(PH 2)
6:18 AM — Astra City Hospital,
The first ray of sunlight touched the hospital window, but the room remained cold.
Anie was sitting beside the window, her head resting against the wall. She hadn't slept properly. Every time she closed her eyes, the events of the previous night returned to her—the abandoned building, the stranger who disappeared through a distortion, and the shadow that had stretched across the hospital parking area.
She rubbed her tired eyes,the room was quiet.
Mira was asleep on the other side of the room, her head resting against the back of the chair. One hand was still holding her phone. She had probably fallen asleep while waiting for Anie to finish whatever she had been thinking about.
Anie looked towards Eli,nothing had changed.
The monitor continued its steady rhythm. His face remained peaceful, almost as though he were simply sleeping after a particularly exhausting day.
She slowly stood up and approached his bed.
"Morning," she whispered.There was no response.
She pulled the chair closer and sat down.
"I don't know whether you can hear me. But I have a lot to tell you."Her eyes moved towards his bandaged arm.
"Apparently, there are people who can move through reality. Not teleport exactly. It's something else."
She paused, remembering the stranger.
"I met someone last night. He thought I was a Hunter."
The word sounded strange when spoken aloud.
Hunter,
She had heard it from the mysterious woman. She had read about it in Sam's diary. But knowing that Hunters existed and actually encountering someone who feared them were two different things.
"Why would he think that?" she murmured.she looked at Eli again.
"And why did he look so frightened when he realised I wasn't one?"
A faint noise came from behind her.
"Because you're talking to someone who can't answer."Anie turned,mira was awake.
She stretched her arms and sat upright, her hair falling loosely over her shoulders.
"Good morning," Anie said.
"Is it?"anie glanced at the clock.
"Almost."
Mira looked at her for a moment.
"Did you sleep?"
"A little."
"That's a lie."anie smiled faintly.Mira stood up and walked towards the small table.
"I'll get you something to eat. Don't argue."
"I'm not going to."
"Good. At least one of us is becoming sensible."
She picked up her phone and left the room.
Anie watched her disappear into the corridor.
Then she turned towards Eli.
For a few seconds, she remained silent.
There was something she hadn't told Mira the shadow outside the hospital.
She wasn't certain what it meant, but the possibility that another Fracture had appeared so close to Eli's room made her uncomfortable.
She moved towards the window again.
The parking area was now visible in the morning light. Cars entered and left through the main gate. Hospital staff walked between the buildings, carrying files and coffee cups.
Everything looked ordinary.
Anie stared at the spot where she had seen the shadow.
Nothing.
She was about to turn away when a peculiar sensation passed through her head.
A brief pressure.
Like someone pressing a finger against the inside of her forehead.
She stopped sensation disappeared almost immediately.anie looked at the window.there was nothing unusual in the parking area.
But she remembered the previous night.
The shadow had vanished before she could understand it.Perhaps she hadn't seen a Fracture itself.
Perhaps she had seen what remained after one had closed, an echo.
The word came to her naturally.
She didn't know why.
7:05 AM — Hospital Cafeteria,
"Eat."
Anie opened the packet.
"Thank you."
Mira sat opposite her.
For a while, they ate without speaking.
Then Mira looked up.
"Are you going to tell me what happened last night?"
Anie's hand stopped.
She had known the question was coming.
"I went to the old building."
"That much I already know."
"I met someone."
Mira put down her spoon.
"Someone?"
"A boy. I think he was around our age."
"Was he following you?"
"No."
"Did he hurt you?"
Anie looked at the small bandage on her palm.
"Not intentionally."
Mira's expression became serious.
"Anie, what does that mean?"
Anie hesitated.
"He attacked me because he thought I was a Hunter."
Mira stared at her.
For several seconds, she didn't speak.
Then she leaned closer.
"Wait. A Hunter? The same Hunters you've been reading about?"
Anie nodded.
"Yes."
"Do you know him?"
"No."
"Then why would he attack you?"
"He thought I was one of them."
Mira shook her head.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"I know."
"Did you explain yourself?"
"I tried."
"And?"
"He didn't believe me immediately."mira leaned back.
"Wonderful. So you went to an abandoned building in the middle of the night, met a stranger, got attacked, and came back with an injury."
Anie lowered her eyes.
"When you say it like that..."
"How else should I say it?"
Anie couldn't help smiling.
Mira's expression softened slightly, but the concern remained.
"Listen. I don't know what you're investigating. I don't know what these people are or why you're involved with them. But I do know one thing."She waited until Anie looked at her.
"I wasn't planning to get attacked."
"Nobody plans that."
Mira looked down at her breakfast.
"And I don't want to receive another call telling me something happened to you."
The words remained between them.
Anie knew Mira was thinking about sam.neither of them mentioned her name.They didn't need to.
"I'm sorry," Anie said quietly.
Mira shook her head.
"Don't apologise. Just be careful."
Anie nodded.
She wanted to promise that everything would be fine.but she couldn't not anymore.
8:32 AM — Astra City,,
black vehicle stopped near an old residential complex on the eastern side of the city.
The engine switched off.
Inside, a young man sat quietly, looking at a photograph displayed on his phone.
The photograph showed a young man standing beside a woman near a railway station both were smiling.
picture was old young man enlarged the image.
His attention remained fixed on the person standing beside the woman.
"Lieon..."
He locked the screen.
For several minutes, he sat without moving then his phone vibrated, message appeared.
UNKNOWN:
Any progress?....
He typed a reply.,,,,,
ADRIAN:
Nothing useful yet.....
The response arrived quickly.
UNKNOWN:
You were supposed to find him.,,,
Adrian's jaw tightened.
ADRIAN:
I'm aware.
He put the phone away his gaze shifted towards the residential complex.
He had already visited the hospital. He had already questioned someone who knew Eli. But none of it had brought him closer to finding Lieon.
There was something else troubling him.the name Anie,
He had heard it during his conversation with Mira.
He remembered her face from the information he had collected, though he hadn't expected her to become involved in anything related to the Called.
Adrian started the engine he had no intention of approaching her yet.
Not until he understood what had happened at the old building.
10:16 AM — Astra City College,,,,,,,,
The college courtyard was crowded.
Students moved between the academic blocks, some carrying books, others gathered around the small food stalls near the entrance. The weather remained cloudy, and the previous night's rain had left small pools of water along the pathways.
Anie entered through the main gate.
She had changed clothes after leaving the hospital. Her hair was still slightly damp, and she carried a notebook inside her bag.She looked around everything seemed normal.
A group of students were arguing about an upcoming assignment. Two girls were taking photographs near the stairs. Someone was laughing loudly near the cafeteria.
For a moment, Anie felt disconnected from all of it.it was strange,the world had not changed.
The same people continued their ordinary routines. The same buildings stood in the same places. Nobody seemed to notice the invisible disturbances that had begun appearing in her life.
She adjusted her bag and walked towards the academic block.
"Anie!"she turned,mira was standing near the stairs.anie raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't you say you were staying at the hospital?"
"I came back to collect my notes."
"You could have told me."
"I did. You were busy staring at a wall."
Anie gave her a questioning look.
Mira smiled.
"Come on. We have class."they walked together.as they entered the building, Anie noticed something unusual.
A small wall clock hung above the classroom entrance.its second hand moved.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.....
Then, for a fraction of a second, it stopped.anie slowed down the second hand remained fixed between two marks.
A student walked past her the clock moved again.
Tick.
Anie looked at it nothing unusual she glanced at Mira.
"Did you see that?"
"See what?"
"The clock."
Mira looked towards it.
"It's working."
Anie nodded slowly.
"Nothing."
Mira gave her a suspicious look.
"You're doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"Looking at ordinary things like they're about to attack you."
Anie almost laughed.
"Maybe they are."
"Very funny."
Mira entered the classroom.
Anie remained outside for a moment longer.
She looked at the clock again.this time, she didn't feel anything,she followed Mira inside.
lecture began twenty minutes later.
Anie sat near the window, her notebook open in front of her.
The lecturer was explaining the day's topic, but her attention kept drifting.
She wasn't deliberately trying to observe anything.
Yet small details continued to catch her attention.
The movement of a ceiling fan, the vibration of a windowpane.
The sound of a pen falling from someone's desk.
Each time something moved, she found herself wondering whether it was completely ordinary.She hated that feeling.
She wanted to stop, her pen slipped from her fingers.
It hit the floor a boy sitting in the next row turned around.
"Are you okay?"
Anie looked at him.
"Yeah. Sorry."
He picked up the pen and handed it to her.
"Here."
"Thanks."
He turned back anie looked down at the pen.For a moment, she remembered something from Sam's diary.
One particular sentence had remained in her mind.
The first mistake is believing that every strange thing is a Fracture.
She had read it several times.
At the time, she hadn't understood why Sam had written it.now she was beginning to.not everything was connected, not every flickering light meant something.
Not every unusual movement was a sign of hidden reality.If she couldn't distinguish between an ordinary event and a genuine disturbance, she would eventually lose herself in her own observations.
Anie closed her eyes she took a slow breath.then she returned to her notes.
12:42 PM — College Library,,,,,
The library was almost empty.
Anie sat at a table near the back, surrounded by several books she had borrowed earlier.
She wasn't looking for information about magic.
She wasn't searching for explanations about time manipulation.
She was trying to understand one particular thing.
What happened when a Fracture closed?
She opened her notebook....
On the first page, she wrote:
FRACTURES
Below it, she added three points.
1,Invisible gaps in reality.
2,Some Called can perceive them.
3,Some Called can interfere with them.
She stared at the list then she added another line.
4,What remains after they disappear?
She leaned back.
The mysterious woman had explained that Fractures were not objects. They were places where reality hesitated.
But the stranger from the previous night had moved through one.
And the shadow outside the hospital had appeared after a strange disturbance.
Could the two events be connected?..
Anie turned to another page.
She drew a small circle and marked a line through its centre.
Then she drew another circle beside it.
She tried to imagine the space between the two.
If someone stepped through a temporary gap in reality, what happened to the space they left behind?
Did it return to normal immediately?
Or did it retain something?
A memory of the disturbance?...
Anie stopped writing,she looked at the page.
"An echo..."
The word felt familiar.
She opened Sam's diary on her phone, searching through the photographs she had taken of its pages.
She moved through the images slowly.
Notes observations drawings,several incomplete sentences.Then she found something.
A small heading written in Sam's handwriting.
RESIDUAL DISTURBANCES,,,
Anie's heartbeat changed.
She enlarged the photograph.
Below the heading, Sam had written:
Some Fractures leave no visible opening after they close. However, the surrounding space may retain a temporary disturbance.
read it again...
The disturbance may appear as a delay in movement, a distorted reflection, or an unexplained shadow.
She stopped breathing for a moment.
the shadow the hospital window, the strange delay in her reflection.
Her fingers moved across the screen.
There was another sentence.
These traces are not Fractures themselves. They are evidence that something has interfered with the structure of reality.
Anie slowly lowered the phone.
Sam had noticed the same thing.
She wasn't imagining everything.
But there was more.
At the bottom of the page, Sam had written a final note.
Repeated exposure may allow certain observers to recognise the direction of a disturbance, even after the original Fracture has disappeared.
Anie stared at the sentence direction.
She remembered the shadow outside the hospital.
It had stretched towards the building.
Could that have indicated where the disturbance had travelled?
She looked at the photograph again.
There was a small handwritten symbol beside the final sentence.
A circle with a broken line.
Anie had seen that symbol before.
In the old building.on one of the walls,
she quickly searched through her other photographs.
She found the image she had taken during her previous visit.
The symbol was faint, almost hidden beneath a layer of dirt.
But it was unmistakable her fingers tightened around the phone.
"Sam..."
For the first time, she wondered whether Sam had investigated that building for the same reason she had.
Not because she was searching for a particular person.
Not because she had simply stumbled upon a Fracture.
Perhaps she had been studying the traces left behind by people who interfered with reality.and perhaps the old building had been one of her investigation sites.anie looked around the library.
Nobody was paying attention to her.
She returned to the photograph.
There was a small handwritten word beneath the symbol.
NORTH....
Anie frowned.
She enlarged the image it wasn't a complete sentence.
Just one word north she looked at the symbol again.
Then she opened the map application on her phone.
The old building was located in the northern part of the city.
Her stomach tightened.
Was it a location marker?
Or had Sam simply written a direction for something else?...
She didn't know.
But it was the first physical connection she had found between Sam's investigation and the strange events happening around her.
She saved the photograph.then she closed the diary.she wasn't going back to the old building tonight.
Not without understanding what she was looking for.
2:08 PM — Hospital
Mira returned to Eli's room after lunch.
She had brought a bottle of water and a small packet of biscuits.
She placed them on the bedside table.
"Your favourite," she said, looking at Eli.
She sat down, room was quiet.
She checked his monitor and adjusted the curtain. she took out her phone
there was a message from Anie.
ANIE:
How is he?
MIRA:
Still sleeping. Nothing new.
ANIE:
Okay. I'll visit later.
Mira put the phone away she looked at Eli.
"Your friends are becoming difficult."
She smiled faintly.then she noticed something.blanket near his hand had moved.she frowned,
Perhaps she had disturbed it while adjusting the bed earlier.she leaned closer.
"Eli?"
His fingers were slightly curled.mira watched them.nothing happened she slowly reached for his hand.
"Can you hear me?"silence.
She lowered her head.
"I hope you wake up soon."
For a few seconds, she remained there.
Then she noticed a small movement beneath her fingers.His hand had tightened mira immediately looked up.
"Eli?"
monitor continued its steady rhythm.his eyes remained closed.but his fingers moved again.this time, she was certain.
She stood up so quickly that the chair moved backwards.
"Wait..."
She pressed the nurse-call button.
"Eli? Can you hear me?" no response. door opened a nurse entered.
"What happened?"
"I think he moved his hand."
The nurse approached the bed.
"How long ago?"
"Just now."
She checked his response and examined the monitor.
"Let's call the doctor."
Mira stepped aside.her heartbeat was racing.she looked at Eli,his face remained still.but something had changed.
For the first time in several days, she had a reason to believe he might be coming back,
4:36 PM — Somewhere in Astra City
A small room was illuminated by a single desk lamp.
Several photographs were scattered across the table.
One showed the old building.
Another showed a hospital entrance.
A third contained a blurred image of a young woman walking through a college courtyard.hand moved across the photographs.
It stopped at the image of Anie.
The person studied it for a long time.
Then another photograph was placed beside it.
This one showed samanth, two pictures remained side by side, phone vibrated.
UNKNOWN:
The observer has started recognising residual disturbances.
UNKNOWN:
I know.
UNKNOWN:
She found Sam's notes.
There was a long pause, the person picked up the photograph of Samantha.
Their fingers rested against its edge.
"Of course she did."
The phone vibrated again.
UNKNOWN:
Should we intervene?..
person looked towards the window.
The sky outside had darkened.
A thin crack of lightning illuminated the clouds.
"No."
They placed Samantha's photograph back on the table.
"Not yet." screen went dark.
7:19 PM — Astra City Hospital
Anie arrived at the hospital carrying her notebook.
She found Mira standing outside Eli's room.
Mira's expression was different.not completely relieved but there was hope in her eyes.
Anie stopped....
"What happened?"
Mira looked at her.
"He moved."
Anie blinked.
"What?"
"His fingers. Twice."
Anie's expression changed.
"Did the doctor say anything?"
"They're checking him. They said it might be an early response, but they need to observe him."
Anie looked through the glass panel.
Eli was lying in the same position.
But suddenly, the room seemed less silent.
"That's good," she whispered.
Mira nodded.
"I know."
Anie looked at her friend.
For a moment, she wanted to tell her about Sam's notes.
About the residual disturbances.
About the symbol on the old building.
But she decided to wait.There was something more important happening now she stepped inside.
"Hey, Eli." She pulled a chair closer.
"You're making everyone wait."
Mira stood near the doorway.Anie looked at him for a few seconds then she leaned forward.
"I found something today."
Her voice became quieter.
"Something Sam left behind."
"I think she knew more than we realised."
The monitor continued beeping.
Anie lowered her eyes.
"And I think I'm finally beginning to understand why."
Outside the window, the evening sky turned dark.
For a brief moment, the reflection of the hospital room appeared across the glass anie noticed it.she looked up reflection was normal.
But behind her reflected image, near the far end of the corridor, stood a figure.
Anie turned immediately corridor was empty.
She looked back at the window nothing.
Her breathing became shallow stepped closer to the glass.
There was no figure no shadow no distortion.
Only her reflection but beneath the reflected ceiling light, she noticed something she hadn't seen before a thin, almost invisible line.It crossed the glass from one corner to another.like a crack.anie raised her hand her fingertips stopped just before touching it.she remembered Sam's warning.
Not every strange thing is a Fracture.
She slowly lowered her hand she whispered:
"Then what are you?".. line disappeared.
And somewhere beyond the hospital walls, a clock struck seven.