The moment I realised the shadows weren't just darkness my world changed forever. The morning began like the kind of day no one remembers on purpose, slipping quietly and slowly fading away from memory before it's even fully formed.
I woke up to the aggressive buzz of my alarm I so despise, the thin slice of sunlight prying through the blinds, and the faint hum of traffic outside my apartment window. Another Monday. Another late shift waiting for me at the Grandview Medical Center. Another cup of stale, reheated coffee pretending to be a good start to my day.
Nothing unusual. Nothing memorable.
Nothing at all.
Just life.
I dragged myself out of bed, stretching the kind of stiff stretch that came from too many 12-hour shifts and not enough sleep. My phone vibrated with a swarm of notifications, emails from my supervisor, reminders from my calendar, and one from my best friend, Raven.
Raven:
If you're not up, I'm breaking in. Don't test me.
I smirked and typed back one-handed as I shuffled toward the bathroom.
Elara:
I'm up. Barely. Bring caffeine.
My reflection in the mirror looked the same as it always did.
Honey-brown skin. A scatter of freckles across my nose I'd always thought made me look younger than twenty-four. My piercing blue eyes, a huge contrast to my appearance that didn't fail in drawing attention to me enough to have them staring a second too long.
As usual my hair was a mess of curls piled into a bun that looked like it might be holding itself together with prayer and stubbornness. I brushed my teeth, splashed water on my face, and pressed my palms against the sink.
Just another day.
I told myself that. I repeated it. Anchored myself in it, though I couldn't explain why I needed to.
Let's just say somewhere under my ribs, buried deeper than logic I had the strange, quiet sense that something was off.
Not broken.
Not wrong.
Just… off.
Like a radio tuned one frequency away from the right station.
I shook it off, convincing myself it was just paranoia and rumination getting the best of me.
Probably stress, I told myself. Probably too much caffeine and too little sleep. Probably nothing.
But the feeling didn't go away.
Raven arrived twenty minutes later, banging on the door with all the subtlety of a marching band.
"Elara! Open up! Some of us respect work schedules!"
I opened the door with an eyebrow raised. "Says the person who is thirty minutes late to her own life every day."
Raven strode in like she owned the place, nothing surprising, her tall frame filling the walkway, braids swinging, carrying a cup holder with two extra-large coffees and a paper bag that smelled like heaven itself.
"Bribery," she announced with a large like one who just won a lottery. "I come bearing gifts."
"You come bearing survival," I corrected, grabbing a cup.
"Same thing."
We went through the motions of the day which included coffee, jokes, debates about shoes, Raven telling a dramatic story about a guy who tried flirting with her while chewing a mouthful of doughnuts. Normal. Comforting. Predictable.
Until I reached for my bag on the counter.
The moment my fingers touched the strap, a jolt shot up my arm sharp, electric, like static shock but deeper. I snatched her hand back with a hiss.
"What?" Raven asked, mid-reach for a pastry. Her eyes wide, scanning me for any injuries.
I shook my hand. "Nothing. I'm just feeling a bit jittery, no biggie."
"Girl, nothing doesn't make you flinch like you touched an electric fenceshe responds
"It's nothing," I insist,not ready to worry my little cough drop, though the hairs on my arms were yet to stop standing on end.
I refused to mention the brief flicker I saw, like my bag's shadow stretched a second longer than it should have.
I didn't mention the whisper I thought I heard, a sound too soft and fast to understand.
Elara…
I shook it off again.
Definitely stress.
Definitely.
The day continued. We left the apartment. Walked to the bus stop. The city moved the way it always did.
Cars honking.
People cursing.
Life spilling into the streets with too much noise and too little patience.
I checked my phone as I walked, scrolling through emails I didn't want to open. I barely noticed the man standing near the bus stop until I almost bumped into him.
He was tall.
Dark jacket.
Cap pulled low.
Hands in his pockets.
Not unusual.
Not threatening.
Just… watching me.
I stepped to the side, and he stepped too.
My heart flicked upward. "Can I help you?" I asked curious and nervous at the same time.
He didn't answer. Didn't even blink. His head tilted a fraction, just enough to feel wrong.
Raven stepped in immediately, her protective instincts kicking in like reflex. "Yo, back up. She said 'Can I help you?' not 'Stare at me like you're filming a horror movie.'"
Still nothing.
No reaction.
No movement.
Just that tilt, like he was listening to something behind her, something she couldn't hear.
Then
A gust of wind ripped through the street though no car passed.
A paper cup flew between us.
A street sign creaked above.
And the man
He was simply gone.
Not walked away.
Not blended into the crowd.
Gone.
Like a frame cut out from reality.
Raven froze. "The hell, did you see…Elara,where did he go?!"
I stared at the empty sidewalk, my pulse jumping. "I… I don't know. Maybe he moved and we didn't"
"Elara, he disappeared."
"He probably ran."
"He didn't move."
I swallowed.
That off feeling…
It roared back like a wave.
But I forced a laugh. "Maybe we're tired."
Raven was not amused. "No. Nope. That was weird. And I don't do weird before 10 a.m."
Neither did I.