I didn't tell Liz or Alexis.
Not because I didn't think about it, but because every time I tried to put it into words, it sounded unreal, even inside my own head. The moment I imagined saying it out loud, I could already picture their reactions—confusion at first, then concern, and eventually that quiet fear people try to hide when they don't understand something.
So I let it stay where it was.
Unsaid.
The next morning, everything looked exactly the same.
The same room, the same light slipping through the curtains, the same quiet sounds of the house waking up. And yet, something felt off in a way I couldn't properly explain. It wasn't loud or obvious, just a faint shift, like something had moved slightly out of place without anyone noticing.
I stood in front of the mirror longer than usual, staring at my reflection.
For a brief second, it felt delayed, as if it wasn't entirely in sync with me. My movements were normal, but the feeling remained, subtle and unsettling. I turned quickly, expecting to see something behind me.
There was nothing there.
Just my room.
Just silence.
I tried to ignore it, but the feeling followed me.
At school, it became harder to dismiss.
There were moments when I caught something in the corner of my eye—something that didn't belong. A figure standing too still near the staircase, a shape lingering at the far end of the corridor. Each time I looked directly at it, it was gone, as if it had never been there at all.
No one else reacted.
No one else even noticed.
That was when the realization settled in, slow but certain.
This wasn't something everyone could see.
It was something happening to me.
By the time evening came, I couldn't stay inside anymore.
The house felt too quiet, too normal, as if it was pretending nothing had changed. I grabbed my jacket and headed toward the door without thinking too much about it.
"I'm going out for a bit," I said to Alexis.
She glanced at me briefly, then nodded. "Don't be late."
I didn't respond.
I was already outside.
The air felt different.
Not colder, not heavier, just… aware in a way I couldn't explain. The sky was dim, caught between daylight and night, casting everything in that strange, muted glow that made the world feel slightly unreal.
I walked without a destination, letting my thoughts drift, trying to make sense of something that refused to be understood.
For a while, nothing happened.
And then I stopped.
There was someone across the road.
Standing still.
Looking directly at me.
At first, he didn't seem unusual. Just another person, someone who happened to be there at the same time as me. But the longer I looked, the more something about him felt different.
He wasn't distracted.
He wasn't looking around.
He wasn't pretending not to notice me.
He was watching me.
Most people would have looked away by now.
Out of habit, or discomfort, or simple instinct.
But he didn't.
That was when something shifted.
Not around me.
Inside me.
"You can see them," he said.
The words were calm, steady, and completely certain.
Not a question.A statement.
I felt my body tense slightly, though I didn't move.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied, the words coming out more controlled than I expected.
He didn't argue.
Didn't question it.
His gaze simply moved past me for a brief moment, as if acknowledging something behind me that I refused to turn around and face.
"They've been around you since last night," he said. "That much is obvious."
Obvious.
The word didn't sit right.
My eyes narrowed slightly. "Who are you?"
He didn't answer directly.
Instead, he looked back at me with the same calm expression, as if he had already decided what mattered and what didn't.
"They don't stay this long," he continued. "Not unless there's a reason."
A short pause followed, just long enough to make the next words feel deliberate.
"They're drawn to something."
A quiet tension settled in my chest.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
His gaze didn't waver.
"It means this isn't random."
I let out a slow breath, trying to keep my thoughts steady. "You're talking like this is normal."
"For me, it is," he said simply.
That answer didn't comfort me.
If anything, it made everything feel more real.
I took a step back, creating distance without thinking about it. "Then explain it properly."
For the first time, he hesitated.
It was brief, almost unnoticeable, but it was there.
"You don't need the full explanation right now," he said. "You just need to understand one thing."
I waited.
"They're not here by mistake."
The silence that followed felt heavier than before.
"Then why are they here?" I asked quietly.
His expression didn't change.
"For you."
The words didn't hit all at once.
They settled slowly, sinking in deeper with each passing second.
Before I could ask anything else, he stepped back.
"Wait," I said quickly, the word slipping out before I could stop it.
"You shouldn't be alone right now," he replied.
And then he turned and walked away.
Not suddenly.Not unnaturally.
Just… gone from my reach.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty space he had left behind, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened.
The street was quiet again.
Almost too quiet.
Then I felt it.
That same presence.Stronger this time.
Slowly, I turned.
They were there.More than before.
Standing at different distances, some closer, some farther, but all of them still.
Watching.
This time, they didn't fade.
They didn't disappear.They stayed.
And in that moment, something became clear.
They weren't just appearing by chance.
They weren't random.They weren't lost.They were gathering.
So if they were being drawn to something…
what exactly had they found in me?