We stayed in the stairwell longer than we planned.
Not because we wanted to, but because my legs refused to work properly. Every time I tried to stand, dizziness hit me again, like my body was struggling to stay synchronized with reality.
Mira sat beside me, quiet but alert, watching my face as if I might disappear again at any second.
"You look terrible," she said finally.
"Thanks," I replied weakly.
She almost smiled, then stopped herself.
"You really don't remember anything? Not even how we met?"
I tried.
I closed my eyes and focused on her voice, her presence, the strange familiarity I felt around her.
A headache stabbed through my skull instantly.
Images flickered.
Rain hitting concrete.
Two figures sitting on a rooftop.
Laughter.
Then everything shattered into static.
I groaned and opened my eyes again.
"No," I said softly. "It's like something blocks it."
Mira looked down at her hands. "I remember enough for both of us… I think."
Before I could ask more, the shadow spoke inside my mind.
"You must understand the rules now."
Rules.
That word alone made me uneasy.
"What rules?" I whispered.
Mira glanced at me. "You keep doing that. Talking to yourself."
"I'll explain later," I said quickly.
The shadow continued.
"When someone is forgotten, existence removes them in stages."
I listened carefully.
"Stage one," it said. "Social erasure. Records vanish. Recognition fades."
"That already happened," I muttered.
"Yes."
"Stage two," it continued, "identity erosion. Your own memories begin to collapse."
My stomach tightened.
"And stage three?"
A short silence followed.
"Conceptual deletion."
I didn't like how serious its voice sounded.
"What does that mean?"
"It means reality forgets the idea of you entirely. At that point, recovery becomes impossible."
A cold wave ran through me.
"How long do I have?"
"Unknown. The process accelerates when corrections begin."
I remembered the glowing message on the rooftop.
Monitoring initiated.
"So I'm basically on a countdown," I said quietly.
"Yes."
Mira watched me carefully. "You're scaring me a little."
I hesitated, then decided hiding things was pointless.
"There's something with me," I said. "A shadow. It's been helping me."
She stared at the empty space beside me.
"…I can't see anything."
"That is normal," the shadow said. "Only those near erasure perceive me."
Mira crossed her arms. "Okay. Either I'm dreaming, or your life just became way more complicated than mine."
Despite everything, I laughed softly.
For the first time in days, the sound felt natural.
Then the shadow spoke again, more serious.
"The Collector will return."
My laughter died instantly.
"When?"
"It is observing. Waiting for weakness."
Mira frowned. "Collector?"
I explained quickly. The faceless figure. The memory theft. The attack last night.
She listened without interrupting, though her expression grew paler with every sentence.
"So something is hunting you," she concluded.
"Yes."
She stood up suddenly.
"Then we can't stay here."
Her certainty surprised me.
"You believe all this?"
She hesitated only a second.
"I don't understand it," she admitted. "But I remember you. And if the world is trying to erase you, then clearly something is wrong."
Simple logic.
Strangely comforting.
We walked down the stairs together. Students passed us normally, completely unaware of me, but occasionally someone glanced twice at Mira, as if sensing something strange near her.
"The Anchor is affecting perception," the shadow explained. "Those close to her may begin noticing inconsistencies."
Outside the school gate, Mira stopped.
"There's something else," she said quietly.
"What?"
She looked uneasy.
"Before you disappeared… you kept saying someone was watching you."
A chill ran through me.
"Watching?"
She nodded slowly. "You said you felt like reality itself was paying attention."
The shadow went completely silent.
That worried me more than anything it had said before.
"What aren't you telling me?" I asked it.
A long pause followed.
Finally, it answered.
"There exists something above Collectors."
My chest tightened.
"What?"
"The Observer."
The word felt heavy.
"It does not erase," the shadow continued. "It judges."
I didn't like where this was going.
"And if it decides I shouldn't exist?"
The shadow's voice lowered.
"Then even Anchors will not save you."
At that exact moment, my phone vibrated again.
I pulled it out slowly.
A new notification appeared.
UNKNOWN PROCESS DETECTED
OBSERVATION LEVEL INCREASED
My reflection stared back at me from the dark screen.
But for a split second…
The reflection moved half a second slower than I did.
I froze.
Because the person in the screen wasn't looking at me.
He was looking past me.
Watching something behind my shoulder.
I turned around.
There was nothing there.
But deep down, I knew one thing for certain.
Something had started watching me long before I disappeared.
And now it finally had my attention.