Chapter 15: Intertwined destinies
The sound of windshield wipers cutting through the drizzle filled the silence of the car as Detective O'Brien drove down the road toward Myeong's house. No one spoke. No one had anything to say.
The stench of blood and gunpowder still hung in the air of their minds.
Lily and Violet were dead.
Two more names crossed off Death's list.
Myeong stared at the fogged-up window, her blurry reflection barely recognizable amid the raindrops snaking down the glass. Ethan, beside her, balled his hands into fists on his knees, the skin of his knuckles pale with tension.
Jason, Chloe, Ryan, and Sasha sat in the back, all with similar expressions: hopelessness, fear, disbelief.
No one could process what had happened.
Finally, it was O'Brien who broke the silence by clearing his throat. "I've already informed your families that you'll be in police custody," he said in his usual authoritative tone, though there was a hint of weariness in his voice. "I didn't tell them why, only that you're under protection due to a special situation."
No one answered.
"You're going to remain under surveillance 24/7 until we find a way to stop this," he continued, shifting his gaze to Myeong in the rearview mirror. "I don't plan on losing anyone else."
Myeong said nothing. She couldn't say anything.
Bludworth's words repeated in her head like a cursed litany:
"You are living an extra time that isn't yours. And now you must pay the price in blood."
But she wouldn't accept it.
She wasn't going to stand idly by and wait for Death to come for them.
She wasn't going to let Maddie die.
When they finally arrived at Myeong's house, O'Brien ushered them in quickly and checked every corner as if he expected Death himself to be hiding in the shadows.
"Officers will be on guard outside and patrol the area every half hour," O'Brien said, firmly closing the door. "I'll also leave a unit stationed at the end of the street in case of emergency."
He turned to the group, his gaze stern.
"No one leaves here for any reason. Is that understood?"
They all nodded silently.
O'Brien took a moment, studying their faces, exhaustion evident in his eyes.
"We're going to figure out how to stop this," he assured them, as if he were saying it more to convince himself than them. "Losing anyone else isn't an option."
Without another word, he turned and walked out the front door, leaving them with Myeong's mother.
Silence reigned for a few seconds until Myeong took a breath and spoke:
"If we follow the order in which they died in my vision..." she said, her voice shaking. "Maddie's next."
Everyone tensed.
Maddie froze, her gaze reflecting pure panic.
"No, no, no, no... there must be a mistake," she said, hugging herself. "I don't want to die!"
Myeong's mother quickly walked over to her and gently took her hands.
"Nothing's going to happen to you, honey," she assured her. "As long as we're here, as long as there are police outside, you'll be safe."
But Myeong wasn't convinced. She knew Death always found a way.
Maddie pulled away and ran her hands over her face.
"I'm going to take a shower," she murmured, trying to regain her composure. "I need to clear my head."
"You can use my bathroom," Myeong's mother told her, smiling kindly.
Maddie nodded and retreated to the second floor.
The atmosphere felt heavy, heavy, as if something dark was crawling across the floor.
The silence stretched again until Jason, still staring blankly, let out a bitter laugh.
"This is fucking ironic..." he muttered.
Everyone looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Ryan asked.
Jason ran a hand through his hair before looking up.
"That this isn't the first time my family has outsmarted Death."
Ethan frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
Jason sighed, leaning back against the couch.
"Before I was born, my father was a journalist," he began. "He worked for a newspaper in New York and was once assigned to cover an investigation into a powerful businessman. His company was under suspicion for dumping illegal chemicals into New York Harbor."
Everyone listened in silence.
"My father was ready to travel, he had everything prepared... but at the last minute, they gave the case to another journalist. Why? Because my father had to cover an accident."
"An accident?" Sasha asked.
Jason nodded.
"A police officer and his friend died under... strange circumstances. It was never clarified exactly what happened, but the case captured the media's attention."
"And what happened to the other journalist?" Chloe asked, her voice tense.
Jason looked at the floor.
"He was murdered."
A chill ran through the room.
"What?" Ryan murmured.
"The businessman's thugs found him before he could publish his story," Jason explained. "They beat him to death and destroyed all his evidence."
Myeong swallowed.
"You mean, if your father had gone..."
Jason nodded slowly.
"If it weren't for the accident that killed the policeman and his friend... my father would have died instead."
The air in the room turned icy.
"And if my father had died then... I would never have been born."
Silence.
The weight of his words settled on each of them like a stone in their chests.
They all exchanged worried glances.
Ryan ran a hand through his hair and let out a snort before speaking.
"Damn..." he muttered, shaking his head. "Now that you mention it, Jason... I think I have a similar story too."
Myeong, Ethan, Chloe, and Sasha looked at him expectantly.
Ryan leaned forward on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees.
"This happened long before my mom was pregnant with me," he said, staring at the floor as if he could see the past projected onto the carpet. "She told me about it when I was a kid, but I never paid much attention to it... until now."
He cleared his throat before continuing:
"My mom was walking down an alley when, out of nowhere, a brick fell from a building."
"A brick?" Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ryan nodded.
"Yeah. It was huge. If it had fallen on her head, it would have killed her instantly."
Myeong felt a chill run down her spine.
"But just as she was about to walk under it, a guy with his girlfriend cut in front of her..."
Everyone held their breath.
"And the brick fell on him," Ryan finished, his voice deep.
Silence fell upon them like an unbearable weight.
"Did he die?" Chloe asked, barely above a whisper.
Ryan nodded slowly.
"Yeah. Instantly. My mom said it was horrible... blood everywhere, the guy's girlfriend screaming and crying..."
Sasha shuddered.
"Your mom should have died instead," Myeong murmured.
Ryan swallowed.
"Yeah. But she didn't. And thanks to that, years later, I was born."
Ethan clenched his jaw, crossing his arms in frustration.
"Fuck... are you serious?"
Chloe, who had remained silent, suddenly looked up. Her eyes were wide, as if something had just clicked in her head.
"Shit..." she whispered. "I have a story like that too."
Jason looked at her in disbelief.
"What?"
Chloe hugged herself, as if suddenly feeling cold.
"When my mom was pregnant with me... a burglar broke into her house."
Everyone held their breath.
"She wasn't home at the time, but..." She paused, as if barely processing the gravity of what she was saying. "If she had been there, she would have been murdered."
Myeong felt a knot form in her stomach.
"Why wasn't she home?" Sasha asked.
Chloe looked up and swallowed.
"Because she stopped to watch an accident at a coffee shop."
The air in the room grew thick.
"What accident?" Ethan asked quietly.
"A truck hit the building and... killed three people."
Silence.
A silence so heavy it almost hurt.
"Oh my God..." Myeong murmured, her voice shaking.
Sasha, who had been biting her lip this whole time, finally let out an incredulous laugh.
"It can't be..." she hissed. "This can't just be a coincidence."
Myeong frowned at her.
"You have a story like that too?"
Sasha let out a shaky breath and nodded.
"Yes... but in my case, it was my dad."
She leaned forward and began to speak, her voice low and tense.
"Before he met my mother, he worked for a company that sent him on trips constantly. He had to fly to Tokyo for business."
"So what happened?" Jason asked.
Sasha closed her eyes for a moment before answering.
"A plane exploded shortly after takeoff."
The silence was deafening.
"All flights were canceled that day," Sasha continued, her tone hollow. "My dad couldn't make it."
"But what does that have to do with..." Ryan began, but Sasha interrupted him.
"Days later, there was a terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway."
Myeong felt her heart stop for a second.
"Your dad...?"
Sasha nodded.
"Yes. He would have been there."
A chill ran through the room.
"If the plane hadn't crashed... my father would have traveled, he would have taken that subway, and…" She paused, as if the thought had struck her for the first time. "He would have died."
Myeong looked around at everyone in the room, feeling goosebumps rise on her skin.
It was Ethan who broke the silence.
"Wait a minute…" he said, frowning and looking at Sasha intensely. "That plane that exploded... was it Flight 180?"
Sasha blinked, surprised.
"What? How do you know?"
Ethan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"Because…" He paused, taking a deep breath. "Because of that explosion, my parents couldn't travel either."
Everyone stared at him in astonishment.
"They were supposed to go on vacation to Hawaii," Ethan continued, running a hand through his hair, nervous. But after the crash of Flight 180, all flights were canceled or delayed for several days. My parents decided to postpone their trip.
"So what's so important about that?" Ryan asked, though his voice indicated he was afraid of the answer.
Ethan pressed his lips together before blurting out, "Days later, a hurricane hit Hawaii. If my parents had been there, they would have died."
A tight lump formed in Myeong's throat.
"It can't be..." Chloe whispered.
Ethan nodded slowly.
"And that's not the only thing... Flight 180 was where Sam Lawton died."
Myeong felt her stomach sink.
"Sam Lawton?" Jason asked, frowning.
Ethan nodded.
"Yeah. He's the guy who, a few months before Flight 180, had a premonition about the North Bay Bridge collapsing."
The silence in the room grew even thicker.
Ryan swallowed, feeling his head spin.
"Wait... I've heard about Flight 180, too."
Everyone looked at him expectantly.
Ryan took a deep breath before speaking.
"The brick victim who almost killed my mother..."
"Yeah?" Sasha asked, her face pale.
Ryan stared at them before blurting out the name:
"Alex Browning."
The air seemed to leave the room.
"What?" Chloe whispered.
Ryan nodded gravely.
"He was a survivor of Flight 180. He said he saw the explosion before it happened. A premonition."
Myeong felt the blood drain from her face.
"Oh my God..."
Ethan, now breathing heavily, turned to Chloe.
"Chloe..." he said, his voice strained. "The coffee shop where the accident that entertained your mother happened... was it called "Death by Caffeine"?"
Chloe frowned.
"Yes... Why?"
Ethan closed his eyes for a moment, as if trying to calm himself, before answering.
"That accident killed Nick O'Bannon."
"And who is Nick O'Bannon?" Jason asked.
Ethan looked up, his dark eyes reflecting something close to terror.
"He had a premonition of the accident at the Megatech 300 car race."
"Wait..." Jason took out his phone and searched through his father's files. "My dad wrote about the accident involving the police officer and his friend..."
Ethan took the phone and read aloud:
"Survivors of deadly crash die in bizarre accident. REPORT - Faulty woodchipper to blame" Ethan hesitated before reading the dead girl's name. "Kimberly Corman. She predicted the Route 23 accident."
Myeong's mother, who had been silent until now, suddenly brought a hand to her mouth.
"Good heavens..." she murmured. "I... I have something to tell you guys, too."
Everyone turned to look at her.
The woman swallowed before continuing:
"Nineteen years ago, before Myeong was born, I had a work party at a hotel. I was supposed to get there early..."
"So what happened?" Chloe asked in a small voice.
Myeong's mother took a deep breath.
"There was an accident on the subway. The entire train line closed that night. I couldn't get to the hotel."
"And what happened to the hotel?" Jason asked, though he already had an idea.
Myeong's mother looked down.
"That same night... it caught fire."
Sasha gasped.
"Did everyone die?"
Myeong's mother nodded slowly.
"Yes. Everyone."
The shock of the revelation hit them like an avalanche.
Ethan, his face pale, licked his lips before speaking.
"That subway accident…" he said softly. "It must have been the one that killed Wendy Christensen."
"Who?" Ryan asked.
Ethan looked at them all.
—Wendy Christensen had a premonition of the Devil's Flight roller coaster derailment.
The silence that followed was almost unbearable.
Myeong felt her heart pounding in her chest.
Everything was connected.
"For every death, there is a life."
Bludworth's words echoed in Myeong's head like an ominous sound.
Each of them was here because, somehow, someone before them had cheated Death.
They shouldn't have been born.
And now Death was catching up with them.
Notes:
Honestly, I didn't like Final Destination 2 (though I'd chose it anyday before The Final Destination ), but the concept of the new victims being connected with the OG's was cool. I'd have liked if they kept it. So here it is.
