Kazi blinked once, then twice, trying to make sense of what was happening.
The figure was still there. Unmoving. Unbothered by the traffic that passed between them. Like it existed just slightly out of phase with everything else.
Her feet refused to move, rooted by fear or curiosity, maybe both. She struggles to understand why this was happening to her. As she was staring at the figure, a truck passed by, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished as the truck went by.
One moment, it was there. The next, only empty air.
Kazi stumbled backward and pressed against the brick wall of a closed storefront, her heart hammering. She squeezed her eyes shut, counted to five, then looked again. The figure was still gone.
A cold breeze drifted down the street, stirring her hair. The world seemed normal again. Cars honked, people laughed in the distance, and neon signs buzzed lazily.
But Kazi knew better. Something had seen her. Chosen her. Instilled fear in her. Before anything else could happen, Kazi got herself together and hurried home.
The apartment she shared with Luma was on the third floor of an old building a couple blocks from the club. By the time she reached the front door, her hands were shaking so badly she dropped her keys twice.
After getting the door open to her apartment, Kazi found Luma was pacing, with a concerned look on her face.
"There you are!" Luma rushed over, eyes wide. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Kazi didn't answer right away. She dropped her bag and slumped onto the couch.
"I think…" she started, voice hoarse, "I saw something. No. Someone."
Luma sat beside her. "Like, someone dangerous?"
"I don't know," Kazi said. "But they weren't... normal."
She explained everything, the blackout, the dark figure, the feeling she had, the pointing. Luma listened without interrupting, her brow furrowed.
"I've felt off all night too," Luma finally said. "Not like what you're describing, but... like something's coming. You know?"
Kazi nodded. "I've never felt anything like it before. It's like that thing knew me or something."
Silence settled between them, both deep in thought. Once again, the lights began to flicker, this time in their apartment.
Both girls fearful of what's to come, looked up.
"Kazi…" Luma's voice trembled, "do you smell that?"
Kazi sniffed the air. It smelled like smoke. It was faint, but it smelled like burnt paper.
Then came the sound; it was soft at first, like a whisper. A low hum, rising in pitch. It wasn't coming from the outside.
Both, looked down the hall. It was coming from Kazi's room.
Kazi stood slowly. Every instinct screamed at her to run the other way, but she forced herself forward. The hallway felt longer than usual, stretched by the tension in her chest.
As she reached her door, the humming stopped. Smoke curled from beneath the doorframe, glowing faintly with pulses of blue light. She touched the handle, only to find that it was warm.
"Kazi, don't!" Luma called out behind her.
But Kazi, focused on the door, did not hear Luma. She turned the knob and opened the door.
What she found inside her bedroom shocked her. The room was glowing; books, papers, and clothes were floating in the air, as though they were suspended by invisible threads. On the wall, lines of strange symbols had appeared, pulsing with light.
And at the center of the room, suspended just above her bed,
a glowing mark, resembling her tattoo, hovered in midair, spinning slowly, etched with the same symbols.
It pulsed once… then everything fell.