SOFIA
It didn’t start with noise. That would have been easier to place.
It started with movement. Not the usual kind I had learned to track without thinking. This was faster. Sharper. People crossing spaces without pausing, voices lowered but not controlled.
I noticed it before I understood it. The hallway outside my room had been too quiet all morning. Then, a door opened somewhere down the corridor, hard. It wasn't slammed, but it was close. Too close to force.
I stepped toward my door, paused, and listened. Footsteps, more than one, and they weren't aligned. That was enough. I opened the door.
No one stopped me. That was wrong. I stepped into the hallway and saw two men pass the far end. They were quick and didn't look at me. That never happened. There was always acknowledgment, po
