Darkness inside her apartment felt heavier than the darkness outside—thicker, like something alive was pressing against the walls.
Lynn held her breath.
The whisper she'd heard… it hadn't come from any direction.
It had seeped into the room.
"…Who's there?"
Her voice barely existed.
Silence answered her.
Then—
Tap.
A slow, dragging footstep from the kitchen.
Lynn's heart hammered. The sound crept across the floorboards, each step deliberate, too slow to be human, too soft to be solid.
She backed toward the front door, her fingers fumbling blindly for the chain lock. But the footsteps stopped—abruptly, unnaturally.
A frozen stillness swallowed the room.
Then—
flicker—flicker—CLICK.
The lights snapped back on.
The kitchen was empty.
The apartment was calm.
Everything was exactly where she'd left it… except her breath, which she couldn't seem to find.
Was she losing her mind?
Her phone lay where it had fallen. One message still glowed on the screen:
If anything happens tonight, call me.
Lynn hugged her arms around herself and left every lamp on as she curled into the corner of the couch, awake until dawn.
Something had been inside the apartment with her.
She didn't imagine it.
She felt it breathe.