Adrian did not sleep that night.
He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, watching the shadows move.
They weren't supposed to move.
The streetlight outside his window cast a steady glow, but the shadow in the corner of the room kept shifting. Stretching. Contracting. Twisting into shapes that made no sense.
Every time he blinked, it changed.
Every time he looked directly at it, it froze.
His phone screen lit up.
3:17 AM.
He exhaled slowly.
You're tired.
That had to be it. Hallucinations. Sleep deprivation. Anxiety. The human brain was fragile. It could break under pressure. He had read about it before.
But the memory of that man under the streetlight refused to fade.
The smile.
The way he had looked straight at him.
As if he had been waiting.
Adrian sat up.
He couldn't stay here.
If he stayed alone in this room, he would go insane.
He grabbed his jacket and left.
The early morning air was cold and empty. The city hadn't fully woken yet. Only a few cars moved along the streets. The silence felt heavier than usual.
Adrian walked without direction.
He needed proof.
If this was real, it would happen again.
If it was all in his head... he would know.
At a crosswalk, the signal turned red.
He waited.
The empty street stretched ahead.
Then the light flickered.
Green.
Red.
Green.
Red.
Faster.
Faster.
Adrian frowned.
Then the world stuttered.
A car appeared in front of him.
No.
It had always been there.
But he hadn't seen it.
The driver slammed the brakes.
Tires screamed.
Adrian jumped back.
The car stopped inches from his body.
The driver rolled down the window and shouted, "Are you blind?!"
Adrian didn't answer.
His heart pounded.
He hadn't heard the car.
He hadn't seen it.
But something inside him had moved before he even understood the danger.
Instinct.
Or something else.
He stepped onto the sidewalk, breathing hard.
That had not been luck.
Something had warned him.
Or shown him.
He clenched his hands.
"Again," he whispered.
He began to walk, paying attention to everything.
Every sound.
Every movement.
Every flicker.
Minutes passed.
Nothing.
Then—
A woman dropped her phone.
Adrian watched.
The phone fell.
It hit the ground.
Then it fell again.
And again.
The same motion repeated three times.
No one reacted.
No one noticed.
Adrian's chest tightened.
He stepped forward.
The moment reset.
The phone fell once more.
This time, he moved faster.
He caught it before it hit the ground.
The woman blinked in surprise.
"Oh! Thank you!"
Her smile was normal. Warm. Real.
Adrian stared at her.
"Did you... see that?" he asked.
"See what?"
"The... loop."
She looked confused.
"What loop?"
Adrian forced a smile. "Nothing."
He handed the phone back and walked away.
His pulse raced.
He had interfered.
And nothing had happened.
Or so he thought.
A strange sensation crawled over his skin.
Like static.
Like electricity.
He stopped.
The world felt heavy again.
The sound of the city dulled.
Something was wrong.
He turned slowly.
A man stood at the end of the street.
The same man from the night before.
Calm.
Smiling.
Watching.
Adrian's stomach dropped.
The man raised a hand in greeting.
"Good morning, Adrian."
Adrian's mind went blank.
"How do you know my name?"
The man tilted his head slightly, as if amused.
"I know many things."
The air around them flickered.
Streetlights dimmed.
Time seemed to stretch.
Adrian took a step back.
"Who are you?"
The man's smile widened.
"That is not the important question."
He stepped forward.
"What matters is this."
The world distorted.
For a brief second, Adrian saw something impossible.
The street was broken.
The sky was cracked.
Reality itself was tearing apart.
Then it was normal again.
The man stopped a few meters away.
"You've already seen the end of this world," he said softly.
Adrian's breath caught.
"You just don't remember it."
Silence.
The city noise returned.
Cars moved.
People walked.
Everything felt normal again.
Except Adrian's heart was racing.
"Why me?" he asked.
The man's eyes gleamed.
"Because you are the greatest mistake reality has ever made."
Adrian felt a chill.
"What do you want from me?"
The man smiled.
"To see what you choose this time."
He turned and began to walk away.
"Wait!" Adrian shouted.
The man stopped but did not turn around.
"Follow the patterns," he said. "They will lead you to the truth."
He paused.
"And to your death."
Then he disappeared.
Not ran.
Not faded.
He was simply gone.
Adrian stood alone in the middle of the street, trembling.
The world looked normal.
But nothing was normal anymore.
He clenched his fists.
The patterns.
The loops.
The glitches.
They weren't random.
They were guiding him.
And for the first time, Adrian realized—
He wanted answers.
No matter the cost.