The Sound of Empty Streets

The streetlights hummed above Callie as she walked home, their flickering glow casting long shadows on the cracked pavement. She pulled her coat tighter against the evening chill, her steps quickening as the quiet of the city pressed in.

It hadn’t always been like this. The streets used to be alive—late-night laughter from diners, music spilling from corner stores, the occasional shout of a cab driver losing patience. Now, only the wind responded to her footsteps.

She didn’t know when it started, this… absence. People left in trickles, then in floods. First, the neighbors moved away. Then the coffee shop closed, its windows covered in brown paper. Even the stray cats that once lounged by the dumpsters were gone.

But Callie stayed.

Something inside her told her that leaving wasn’t the answer. That if she left, she might lose something—some piece of herself tied to these streets.

She reached her apartment, the old building standing like a relic of another time. The door creaked as she stepped inside. She paused. Something was different.

A sound.

Soft, rhythmic. Not the wind. Not the hum of the streetlights.

Breathing.

Callie turned sharply. In the dim light, she saw movement near the staircase. A figure stood there, just beyond the shadows.

And for the first time in weeks, she was not alone.


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