Aira stumbled backward, her shoes slipping on the wet stones of the bridge. The air felt colder now, heavier, as if the world was holding its breath.
"W-who are you?" she whispered.
The shadow tilted its head, its form flickering against the faint moonlight.
"I'm what you left behind," it said. "And what this town tried to forget."
Aira blinked, her pulse racing. The words made no sense. Shadows didn't talk. They didn't think. And yet—this one did.
Before she could speak again, the water under the bridge began to stir. Circles formed in the dark surface, glowing faintly blue. The reflection of her shadow shimmered, then split—revealing dozens of other silhouettes beneath the water, trapped, reaching upward like hands pressed against glass.
"They're waiting," the shadow said. "Just like I waited for you."
Aira's breath caught. "For me? Why me?"
The shadow smiled—a strange, human smile that didn't belong to a shadow at all.
"Because you were born on the night the light disappeared."
Then the wind howled. The water rose in a sudden wave, crashing over the edge of the bridge. Aira covered her face, but when she opened her eyes again—the shadow was gone.
Only her own reflection remained, trembling in the water.
And yet… in that reflection, her eyes were not her own.