As night came
The streetlights buzzed above him, blinking like they couldn't decide whether to stay on.
Ciro didn't look back.
He walked with no plan, cutting through quiet streets and empty sidewalks. The cracked pavement near the bodega, the rusted basketball hoop, the alley with old posters peeling off brick.
His feet stopped in front of the school.
It looked wrong at night.
The windows were too dark. The shadows too still. The kind of stillness that made you think something was watching.
He stepped onto the field anyway.
The bleachers creaked beneath him as he climbed halfway up. The metal was cold, grounding.
And then quietly, softly he heard it.
A whisper.
Not words. Just the something of a breath that wasn't his.
He froze. Didn't move. Didn't breathe.
Waited.
Silence.
The wind picked up, dragging leaves across the track like fingers skimming skin.
He told himself it was nothing. Just wind. Just nerves.
Still, his shoulders stayed tense as he pulled out his phone.
Csepel: you good?
Csepel: i know ur not gonna say yes
but just in case
Ciro stared at the screen.
He thought about replying and typed out:
I'm fine.
He deleted it.
As he was thinking
A flicker caught his eye something by the goalpost.
He turned his head sharply.
Nothing.
Just a shadow that looked too much like a person for a second too long.
His heart thudded once, hard.
Then silence again.
The lights above the bleachers flickered.
Ciro looked up. Waited.
The buzzing stopped.
He exhaled slowly. Shoved his phone in his pocket. Leaned back.
He wouldn't give into it. Not tonight. Whether that was real or in his head it didn't get to be bigger than him.
Not right now.
He sat there for a while, still watching. Just in case.
But nothing else moved.
Then silence