow, fight, maybe even get paid to do it.”

Donna snorted. “What’s the catch?”

“If you refuse…” Frank gestured vaguely at the floor. “There’s the matter of the salt barrel. Expensive stuff. Not to mention damage to government property, interference with port operations, numerous frauds, potential breach of supernatural secrecy laws-”

“Alright, alright, we get it,” Raphael interrupted.

Frank’s smile returned. “Good.”

He stood straight again. “Then I assume you accept?”

[A few minutes later]

Raphael sat on the edge of the old couch, staring at the worn floorboards beneath his feet. Donna was still tense, sitting nearby with arms crossed, her breathing slower now but clearly bracing for whatever might come next.

Frank stood a few feet away, watching them with an unreadable expression, arms clasped behind his back like a teacher waiting for a slow student to finish reading.

“Supernatural abilities,” Raphael muttered, the words tasting strange in his mouth. “That’s what this is all about?”

His mind whirred, spinning over every detail since last night. The wolf-thing. The distorted air around it. The migraine that felt like someone had taken a chisel to the back of his skull. He hadn’t even processed half of it yet, and now this man — this agent — was asking them to make a choice that could change everything.

Join them. Train with the government. Get answers. Or… try to survive on their own. Somehow pay off a barrel of precious salt they didn’t have. And maybe wait for the next abomination to come crawling out of the dark.

He hated how logical it sounded.

But logic didn’t quiet the instinct clawing at his gut. The feeling that once you said yes to men like Frank, you didn’t get to say no ever again.

“You’re awfully quiet, Sergio,” Frank said, tapping the edge of his badge impatiently.

Raphael’s jaw tightened. “You’re asking me to join the same people who made that thing last night.”

“I’m offering you a chance to make sure there aren’t more of them. Or at least to survive the ones that are already out there,” Frank said, voice calm.

Raphael ran a hand through his hair, sighing.

He looked at Donna, who didn’t say anything — just raised an eyebrow like she was waiting for him to pull another trick from up his sleeve.

But this wasn’t a con. This wasn’t a job. This was something else entirely.

He thought about the feeling of the chain whipping through the air. The split second of silence before the creature’s upper half vanished. The sensation that the world had tilted, and he was just now starting to feel the vertigo

He didn’t trust the government. He didn’t trust Frank. He barely trusted himself right now.

But he did want answers. He wanted to know what the hell was happening to him. To Donna. To the world they thought they knew.

And he couldn’t afford to owe the government anything. Not salt. Not favours. And certainly not blood.

Raphael sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a long moment. “We don’t have a choice, do we?”

“Technically you do. But realistically? No.”

Donna leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “Fine. But if you so much as try to throw us in a cage—”

“You’ll crush me like a twig, yes, I heard that part,” Frank replied, amused.

“Then it’s settled,” he said cheerfully. “But one last thing—when we transport you, you’ll be blindfolded. Trainees aren’t allowed to know the location of the base until clearance is granted.”

Donna rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

[A Few Hours Later]

The ride had been long and silent. A few bumps. A sudden drop that made Donna swear. But no information—just darkness behind the blindfolds, and Frank’s occasional humming from the driver’s seat.

When the vehicle finally stopped, the sound of boots on concrete echoed around them.

Their blindfolds were removed simultaneously as the they found themselves in a narrow corridor.

The ceiling was low, the walls smooth and metallic—painted a dull matte black. A single fluorescent light flickered overhead.

At the end of the corridor stood massive bronze doors. No handle. No hinges. It looked like it had been carved into the wall itself.

Raphael squinted as he took in his surroundings, “We’re underground.”

Frank didn’t answer. Instead, he took a step forward and gestured at the door.

“Through there is the person who’ll decide what happens next. He’s the one in charge of you. And of everyone else in this base too. Call him... the Seer.”

Donna frowned. “And what, we just walk in?”

Frank raised an eyebrow. “You can. Or you can wait for him to call you.”

“Quite Frank-ly, I believe he even knows what we're thinking sometimes. That's what makes him such an annoying guy to be around”. He whispered under his breath, clearly a sad attempt at humour.

Neither Raphael nor Donna laughed.

“Whelp, that didn't work out. You guys are a difficult audience, aren't you?" Frank sighed in faux exasperation.

Raphael cut to the chase. “How much longer do we have to wait”?

The moment he said that, the door creaked. Not open—but it shifted. Like it had been listening. Watching.

Then, with a low grinding sound, it began to open. A gust of cold air rushed out, smelling faintly of ozone and something older. The kind of scent found in forgotten crypts and deep caves.

The corridor dimmed as the lights flickered.

A chill ran down Raphael’s spine.

Donna took a step back involuntarily.

From within the now-open doorway, nothing could be seen. Just darkness. Thick, swallowing black, like the space beyond was detached from reality itself.

Frank stepped back. “Go on, then.”

Raphael turned to him. “You’re not coming with us?”

He shook his head. “This part is just for you two.”

Donna exhaled slowly. “Great. More cryptic horror doors.”

She looked at Raphael. “You ready?”

“Not even a little.”

Together, they stepped forward through the large bronze doors.

As they crossed the threshold, the door rumbled closed behind them with a thunderous clang.

And just like that, they were swallowed by the darkness.