# Chapter: Midnight Revelations
## Liam's Apartment - 3:15 AM
Sleep had become impossible. Liam stood on his apartment balcony, the cool night air doing nothing to calm the storm of thoughts racing through his mind. Below him, Michigan's streets stretched out in a grid of amber streetlights and occasional late-night traffic, the city unaware that in less than nine hours, everything they thought they knew about reality might change forever.
His phone buzzed with a text from Sarah: *Can't sleep either. Coffee at the all-night diner on Fifth Street?*
Twenty minutes later, Liam found himself sliding into a worn vinyl booth across from Sarah, Amir, and surprisingly, Elaine, who normally avoided late-night gatherings. The diner was nearly empty except for a handful of shift workers and insomniacs seeking refuge in fluorescent lighting and bottomless coffee.
