UNKNOWN

INTERFERENCE

The morning felt wrong.

Jake knew it before he even opened his eyes.

It wasn’t fear.

It wasn’t pain.

It was… misalignment.

Like the world had shifted half an inch to the left while he was asleep.

He stared at the ceiling.

For a moment, it looked like it was breathing.

Not physically—no movement, no cracks—but something underneath it pulsed faintly, like a rhythm his mind wasn’t supposed to catch.

Jake blinked.

It stopped.

“…Yeah,” he muttered, dragging a hand over his face. “This is getting worse.”

SCENE 1 — THE ILLUSION OF NORMAL

School was loud.

Too loud.

Every sound came layered—voices overlapping, footsteps dragging behind themselves, laughter echoing twice before it ended.

Jake walked through the hallway, trying to keep his head down.

But it didn’t help.

A boy bumped into him.

“Watch where you’re—”

Jake moved before the shove landed.

Not a reaction.

Not reflex.

He had already stepped aside.

The boy stumbled past him, confused, nearly falling.

Jake froze.

I knew.

Not guessed.

Not anticipated.

He knew.

His chest tightened.

From across the hall, a girl dropped her books.

The moment stretched.

Pages hung in the air just a fraction too long.

Jake’s eyes locked onto them.

And for a split second,

He saw where each page would land.

Not imagined.

Seen.

Then,

Everything snapped back.

Books hit the floor.

Sound rushed in.

Time resumed.

Jake staggered slightly.

“Yo, you good?” someone asked.

He didn’t answer.

Because he wasn’t.

SCENE 2 — THE FIRST GLITCH

It happened during class.

The teacher was talking—something about history, something about the Incursion—but Jake wasn’t listening.

Not really.

Because the air… started to bend.

Subtly.

Like heat rising off asphalt.

His pencil rolled off his desk.

Jake watched it fall—

—and suddenly,

It didn’t.

It hovered.

Not high. Not dramatic.

Just… paused.

Mid-drop.

His breath caught.

No one else reacted.

No one else saw it.

The pencil rotated slowly in the air, like something was deciding whether gravity still applied.

Jake’s fingers twitched.

The pencil dropped.

Clattered against the floor.

A girl glanced down, annoyed. “Can you not?”

Jake didn’t respond.

His heart was pounding too fast.

I didn’t touch it.

SCENE 3- UNKNOWN FACILITY — SURVEILLANCE WING

“Confirm visual.”

A screen flickered.

Grainy footage. Classroom angle.

Zoomed in on Jake.

“He’s the one?”

A pause.

Then,

“Yeah.”

Multiple monitors lit up, each showing different moments:

• Jake in the hallway

• Jake in the alley days ago

• Jake standing still… while the world around him lagged

“Energy spike recorded at 09:42,” a technician said. “Brief, but consistent with Incursion signatures.”

“Consistent?” another voice asked.

“…No,” the technician corrected. “Not exactly.”

Silence.

“Explain.”

He hesitated.

“Others spike outward. Destructive. Observable.”

A zoomed clip played again.

The pencil.

The pause.

“…This one bends inward.”

The room stilled.

“Meaning?”

“…Reality adjusts around him.”

A figure stepped forward, face still hidden in shadow.

“Tag him.”

“Already done.”

“Deploy field agents. Low pressure.”

A beat.

“We don’t want to scare him.”

The figure’s voice lowered.

“…Not yet.”

Jake left school early.

He couldn’t stay.

Not with the way everything felt like it was watching him back.

But he didn’t know he was being tailed by a black van.

The streets were quieter than usual.

Or maybe it just felt that way.

He cut through a narrow path behind a row of buildings—a shortcut.

That’s when he saw him.

A man.

Standing in the middle of the alley.

Still.

Too still.

Jake slowed.

“…You’re blocking the way.”

The man tilted his head.

His eyes were wrong.

Not glowing. Not unnatural.

Just… empty.

“You feel it too,” the man said.

Jake frowned. “What?”

“The noise.”

Jake’s chest tightened.

The man stepped forward.

“I tried to make it stop.”

Something flickered around his hands.

Distortion.

Like glass bending.

“But it doesn’t stop,” he continued, voice cracking. “It just gets louder.”

Jake took a step back.

“Stay back.”

The man smiled.

It wasn’t stable.

“It’s inside us.”

Then,

The air snapped.

The man lunged.

Fast.

Too fast.

Jake barely reacted—

—or maybe he reacted before the movement.

The world slowed.

Not completely.

Just enough.

He saw the angle of the attack. The shift in weight. The exact path of the man’s arm.

Jake moved.

The strike missed him by inches.

Time snapped back.

Jake stumbled, breathing hard.

The man turned again—faster now, more erratic.

“You can hear it!” he shouted. “I know you can!”

He slammed his hand forward—

—and the air warped.

A shockwave burst out.

Jake raised his arm instinctively—

—and something answered.

The space in front of him bent.

Not outward.

Inward.

Like reality folded slightly,

The shockwave split around him.

Two streams of force, diverted.

Jake stared.

“…What?”

The man froze.

For the first time,

He looked afraid.

“You’re not like me.”

The man attacked again.

Wilder this time.

Desperate.

Jake didn’t think.

He reacted—

—or something in him did.

Everything slowed again.

But deeper this time.

He could see more.

Too much more.

Paths.

Possibilities.

Outcomes branching like cracks in glass.

His head throbbed.

“Stop…” he whispered.

The world didn’t listen.

The man’s next strike,

Jake reached.

Not physically.

Something else.

And then,

Reality… slipped.

The alley distorted.

Sound collapsed inward.

And suddenly,

Jake wasn’t there anymore.

He feels like he’s having a vision.

There’s darkness.

Endless.

Silent.

Then,

A figure.

Standing far away.

Watching.

Jake couldn’t see his face.

But he felt him.

Familiar.

Heavy.

Like gravity had a presence.

“You’ve grown.”

The voice wasn’t loud.

But it filled everything.

Jake tried to move.

He couldn’t.

“Not enough,” the figure continued.

A pause.

Then,

“Yet.”

Jake’s chest tightened.

“Who are you?!”

The figure stepped forward,

Just slightly.

Enough for Jake to feel it.

Not see it.

Feel it.

Power.

Vast. Controlled. Ancient.

“…You’ll understand soon.”

The darkness cracked.

Light tore through.

Jake slammed back into reality.

The alley.

The fight.

The man,

Was on the ground.

Unconscious.

Or worse.

Jake stumbled back, breathing hard.

“I didn’t…”

His hands trembled.

“I didn’t do anything…”

But he had.

He just didn’t understand how.

At the end of the alley—

Two figures came out of the same black van that was following him.

Still.

Watching.

Clean uniforms.

Calm posture.

Too calm.

One of them stepped forward.

“Jake.”

His blood ran cold.

“We just want to talk.”

Jake didn’t respond.

Couldn’t.

The second agent glanced at the unconscious man, then back at Jake.

“You’re not in trouble.”

A beat.

“…But you are involved in something bigger than you realize.”

Jake’s jaw tightened.

Everything in him screamed not to trust them.

The first agent raised his hands slightly.

Non-threatening.

Measured.

“Come with us.”

Silence stretched.

Jake looked at them.

Then at the alley.

Then at his hands.

The world felt unstable again.

Like it was waiting.

Watching.

Jake made a decision.