It was night.

Not just night... but the kind that crawled beneath your skin and whispered things you didn't want to hear.

The kind of night that stared at you with empty eyes, waiting for your heart to finally break.

Everything outside was still, too still.

No breeze. No distant car sounds. Just thick, deafening silence.

Even the birds that chirped earlier, those restless stubborn creatures that usually refused to sleep had gone quiet.

Like they knew something I didn't. Like they ...