POV ALEX:
I didn't know I was being watched until the watching stopped.
That was the first clue.
The hum...soft, constant, like a reminder that the world was paying attention, went quiet on my walk to school.
Not gone.
Just… respectfully distant. Like someone had stepped back to give me room.
I hated it.
---
People think being calming is a compliment.
Like it means you're stable.
Safe
Normal
What it actually means is that things settle around you whether you want them to or not.
I felt it when I stepped onto Marrow Street and the breeze stilled.
When a traffic light hesitated between yellow and red, then chose red because I slowed down.
When my thoughts lined up too neatly, as if something was smoothing the edges for me.
I wasn't controlling it.
It was syncing.
---
At school, I found Maya first.
She was sitting on the steps near the art room, sketchbook open but untouched.
"You feel it too?" she asked without looking up.
I sat beside her.
"Like gravity changed its mind."
She nodded. "It's leaning toward you."
I swallowed. "I don't want that."
"That's why it works," she said quietly.
---
We didn't tell the others right away.
Because how do you explain that reality is starting to take your opinions personally?
It showed up in small ways.
Jordan's argument with a teacher ended peacefully when I stepped in...not because I said anything special, but because the tension resolved itself.
Sam's usual chaos fizzled into something almost… orderly when I stood too close.
"Stop doing that," Sam muttered at lunch.
"Doing what?"
"Whatever makes the universe behave," he said.
"It's creepy."
I wished I could stop.
---
The pull got stronger after school.
I stood near the fence by the park and felt the ground settle beneath my feet, like it was bracing.
I closed my eyes.
I'm not your solution, I thought.
I'm not your anchor.
The hum answered...not with words, but with a sense of recognition.
Not ownership.
Relief.
That scared me more than any threat ever had.
---
Jordan found me there.
"You're becoming a stabilizer," he said, not accusing.
Observing.
"I didn't agree to that," I replied.
Jordan adjusted his glasses.
"Neither did Maya Or Sam."
I clenched my hands.
"Then why us?"
Jordan hesitated.
"Because stability is rare
And kindness even more so."
I laughed bitterly.
"Kindness isn't enough."
"No," he agreed.
"But it's efficient."
---
That night, I dreamed of the building again.
But this time, it wasn't asking.
It was offering.
A future where Marrow didn't fracture. Where people didn't disappear.
Where resets became unnecessary.
All it needed was alignment.
Stay, it suggested, Decide.
I woke with my heart racing.
On my phone was a single notification.
Unknown Number: You could make this permanent.
My fingers hovered over the screen.
Me: at what cost
The reply came instantly.
Unknown Number: Only yourself.
I stared at the words until they blurred.
Because that's the trick of offers like that...they never lie.
They just leave out who gets to decide what yourself includes.
I set the phone down without answering.
Outside my window, the night held its breath.
Somewhere deep beneath Marrow, something that had once learned to copy now waited to see if I would teach it something else entirely.
And for the first time since this began, I understood the real danger.
Not erasure.
Not control.
But becoming the thing that keeps everyone else safe...
At the cost of ever being free myself.
Authors Note:-
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