Obscura: A Parallax Elegy

Chapter 8|Memory

Day 5 without him.

The morning felt wrong before I even opened my eyes.
The air felt too heavy to breathe.

I reached for my phone on the nightstand.

3:17 a.m.

I hadn't remembered falling asleep.

For a moment, I wondered if he was dreaming somewhere too-
then stopped myself.

I shouldn't be thinking of him.

Not like this.
Not after everything.

I sat up slowly, the blanket sliding off my legs.
My skin felt cold, like I'd been lying in a room with the windows open.

But they weren't.

I checked.

All the windows were locked.

The apartment was still, too still, like the world outside had paused and forgotten to start again.
I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood, letting the silence settle around me.

That's when I heard it.

A low, rhythmic scrape... scrape... scrape.

I froze.

It sounded like someone was digging.
Not outside on the street - no, closer.
Too close.

I held my breath.

The sound came again.
Scrape. Drag. Scrape.My chest tightened. I walked toward the living room, the cold floor biting at my feet. The curtains hung still, untouched. No movement. No wind.

But the sound-

It was coming from the hallway.
Right outside my door.

I pressed my ear against the wooden surface.

Nothing.I waited.

Five seconds.
Ten.
Fifteen.

Still nothing.

The fear slowly twisted into something else - irritation? Curiosity? Loneliness pretending to be bravery?

I unlocked the door and pulled it open.

The hallway stretched out, empty.

No shadows out of place.
No footsteps fading.
No tools.
No marks on the floor.

And then my phone buzzed.

A message from... myself.

"You know what's under there."

I couldn't move.
I couldn't breathe.
I could only stare at the words and the shadows crawling along the walls.

Because deep down, I did know.

And I didn't want to remember.