The morning was quiet.
Too quiet, Hale thought, as he stirred a spoon through his cereal for longer than necessary. The flakes had already turned to mush. He wasn't hungry anyway.
The house was calm. No flickering lights. No whispers. No spirals scratched into walls or drawn on glass. The cat — gone days ago — hadn't returned. It almost felt like the world had decided to give him a break.
And that was what scared him the most.
He checked his phone. A text from Ivy.
"Still on for today?"
He stared at it longer than needed. The words didn't feel right. Not that they were suspicious — they were normal. Too normal.
He typed back: "Yeah. 2 PM?"
She replied instantly. "Perfect 😊"
Something about the emoji made his skin crawl. She never used emojis.
He pushed the thought aside.
Later, on the way to the café, he walked slower than usual. His legs felt heavy, like each step was dragging behind a question mark. The sky was gray, not raining but not clear either — the kind of sky that didn't commit to anything.
He stopped outside a bookstore across from the café.
Inside, a new display was being arranged — something about forgotten timelines and parallel lives. It was probably just another dystopian teen novel series.
Still, he couldn't help but feel like the universe was mocking him.
When he finally reached the café, he saw Ivy through the window. Sitting with a tea already in hand, flipping through a tiny book. Her face lit up when she saw him.
He smiled back and stepped inside.
But the moment before he opened the café door, a thought passed through his mind.
What if this isn't the same Ivy?
He paused.
Then forced the thought down like a bitter pill and pushed the door open.