They Should Have Died

Stranger Things

Logan still couldn’t process what had just happened.

A few minutes ago, he jumped into the river to end his life. Now he was walking through the night with two strangers claiming they had gone through the same thing.

His body was still cold and soaked. His head still felt heavy.

But the thing bothering him the most was how clear every sound around him had become.

The sound of cars from the main road. Someone’s footsteps in the alley nearby. Even the sound of a television from an apartment far away.

Everything sounded painfully clear in his ears.

Logan rubbed his temple slowly.

“You okay?” Alexa asked.

Logan gave a small nod.

“I still don’t understand,” he said quietly. “How am I alive again… and why am I different now?”

Reyn shoved both hands into his hoodie pocket.

“That’s the same question I asked back then.”

Logan quickly turned toward him. “So you guys died too?”

“Yeah,” Reyn answered. “Then woke up different.”

Logan fell silent.

“What exactly happened to us?” he asked.

“We still don’t know for sure,” Alexa replied shortly.

Logan was starting to lose his patience.

“A few minutes ago I died. Then objects started floating without me touching them. And you two are acting like this is normal.”

BANG!

The streetlight above them suddenly exploded. Glass shards scattered across the sidewalk.

Logan froze.

A few empty cans near the trash bin started shaking slightly.

Alexa immediately stepped closer.

“Hey,” she said calmly. “Take a slow breath.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Breathe!”

Logan took a deep breath. And slowly… the shaking stopped.

Reyn let out a rough sigh. “Your power’s even stronger than ours.”

Logan stared sharply at him. “What does that mean?”

Alexa answered first. “Reyn and I went through the same thing. But we ended up with different abilities.”

Logan frowned in disbelief. “Different abilities?”

Reyn raised his hand.

CRACK.

Blue electricity sparked between his fingers.

Logan’s eyes widened instantly.

“I almost died from electrocution three years ago,” Reyn said. “After that, everything started changing.”

The electric sparks disappeared.

Logan still stared at him in disbelief. “This is insane.”

“Yeah. I thought so too,” Reyn replied casually.

They started walking again.

This time Logan didn’t ask many questions. His head was already too full to process everything at once.

He still didn’t fully trust Reyn and Alexa. But after what he had just seen, Logan also couldn’t call them crazy anymore.

‘I need to find out more about that river,’ he thought.

Logan quickly reached into his pocket to grab his phone. But his movement immediately stopped.

His phone, wallet, even his apartment keys—everything was gone. All his belongings were still back on the bridge.

Logan closed his eyes for a second and let out a slow breath. Earlier, he almost thought about calling someone.

But now he realized… he never planned on surviving after jumping into that river.

“I’m going back to the bridge,” Logan said.

“Don’t,” Alexa replied quickly.

Logan frowned. “I left all my stuff there.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Reyn added.

“Why?”

Silence filled the air for a moment.

Alexa and Reyn exchanged a quick glance before Reyn finally sighed softly.

“Because people like us are being hunted.”

Logan immediately stopped walking.

“What do you mean?”

Reyn glanced behind him, making sure the street was still empty before looking back at Logan.

“A few years ago, we found someone like you,” he said quietly. “He changed after going into that river too.”

Logan suddenly felt uneasy.

“And?”

“Two weeks later, they found him dead.”

The atmosphere instantly turned silent.

Logan stared at them sharply. “You’re serious?”

Alexa slowly nodded.

“His body was full of bullet wounds,” she said. “And strangely… there wasn’t a single trace of his identity left.”

Logan’s heartbeat started speeding up.

“That could’ve just been a normal murder.”

“We thought that too at first,” Reyn said. “Until the same thing happened again a few weeks after someone else was reported jumping into that river.”

The cold night wind blew around them.

“People with conditions like ours started disappearing one by one,” Alexa continued. “And most of them were later found dead.”

Logan stayed silent.

“Who’s doing that?”

“We don’t know,” Alexa answered honestly. “But one thing’s clear… someone is hunting people like us.”

Logan looked at them in disbelief.

“That’s crazy.”

“Maybe.” Reyn shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets again. “But after tonight, we seriously can’t let you walk around alone like nothing happened.”

Logan let out a deep breath.

‘So… I really don’t have anywhere else to go.’

***

Reyn and Alexa’s apartment was located in an old neighborhood on the east side of the city. The building looked worn down, but the inside was still decent enough to live in.

Not big. Just a small living room, a narrow kitchen, and two bedrooms.

“What’s your name?” Alexa asked as Logan stepped inside.

“Logan,” he answered.

Alexa nodded. “Okay, Logan… you can stay here for now.”

Logan frowned slightly. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because we were just as confused as you once,” Reyn answered.

Alexa grabbed a dry towel and handed it to Logan.

“You should take a shower first.”

Logan accepted the towel and cleaned himself up.

Twenty minutes later, Logan came out of the bathroom wearing Reyn’s black hoodie.

Reyn was sitting on the couch, playing with a small electric lighter in his hand.

A blue flame flickered briefly before turning into electric sparks.

CRACK.

“That’s real?” Logan asked.

“Unfortunately… yeah,” Reyn replied.

Meanwhile, Alexa sat near the window with her laptop open.

Logan watched them for a few seconds before finally sitting down.

“So… what exactly happened to us?”

Silence.

“That river changes people,” Alexa answered confidently.

“How?”

“We’re still looking for the answer too.”

Logan stared at his own hands.

“If I really died back there… why am I alive again?”

No one answered. Because Reyn and Alexa didn’t know either.

A few seconds later, Reyn pointed at an empty glass on the table.

“Try focusing on that.”

Logan frowned. “Why?”

“Just try.”

Logan stared at the glass.

At first, nothing happened. Until finally… the glass started shaking.

Logan’s eyes widened immediately.

“I’m not touching it.”

Slowly, the shaking became stronger. Logan started panicking.

“How do I stop it?”

“Relax,” Alexa said quickly.

BANG!

The glass suddenly flew into the wall and shattered into pieces.

The room instantly fell silent.

Reyn looked at the broken glass on the floor before looking back at Logan.

“Your power’s way stronger than ours was when we first woke up.”

Logan swallowed hard.

Alexa observed Logan for a few seconds before finally asking, “Do you have family?”

Logan shook his head.

“Friends? Girlfriend? Anyone?” Reyn asked this time.

“No.” Logan lowered his gaze slightly. “The reason I jumped into the river was because I’d completely given up on my life.”

Reyn clicked his tongue softly. “Your life’s seriously a mess.”

“What about your job?” Alexa asked.

Logan went quiet for a second before shaking his head again. “I just got fired.”

“What about—”

Before Alexa could finish speaking, she suddenly turned toward the window. Her expression instantly changed.

“There’s someone outside.”

Reyn immediately stood up. Alexa slowly approached the window without making a sound.

“There’s a black car at the end of the street,” she muttered. “It’s been watching this apartment.”

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Reyn peeked through the curtain. “What are they doing there?”

Logan stepped closer to the window too.

The black sedan was still parked beneath the streetlight.

Dark. Silent. The engine still running.

And the moment Logan focused his hearing—faint voices became crystal clear in his ears.

“Target confirmed.”

“Keep watching them.”

Logan’s eyes widened instantly as he looked back and forth between Alexa and Reyn.

“It’s them,” he said quietly.

Reyn and Alexa turned toward him at the same time.

“What did you hear?”

Logan stayed silent for a second before finally answering, “They’re watching us.”

***