The breeze was fake.
Jay leaned against the school rooftop's fence, eyes half-lidded, watching a sun that didn't warm anything and clouds that had no water in them. Somewhere below, echoes of laughter and footsteps played on loop like a corrupted video.
This wasn't the real world.
Or the dream world.
Or even that strange corridor where reality folded in on itself like bad origami.
It was something else entirely, a place stuck between memory and simulation.
He exhaled and let his head fall back. The metal fence dug slightly into his neck.
"You again," said a voice, one he knew too well.
Jay didn't even flinch. "Hey, Null."
A glitch flickered beside him, his other self. Null-Jay, incomplete but aware, sat down like a shadow gaining mass. His hair was slightly shorter. His face less tired, but colder. His presence was unnervingly still.
"You're stalling," Null said plainly.
Jay shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe I just like this moment. The quiet before everything breaks again."
