Episode 06:
The rain had stopped by morning.
But the air still felt heavy like the sky had forgotten how to breathe.
Alok left early for work, hoping the streets would still be empty.
They weren't.
Two blocks from his apartment, he saw him again.
The man in black.
Same long coat. Same hood pulled low. Same stillness like a shadow pretending to be human.
Alok slowed his steps.
The man didn't move, didn't turn. He just stood there, in the middle of the sidewalk, as if waiting for someone to cross paths with him.
A chill crawled down Alok's spine.
He crossed the street without looking back.
Work was a blur that day.
The clanging of machines. The hiss of molten metal. The bitter stench of grease clinging to his hands.
But no sound, no smell, no weight of work could erase the image of that hooded figure.
The one that didn't move.
The one that somehow knew.
When the shift ended, Alok avoided the main entrance.
Something told him not to walk into the open.
Instead, he slipped into the back stairwell a narrow chute of concrete walls and flickering yellow light.
His footsteps echoed like whispers.
Halfway down, he stopped.
There was breathing below him.
Slow. Uneven.
Human but wrong.
Alok gripped the railing.
"Hello?"
The sound died against the walls.
The breathing stopped.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then a whisper so faint he almost mistook it for the groan of the building.
"Alok… Fanando…"
His blood ran cold.
No one here knew his full name.
No one but
The bulb overhead flickered once.
Twice.
Then it went out.
And in the dark, something moved.