"Who are you...?" The question escaped Juson's lips before he had the chance to stop it. It wasn't born out of courage but confusion, as though his mind had rejected what his eyes were trying to understand. The figure standing in the doorway remained motionless while the faint evening light streamed in from behind him, wrapping his entire body in shadow. The brightness outside was so intense compared to the dim interior of the house that every detail of his face disappeared completely, leaving behind nothing but the outline of a man whose voice sounded strangely familiar. Juson narrowed his eyes, hoping the adjustment would reveal something, yet the harder he looked, the less he seemed able to distinguish. The silence stretched between them until it became uncomfortable. Even Wanna, who had opened the door without hesitation, stood quietly waiting for the visitor to speak. Then, without answering Juson's question, the man stepped across the threshold with slow, measured confidence and turned his head slightly toward Wanna. "Where were you?" she asked immediately, relief and worry mixing within her voice before she even realised it. "I'll tell you later," the man replied calmly.
The instant he moved away from the doorway, the harsh light no longer hid his features. Shadows slid naturally across his face, revealing every familiar detail that had been concealed only moments earlier. Hakiten. For a brief second, Juson's thoughts came to a complete halt. His mind struggled to reconcile the anxious uncertainty that had brought him there with the perfectly ordinary man now standing before him. Every fear he had carried during the drive seemed to collapse beneath the simple reality that Hakiten had returned home safely. Yet instead of relief, an even deeper uneasiness quietly replaced it. Nothing about Hakiten appeared wrong at first glance. His clothes were clean. His expression remained composed. His breathing was steady. It was precisely that normality that disturbed Juson most. After everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours, after disappearing without explanation, after leaving behind strange papers and mysterious objects locked away inside his room, Hakiten should not have looked this calm. The absence of visible fear felt unnatural, almost rehearsed, as though he had prepared himself before opening that front door.
"Bring us some juice," Hakiten said casually, finally glancing toward Wanna. "We'll talk." She nodded without suspicion and quietly disappeared into the kitchen. The room fell silent again. Hakiten reached toward one of the dining chairs and slowly pulled it away from the table. "Sit." His voice remained perfectly controlled. Juson hesitated only briefly before lowering himself into the chair opposite him. Even seated, his eyes never left Hakiten's face. The familiarity between them only sharpened the feeling that something had changed. It wasn't visible in his appearance. It wasn't hidden inside his words. It rested somewhere deeper, beneath everything that could easily be observed. Hakiten seemed almost... carefully normal. Like someone consciously performing calmness rather than experiencing it naturally. The distinction was subtle enough that another person might never notice it, but Juson could not ignore it. Every movement felt measured. Every sentence arrived too smoothly. Every pause seemed exactly long enough to appear genuine.
"Where were you last night?" Juson finally asked. Hakiten answered without needing time to think. "The store owner is expanding the business," he said. "He needed help. I stayed there." The explanation flowed naturally, almost too naturally. There wasn't the slightest hesitation between the question and the answer, nor any sign that he expected disbelief. From the kitchen, the soft sounds of glass being placed onto a tray drifted faintly into the room while Wanna listened without interrupting. Juson knew about Hakiten's new supermarket job. The explanation itself wasn't impossible. It fit the facts well enough to satisfy anyone who wasn't already suspicious. Yet something about the speed with which it arrived unsettled him. Honest memories often required thought. Prepared ones rarely did.
"Where's the new place?" Juson continued quietly. "Behind the school." The words struck him instantly. Behind the school. His thoughts immediately returned to the construction site he had passed earlier that morning. The unfinished building. The workers. The strange feeling that had lingered there for reasons he still couldn't explain. Before he could ask another question, a soft cry echoed from the small cot positioned beside the sofa. Hakiten rose from his chair almost immediately and crossed the room. His daughter reached both hands toward him, and he lifted her effortlessly into his arms, rocking her gently until her crying subsided. For several seconds he appeared completely ordinary. A father comforting his child. A husband returning home after work. The image felt almost convincing.
Then his eyes shifted. Without moving his head, he looked directly toward the torn papers resting upon the table. He made no attempt to pick them up. He didn't ask where they had come from. Instead, he spoke quietly. "You've seen a lot today." Juson's attention snapped back toward him. "What?" Hakiten remained silent. Rather than repeating himself, he simply continued rocking the child against his shoulder while gazing somewhere beyond Juson, as though the answer no longer required explanation. The silence that followed carried an unusual weight. Neither of them seemed willing to disturb it. Juson felt increasingly certain that Hakiten knew far more than he was prepared to reveal. Not because of what he had said... but because of everything he deliberately avoided saying. The room itself seemed filled with withheld truths waiting for the wrong question to expose them.
His thoughts drifted briefly toward Yokina waiting at the hospital. Toward Herik. He needed to return. "I should go," Juson said as he slowly rose from the chair. At almost the same moment, Wanna emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray with three glasses of juice balanced carefully upon it. She looked mildly surprised to find Juson already standing. "So soon?" "I'll come again," he answered gently. He didn't explain further. He simply walked toward the entrance. Behind him, the front door closed softly after he stepped outside, leaving the quiet interior of the house behind.
Inside, Hakiten remained standing for several seconds after Juson disappeared beyond the gate. Without speaking, he gently placed his daughter back into her cot before straightening again. Wanna returned from the doorway and looked toward him with quiet concern. "What happened to him?" Hakiten merely lifted one shoulder. "Who knows." The answer carried no emotion. No curiosity. No concern. Wanna studied him for another moment before silently collecting the untouched glasses from the tray. She carried them back into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, returned the juice to its shelf and quietly resumed preparing dinner as though the evening had returned to normal.
Only Hakiten remained completely still. His eyes stayed fixed upon the direction Juson's car had disappeared long after there was nothing left to see. Finally, without another word, he turned away from the dining room and walked back toward his bedroom. Once inside, he closed the door behind him. The calm expression he had maintained throughout the conversation vanished almost immediately. His face hardened. Every trace of composure dissolved into intense concentration. He crossed the room directly toward the corner where the two sealed boxes remained exactly where Juson had found them earlier. Kneeling before them, he placed both hands upon their lids before dragging them carefully toward the centre of the room. The scraping sound echoed faintly across the floor. One after another, he opened them.
Inside rested fine blue sand. Not ordinary sand. Each grain appeared slightly larger than natural particles and carried its own faint glow, illuminating the interior of the boxes with a cold bluish light. Hakiten stared down at them without blinking before standing once more and walking toward the desk. He opened the drawer slowly. The unfinished glass cube still rested exactly where he had left it. Within its imperfect transparent walls, the crimson particles continued drifting restlessly through one another without ever settling. Hakiten lifted the cube carefully between both hands. For several long moments he simply watched the red sand moving inside, as though waiting for some silent confirmation. Then he lowered himself onto the floor and gently placed the cube before him. Reaching back toward the open boxes, he began pouring the glowing blue sand across the wooden floor. The particles flowed outward in soft shimmering waves until they gathered into a rounded mound surrounding the cube completely.
"Time to wake up," he whispered. The words barely disturbed the silence. He placed the cube directly upon the centre of the mound. At first, nothing happened. Several seconds passed. Then the blue grains began shifting. The movement was almost imperceptible at first, resembling the slow settling of ordinary sand. Gradually the motion strengthened. Tiny streams of glowing particles climbed upward against gravity itself, weaving together into narrow twisting paths that seemed guided by invisible hands. The unfinished cube slowly lifted from the surface without any visible support. Higher and higher it rose until the blue particles engulfed it completely. The entire mound trembled violently. Shapes emerged within the swirling light. Edges sharpened. A vague outline resembling a human body began taking form inside the suspended cloud.
For one astonishing moment it almost appeared complete. Then the shape collapsed. Its outline twisted unnaturally before deforming into something entirely different. Too quickly. Far too quickly. Hakiten stumbled backward. "No...!" His voice echoed sharply across the room. "No!" The shout carried through the house with enough force to reach the kitchen. Wanna immediately abandoned what she was doing and hurried toward the bedroom, confusion spreading across her face. Outside the closed room... Something hovered silently within the darkened hallway. Waiting.