In a modest inner-city apartment, sparsely decorated except for a few well-maintained plants the place barely looked lived in. Everything was too clean. Too deliberate.
William sat on the couch.
He didn't have to be at work for another three hours.
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
Roland.
"Goddammit, William—why did you mark this site on Ester Street? It's a mile off. Do you have any idea how that made me look talking to rex about that pharmacy, go back there and give me a damn good reason not to fire you, and dont bring your old man into this, hes already dead don't use his name to try and get out of this"
"Yeah Mr Roland im sorry, I don't know how I got those streets mixed up ill head out there right away"
.... Fuck, how did I get the street wrong again, ever sense I started working up in the reconstruction zone I feel like im fucking up all the time. Will hurried to grabbed his tools and set off for seewood drive.
Will arrived back at the sight in the reconstruction zone, there's a dozen or so workers out right now and its freezing not snowing just cold, the sky was graying which fit the concrete jungle of the northern district. One of the bigger workers comes up to me as i grab my tape measure and blueprint from my truck.
"Morning Will! Thought we had our inspection yesterday, what's up?" His name was havvy ive met him a couple times, loud man with a gut and a short stubble beard. "Nothing much Havvy I fucked up some measurements yesterday, I must've handed in the wrong prints or something, cause theres no way the sight moved 2 miles since I was here last night."
"Yeah? If sites start moving, I've got bigger problems than inspections."
He never told him everything, yesterday the sight was down the street from here, nothing seems to have changed besides that. But how did they move an building overnight. He knew how it sounded. Like he was losing his mind. But he wasn't. He couldn't be. THAT building was not here last night.
William stood there longer than he meant to.
The workers moved like nothing was wrong—measuring, shouting, hammering—but it all felt… rehearsed. Like he'd walked into something already in progress that he hadn't been invited to. With a growing pit in his stomach he looked at his blueprint
Seewood Drive his signature,
the exacts layout he was seeing infront of him matched the blueprint perfectly.
Will flipped the page over like something might be hiding on the back, then checked the date again. Yesterday. Late afternoon. He remembered standing out here, the wind cutting through his coat, writing notes with numb fingers.
Yesterday, there had been a chain-link fence where the pharmacy now stood. He remembered leaning against it, writing notes.
He pulled up next to the foundation hooked his measuring tape onto it and the other side.
He measured
Then he looked around
He turned slowly, scanning the street. The buildings nearby looked right—unfinished concrete, steel frames, tarps snapping in the cold wind—but the spacing between them felt off. Too tight. Like someone had nudged everything just a little closer together.
"Hey you gonna stand there looking around or you gon tell me if theres a problem with my foundation." It was Havvy again, grinning like an idiot and wiping dirt onto his high vis jacket.
Will forced something like a smile and stepped closer to the structure. "Yeah—yeah, just… give me a second."
He crouched near the corner of the building and hooked his tape to the edge of the foundation.
Pulled.
Measured.
Stopped.
Measured again.
The number matched the blueprint exactly.
Perfectly.
Will stared at the tape, then at the concrete edge, then back at the paper in his hand. His chest tightened, not panic—not yet—but something colder. Sharper.
He adjusted the tape, tried a different angle. Same result.
Exact.
"Problem?" Havvy called out.
Will shook his head quickly. "No—no, it's… it's right."
That was the problem.
It was right.
Yesterday, it hadn't been.
Will stood up too fast, the world tilting just slightly before settling back into place. He stepped away from the building, eyes tracing the street again, searching for something—anything—that felt anchored.
There.
A street sign at the corner.
He walked to it, slower now, like approaching something that might bolt.
SEWOOD DR.
The lettering was clean. New. Bolted firmly into the ground.
Will reached out and grabbed the post, giving it a hard shake.
Solid.
No looseness. No sign it had been moved.
"Everything good, man?" Havvy asked again, a little less joking this time.
Will let go of the sign.
"Yeah," he said, quieter now. "Yeah, I just… thought I was somewhere else yesterday."
Havvy snorted. "Wouldn't blame you. All these blocks look the same. They throw 'em up fast, you blink and suddenly you're on a different street."
Will nodded, but didn't answer.
Because that wasn't it.
These blocks didn't look the same.
They felt wrong.
Like a map drawn from memory instead of careful planning
The street felt too long and the buildings felt too close together.
It felt like it was being made up on the spot....
.....
William didn't stay much longer than that
He took some notes, a couple measurements, and a couple photo's. He did these quick but steadily trying to keep his mind and hand from breaking.
Then he got into his truck the cold harsh air rushed through the door and he took out his journal.
He took out his pen and hovered it above the page hesitating.
(Seewood Drive inspection. Measurements align with submitted plans.No structural discrepancies observed.)
He stopped himself
That wasnt true
Then he added one more line.
(This wasnt the location of the site yesterday)
He looked at the words on the page then he underlined it,
carving deep into the page.
(This wasnt the location of the site yesterday)
End of chapter 1