( PH 2)
Tap,Tap,Tap.
Rain struck the window beside Anie's shoulder she stood there without moving.
city beyond the glass had disappeared beneath the storm. Streetlights blurred across the wet streets, their reflections trembling whenever another vehicle passed anie looked at the clock.
11:47 PM.
Her eyes moved toward the desk samantha's diary was there.closed
she had spent most of the evening staring at it she had opened it twice.
read almost nothing then closed it again.her mind wasn't on the diary anymore it was on the abandoned building.the woman the unanswered questions.and the strange certainty that had been growing inside her since yesterday.the woman had told her enough to understand what she was.
But not enough to understand why.
Why had the Fracture chosen her?
Why had it happened after Samantha's death?
Why did her awareness keep changing?
Why did that woman know so much?
And most importantly,
why did she know Samantha?
Anie picked up her jacket.she didn't hesitate this time she slipped her phone into her pocket.no message had arrived she hadn't expected one.
She wasn't going because someone had called her.she was going because she had decided to.
streets were almost empty.
Midnight had swallowed most of Astra City's noise.
Rainwater flowed along the edges of the roads shops had closed traffic had thinned.only the occasional vehicle passed through the intersections, its headlights briefly cutting through the darkness before disappearing.Anie walked beneath her umbrella.the sound of rain followed her.she didn't play music she didn't call anyone.
she didn't even look at her phone every step carried her farther from the familiar part of the city toward the old district.
Toward the old distric toward the building,place she had already visited twice.yet tonight it felt different she didn't know whether that difference came from the building itself...
or from her.
old district appeared through the rain.
broken signs abandoned storefronts .
buildings with dark windows the streetlights were farther apart here, leaving large pieces of the road buried in shadow anie slowed down.
there it was the building tall silent half-swallowed by darkness.its windows were broken parts of its outer walls had collapsed.rainwater streamed down its concrete surface.anie stood across the road.she remembered the first time she had seen it.the fear, confusion the woman waiting inside.the questions she couldn't answer.she tightened her grip around the umbrella.
"...I'm back."
her voice sounded strangely small against the empty street no answer anie crossed the road.
entrance door was already open she stopped before it.she was almost certain it had been closed the last time
her eyes narrowed.
"Hello?"
nothing,she stepped inside the rain became distant immediately water dripped from the ceiling.
Drip.
...
Drip.
...
Drip.
her footsteps echoed across the entrance hall anie lowered her umbrella she folded it slowly then looked into the darkness ahead.
"Are you here?"
silence she took another step.
"Hello?"
nothing the building seemed completely abandoned but Anie didn't leave.she continued deeper inside.
hallway from her previous visit was still there.broken doors cracked walls old furniture covered in dust. a flickering light near the ceiling anie walked slowly.
Her eyes moved from one corner to another nothing.
she reached the room where she had spoken to the woman.door was open
anie stopped.her heart beat once hard
she pushed the door wider.empty a broken chair, a dusty table, a window with cracked glass nothing else. the woman was gone. anie entered she looked around,
"Of course..."
he didn't know whether she was disappointed or relieved.she walked toward the table there was nothing on it.no messag,no note,no clue she touched the surface.she touched the surface dust covered her fingertips.
"Did you know I'd come back?"
silence anie looked toward the empty chair.for a moment, she imagined the woman sitting there waiting, watching,
knowing she shook the thought away.
she searched the building room after room.floor after floor nothing every place she checked gave her the same answer.empty,but the longer she stayed the stranger the building felt.
Anie stopped halfway up a staircase.
her breathing became slower something was wrong.she looked around nothing moved yet she could feel it a pressure very faint.Like a vibration underneath the walls anie closed her eyes her awareness stretched outward.she didn't know how she was doing it she simply allowed herself to notice.the building changed
, not physically something deeper.
she felt tiny irregularities scattered through the structure some were weak
some disappeared immediately.one remained anie opened her eyes.
"...There."
she looked toward the upper floor a sensation pulled at the back of her mind.not an instruction,not a voice,a direction she climbed.the upper floor was darker most of the windows were completely broken rain entered through the openings and spread across the floor.anie walked through the corridor
the pressure became stronger.her head began to ache she stopped.
"Too much..."
she pressed her fingers against her temple the sensation remained.something nearby was unstable a fracture.but different from what she had sensed before she took another step the air trembled barely.
anie stared for half a second the rain outside seemed to stop.not because of wind,not because of anything physical.
It simply...
hesitated then continued falling anie didn't move her eyes widened.
"Was that..."
she remembered the traffic light the falling cup.the frozen second hand her abilities weren't becoming stronger exactly.she was becoming better at noticing them the realization frightened her.she continued toward the end of the corridor.there was a large empty room there the door hung from one hinge.
Anie pushed it open inside nothing
only rain.broken windows and darkness.she stepped inside the strange pressure disappeared just like that anie stood still.
"...Why?"
no answer she looked around again the woman wasn't here.the fracture wasn't here there was nothing yet Anie couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been here recently. she walked toward the window the rain struck the broken glass.
Beyond it the city glowed faintly anie looked down. the street was empty she suddenly felt foolish.maybe she had expected too much maybe the woman had never intended to meet her again.
Maybe the building had simply been a place where their paths crossed once.
twice and nothing more anie lowered her head.
"I came all the way here..." quiet laugh escaped her,"...for nothing."
turned toward the door then stopped
a sound.very faint, behind her.
Click....!!!
slowly turned nothing the room was empty her heartbeat increased.she waited,nothing happened she walked back toward the window.
Then
she noticed something on the floor
a small mark not a message.not a symbol she recognized just a thin, unnatural crack running across the concrete anie crouched.she didn't touch it her awareness immediately reacted, pressure,a faint vibration.
Something was wrong with that spot
her eyes narrowed.
"This wasn't here before."
she stared at the crack it wasn't a normal crack.it looked as though the surface itself had...
hesitated as if something had tried to pass through it.anie slowly stood her instincts told her to leave.
Instead....,
she stayed, she didn't know why maybe because she was tired of running from things she didn't understand.maybe because samantha had once done the same thing.
Maybe because, somewhere inside her, she had finally accepted that fear couldn't protect her forever,anie looked toward the darkness beyond the doorway.
"I'll come back."
she wasn't sure whether she was speaking to the woman... or to herself
then she walked away.
Outside, the rain had become heavier.
anie stepped beneath her umbrella she looked back at the building.nothing moved behind its broken windows no silhouette,no woman,no answer.only darkness she turned away.
But before she could take another step
something moved behind one of the upper-floor windows.anie stopped she looked back.nothing,she window was empty her chest tightened she waited.
Five seconds ten nothing anie slowly turned away again.she didn't see the faint distortion that remained inside the building.a tiny fracture barely visible.
almost like a breath held beneath reality.and somewhere beyond the darkness,something had noticed her.
.