The rain poured down on the city without mercy. Streetlights cast their dim glow on the glistening asphalt, as if mocking the people trapped in endless routines.
In an office on the twelfth floor, a man still sat frozen in his chair. His eyes were tired, his back heavy, and the ticking clock served only as a reminder that his life was being drained away, little by little, in that place.
The same days, the same piles of documents, the same faces. The world around him kept moving, yet he himself had never truly lived.
"What the hell?" he muttered softly, his voice heard only by himself.
On his desk lay today's medical report. The result? Healthy no complications, no serious illness, perhaps just a bit of anemia from skipping breakfast too often.
"But why does my body feel so weak?" The man sighed, certain that this was not normal. He refused to believe that skipping breakfast alone could leave his body this frail.
He looked at the clock 10 p.m., already too late. "Huh, well… at least I can still walk." He finally decided to go home, though his body felt increasingly fragile. The rain still fell, dripping from rooftops and splashing across the streets.
"Good thing I brought an umbrella."
Yet his steps suddenly grew heavier not just from fatigue, but from something he could not explain. Out of the corner of his eye, in the narrow alleyways, he caught sight of something: a shadow darting quickly, as if stalking him from the darkness.
He stopped for a moment, glancing left and right. Empty. Only the sound of rain and the whisper of the wind. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Was that just my imagination?" he thought, forcing himself to keep walking.
In the downpour, the man failed to notice how strange the surroundings had become: no passing cars, no pedestrians.
The closer he got to the train station, the weaker he felt. His vision blurred, his head spun. He clutched at his temples as if trying to stop the world from turning, though it was useless. "Damn it… not now." He didn't realize that above him, a massive branch from an old, brittle tree was swaying violently in the wind.
Crack!
The sound of breaking wood split the air. In an instant, the heavy branch came crashing down on him without mercy. Pain tore through him, his breath caught in his throat. The world seemed to drift away as his eyes slowly closed under the never-ending rain.
Darkness.
Then silence.