The stair creaked on the third one down
They always did
Adrian stepped over it without thinking, skipping from the second to fourth like he'd done a hundred times before. The rest of the house stayed quiet—TV murmuring, low and distant.
He didn't announce he was leaving.
Didn't need to, not like anyone would notice even if he did.
The door clicking silently behind him.
The air felt different at night.
Cold, Sharper. Like it had edges.
Adrian pulled his jacket tighter around him and stepped off the porch. The street stretched before him in both directions. A few porch lights still on. A few cars passing every now and then, headlight sweeping across the pavement before disappearing again.
It was quieter.
Not silent.
But quieter in a way that made everything else stand out.
Footsteps. Wind. The feint hum of electricity from nearby streetlights.
He started walking in no certain direction. Just distance. Distance from a empty home.
His shoulders felt looser out here—not completely. But enough to notice the difference. Enough to feel like he didn't have to hold himself together the same way.
No one was watching
If they were, it didn't feel like it.
At the end of the street he turned right.
The sidewalk narrowed there, pressed closer to the street.Trees lined the edge, branches hanging low enough to catch the light in uneven patches.
Shadow. Light. Shadow again.
Adrian watched the way it shifted as he walked through it.
There was something… steady about it.
Not like school. Not like the house.
Nothing here was trying to get something out of him.
It just… existed.
A car passed behind him, slower this time. He felt it before he heard it—the subtle shift in the air, the low vibration under his feet.
For a second, his body tensed automatically.
Then the car kept going.
The tension faded.
Adrian exhaled.
He didn't realize how far he'd walked until the houses started to look unfamiliar.
Not completely different—just enough that he had to actually pay attention now.
A corner store sat across the street, lights buzzing faintly in the windows. The parking lot was mostly empty. One car idling near the entrance, exhaust curling into the air.
Adrian slowed.
Watched.
The driver didn't get out.
Didn't look his way.
Didn't do anything at all.
After a moment, Adrian kept walking.
Somewhere in the distance, laughter echoed.
Not close. Not directed at him.
Just… there.
He stopped.
Listened.
It faded quickly, swallowed by the space between buildings.
But the feeling of it stayed.
That same sharp edge from earlier. That same tightening in his chest.
Adrian frowned slightly.
It didn't make sense.
They weren't here.
No one was looking at him.
No one was saying anything.
And still—His jaw tightened.
His hands curled slightly at his sides.
The feeling didn't go away.