The peace lasted exactly twelve hours.
Maya woke up to Elena shaking her shoulder roughly. Sunlight streamed through her apartment windows—actual sunlight, which she hadn't seen in months. For a moment, she felt genuinely happy. Then she saw Elena's face.
"We need to leave. Right now."
Maya sat up on her couch, still wearing yesterday's clothes. "What's wrong?"
"Look outside."
Maya walked to her window and immediately stepped back. A crowd had gathered in the parking lot below—maybe thirty people, all staring up at her apartment building. They stood perfectly still, like mannequins, their faces blank and expressionless.
"They showed up around dawn," Elena said, shoving Maya's clothes into a backpack. "At first it was just one or two, but they keep coming. I think your parasite friend is calling in backup."
"Backup for what?"
"To get you back. These things don't handle rejection well, especially from someone they've invested months of grooming into." Elena paused at Maya's computer setup, which was still unplugged. "Did you dream about him last night?"
Maya shook her head. "That's the weird part. I slept better than I have in years. No dreams at all."
"That's because you actually broke the connection. Most people can't do that once a parasite gets its hooks in deep. You're stronger than I thought." Elena grabbed Maya's arm. "But now it's going to try harder. The people outside aren't possessed exactly, but they're influenced. Anyone who's ever felt lonely or desperate for connection becomes a potential puppet."
Maya looked out the window again. The crowd had grown larger. She recognized Mrs. Patterson from 3B, the college kid who lived downstairs, even the mailman. All of them staring up with empty eyes.
"How do we get past them?"
"Carefully." Elena pulled a small cloth bag from her jacket. "Salt and iron filings mixed with sage. It won't stop them, but it might confuse them long enough for us to get to my car."
They made it to the lobby before the first person tried to talk to Maya.
"Don't you miss him?" Mrs. Patterson asked, her voice flat and mechanical. "Don't you miss feeling special?"
Maya kept walking, but more voices joined in.
"He made you feel beautiful."
"He listened to you."
"He cared when no one else did."
"Shut up," Maya muttered, but the words were getting to her. She had felt special with Lucien. She had felt seen and valued and desired.
"Maya." Elena's voice was sharp. "Don't listen. Keep walking."
But the crowd was pressing closer, and their words were becoming more personal.
"Remember how he said your name?"
"Remember how he looked at you like you were the only person in the world?"
"You'll never find that again."
"You'll die alone and forgotten."
Maya stopped walking. The words hit every insecurity she'd ever had, every fear about her future. Elena tugged at her arm, but Maya was frozen.
"He was the only one who ever really wanted you," the crowd said in unison, their voices creating a haunting harmony. "And you threw it away."
"Maya!" Elena shouted.
But Maya was already reaching for her phone. She needed to turn it on, needed to find Lucien, needed to apologize and beg him to come back. The loneliness was crushing her chest, making it hard to breathe.
Elena slapped the phone out of Maya's hands, and it clattered across the pavement.
"Look at me," Elena said, grabbing Maya's face with both hands. "This is what it does. It makes you forget why you left. It makes you believe the addiction is better than freedom."
Maya blinked, the spell breaking slightly. The crowd around them had gone silent, watching with predatory intensity.
"I can't do this," Maya whispered. "I'm not strong enough."
"Yes, you are. You proved that last night." Elena's eyes were fierce. "But you don't have to do it alone. That's what real support looks like—people who help you stay strong, not people who make you dependent on them."
Maya looked around at the crowd of influenced people, all of them reflecting her own desperation back at her. They looked as lonely and empty as she had felt for months.
"They're all like me, aren't they?" she said quietly. "All looking for something to fill the hole."
"That's how parasites spread. They find people who are vulnerable and turn them into recruitment tools." Elena started walking again, pulling Maya with her. "But vulnerability doesn't mean weakness. It means you're human."
The crowd parted reluctantly as they walked toward Elena's car. But just as Maya was reaching for the door handle, her phone—the one Elena had slapped away—began ringing from across the parking lot.
The ringtone was "Ave Maria," played in a minor key.
Maya had never heard that ringtone before in her life.
But somehow, she knew exactly who was calling.