The lock clicked open with a heavy metallic clack.
Ryan pushed the door to his apartment open. He stepped inside and stopped.
The space was completely, utterly silent.
The folding chairs were stacked neatly against the wall. The whiteboards had been wiped clean, leaving only faint grey streaks of marker dust. The tangle of extension cords and charging bricks that had choked the kitchen island was gone.
The team had packed up. They had cleaned the entire space, erasing almost every trace of the chaotic, high-pressure startup that had occupied his living room.
The only thing left behind was a faint, lingering smell of stale coffee.
Ryan dropped his keys into the ceramic bowl by the door. The sound echoed off the bare walls.
It felt strange. The aggressive, chaotic energy of Mike, Danny, and Iralis had become a constant, vibrating background noise. Now, standing alone in the center of the room, the silence felt odd.
