*Gabriel*
The hour is still dark, in that silence just before the first gull cries. I lie awake, one arm draped around Sabrina’s waist, her bare back warm against my chest. She shifts just slightly, a soft sound escaping her lips. It’s not quite a word but more like a whisper from a dream.
Then, she says, “No… don’t go down there. There’s no signal….”
I don’t move. Signal?
Her voice changes in her sleep. Her tone is still soft but strange, and she’s speaking in a dialect I’ve never heard. The vowels stretch oddly, the Rs too hard, and the words are foreign. Yet, she says them again. It’s clearer this time, something about charging cables and low battery. I don’t know what those things are, but the tone is urgent, like a warning.
Another word follows, unfamiliar and sharp—elevator. S
