Jack woke up to silence so clean it felt suspicious.
No bass thudding through walls. No hosts screaming a name that wasn’t his. No muffled arguments in a hallway, no heels clacking past his door, no man barking “Nightlight” like it was a leash word.
Just quiet.
The first thing his body did was panic anyway.
He sat upright so fast the sheets slid off his chest, breath catching, eyes scanning the room for the usual threats: a camera in the corner, a shadow by the door, a clock he didn’t recognize that meant he’d missed a slot and Manny would be waiting with consequences.
There was none of that. Only pale morning light slicing through the window and falling across a dresser so polished it looked unreal. Only a simple chair. A desk. A closet door that stayed closed because no one had kic
