Author’s pov
The explosion ripped through the night. Flames and smoke lit up the sky, washing everything in red and orange.
Cecilia stared in horror as Cassian’s car turned into a burning wreck in the distance.
Her chest tightened. For a second, the world stood still.
Sebastian’s jaw locked beside her, the flames flickering in his eyes.
"AAAAAHHH!"
Cecilia’s phone suddenly blasted with screaming. It was Harper and Yvonne, completely panicked.
Cecilia snapped her eyes away from the blaze, clutching the phone to her ear.
Her voice cracked. "What’s happening? Are you okay? Talk to me!"
"IT’S A GHOST! IT’S A FUCKING GHOST!"
The words were so shrill and wild, they cut through the chaos like shrapnel.
"We just wanted to see your abs, not get haunted for life!"
Cecilia winced. The hysteria on the other end was so loud, even Sebastian could hear it clearly.
--
Meanwhile, in the backseat of a nearby car...
"Drive first. Scream later," Cassian muttered, blood streaming down his face from a gash on his forehead.
He looked like he’d crawled out of a war zone, which, in a way, he had.
Harper and Yvonne were still in shock.
They saw his SUV get rammed off the road and watched it blow up.
The fireball had lit up the highway like a second sun.
For a few frozen seconds, neither of them could breathe.
They had just started to think he was dead.
Then he was there.In their backseat.
Covered in blood. Out of it. And somehow, still breathing.
Cassian had stepped out "to check the wreckage."
Or so he claimed.
In reality, he was just rubbernecking with the rest of the crowd.
"Y-y-you..." Harper stammered, pointing at Cassian like she’d seen a Marvel character walk out of the screen.
Her voice cracked halfway through the word, and her hand trembled in midair.
Yvonne peeled her hand off her face long enough to add, "You’re not dead?"
She blinked several times, like her brain was still buffering.
Both of them whipped around toward the towering fire again, as if expecting his charred ghost to still be in the wreckage.
"As if I’d die that easy," Cassian muttered, wiping blood from his eyes.
His voice was rough, half sarcastic, half dazed. He winced as his fingers brushed a cut on his temple.
Then he looked around.
"Wait... where the hell is the driver?"
The front seat was empty.
For one long second, all three of them froze.
Then Yvonne moved. Fast.
She scrambled forward, threw the car into gear, and floored it.
The road was packed. Cars had pulled over, and people were standing outside, filming the flames on their phones.
Cassian was alive. Scared, bleeding, but alive.
They moved fast, lifting Cassian out with practiced urgency. Harper and Yvonne jumped out right after him, not bothering to shut the car doors.
Everyone followed, trailing behind as the doors to the emergency room slammed open.
They gathered in the hallway, waiting.
Cecilia looked over and saw Harper’s hands. They were covered in blood and shaking a little.
There was a blank, dazed look in her eyes, like she still hadn’t processed what had happened.
Cecilia moved on instinct. She flagged down a nurse, asked for some wet wipes, and began cleaning Harper’s hands with gentle, steady movements.
The warmth of Harper’s skin under the cold cloth made her throat tighten.
It felt like the only thing she could control right now.
"That was terrifying," Harper whispered. Her voice cracked. "He’s insane. How does someone survive that kind of crash and still manage to climb into our car? We didn’t even see him get in."
Cecilia kept her voice low.
"He must’ve known the other car was coming for him. Maybe he was already bracing for impact."
"That’s easy to say, but come on. Who reacts like that in real life?"
Cecilia didn’t hesitate. "Someone who isn’t exactly normal."
A regular person wouldn’t have made it out of that wreck.
They spoke in hushed tones-- the kind used in church or after funerals.
Sebastian stood nearby, silent and still, like he was listening to something none of them could hear.
Yvonne leaned into Tang, using him for support like a makeshift crutch.
"Yvonne, hold yourself up for a second," Tang murmured, his voice low but firm.
His eyes narrowed, locked on something just around the corner of the hallway.
"I need to check something."

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Abandoned Luna Now Untouchable (Cecilia)
Loving the story. But only 2 pages a day. 😢...