The Sound of Empty Streets – Part 2

Callie’s breath caught in her throat. The figure at the staircase didn’t move, but she could hear it—soft, steady breathing just beyond the reach of the dim light.

Her fingers twitched at her side. Run? Speak? Stay frozen like prey?

She swallowed hard and forced her voice steady. “Who’s there?”

Silence.

Then, a step forward. A shoe scraping against the old wooden floor.

Callie’s stomach knotted. The light from the street barely reached the figure’s outline, but she could make out the shape of a person—tall, thin, standing impossibly still.

Another step.

A whisper, low and ragged:

"You stayed too long."

Callie’s heart slammed against her ribs. Her fingers fumbled for the door handle behind her, cold sweat trickling down her spine.

The figure took another step, and for the first time, the light caught its face.

But there was no face.

Just smooth, empty skin where features should have been.

Her pulse roared in her ears as she bolted, throwing open the door and stumbling back onto the empty street.

But the city had changed.

The streetlights no longer flickered. They were all out. The buildings, once hollow and abandoned, now loomed taller, their windows stretching into deep, endless black.

And the silence… it was gone.

Because now, behind her, from every doorway, every alley, and every shadow—she could hear them breathing.


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