The air was still, almost suffocating, as I stood there, frozen in the middle of the street, trying to make sense of what had just happened. The man, his presence still lingering like a shadow, had vanished. I couldn’t understand it. One moment, he was there, towering over me, and the next, he was gone. It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense anymore.
I stood, my heart still racing, my breath shallow. My hands trembled as I looked around, searching for any sign of him. The street remained silent, empty. There was no trace of the man who had haunted my thoughts—no footsteps, no lingering shadow, nothing.
But then—
A sharp sound echoed from behind me. A crack, like a twig snapping under pressure, so faint that I almost convinced myself I hadn’t heard it. But it wasn’t in my mind. It was
