ECLIPSE

Episode 8—The Things I Notice.

I started noticing things.

Not important things.

Not the kind of things that changed your life.

Small things.

The sort of things you normally forget five minutes later.

Except I wasn't forgetting them anymore.

It started with Maya.

We were walking through the courtyard before class when I suddenly stopped.

She took another step.

"What?"

I looked toward the administration building.

"The window."

"What about it?"

"It's open."

She glanced at it.

"Okay?"

"It was closed yesterday."

She stared at me.

"You remember that?"

"I think so."

"Luna, you remember everything."

"Not everything."

"Apparently windows."

I laughed.

"Forget it."

We kept walking.

A few minutes later, the principal walked out of the building.

He looked up at the window.

Then stopped.

He frowned.

"Who opened that?"

A teacher beside him shrugged.

"I thought it was you."

"No."

I looked at Maya.

She looked at me.

Neither of us said anything.

---

The second thing happened during lunch.

I was sitting with Maya and Ethan when I suddenly reached across the table and caught Ethan's wrist.

He looked at me.

"What?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

I pointed toward his glass.

He frowned.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

He looked at it.

Then he laughed.

"You're being weird."

"Probably."

He reached for it anyway.

The glass slipped from his fingers.

It hit the table.

The bottom cracked.

Ethan stared at it.

Maya stared at me.

I stared at the glass.

Nobody spoke.

Finally, Ethan looked at me.

"How did you know?"

"I didn't."

"You literally stopped me."

"I guessed."

Maya leaned forward.

"That's twice."

"Twice what?"

"You've known something before it happened."

I shook my head.

"Coincidence."

Ethan looked unconvinced.

"Maybe."

I didn't like the way he said it.

---

By Friday, I had started testing myself.

Not deliberately.

At least, that's what I told myself.

I'd walk into a room and try to guess who was inside before looking.

Sometimes I was right.

Sometimes I wasn't.

I'd close my eyes and listen.

Sometimes I could hear things from farther away than I should have been able to.

Sometimes everything sounded completely normal.

There was no pattern.

That was what made it easy to dismiss.

If I had suddenly developed some extraordinary ability, surely I'd know.

Instead, it was just...

odd.

One afternoon, Maya and I were studying in the library when she dropped her pencil.

Before it hit the floor, I caught it.

She stared at me.

I stared at the pencil in my hand.

"Okay."

"What?"

She pointed at it.

"That."

I looked at the pencil.

"I caught it."

"Before it hit the ground."

"I have hands."

"Luna."

I laughed.

"What?"

She leaned closer.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

The question was gentle this time.

I looked away.

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Really."

She studied me.

Then nodded.

"Okay."

I smiled.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not making it a thing."

She shrugged.

"You're my best friend."

Then she went back to her book.

I looked at the pencil.

For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about how easily I'd caught it.

Like my hand had moved before I'd decided to move it.

I put the pencil down.

I didn't tell Maya that.

---

That evening, I walked home alone.

The sun was setting behind the trees.

The road was quiet.

I could hear the usual sounds of the village.

People talking.

Cars passing.

Children laughing.

Dogs barking.

Then—

Silence.

I stopped.

The entire street had gone quiet.

No voices.

No cars.

No birds.

Nothing.

I looked around.

A second later, the sounds returned.

Just like that.

I frowned.

Maybe everyone had simply stopped at the same time.

It was possible.

Strange.

But possible.

I continued walking.

Halfway home, I felt someone watching me.

I turned.

Nobody.

I looked behind me.

Empty road.

I turned back.

There was a black wolf standing at the end of the street.

I froze.

It wasn't the Alpha.

I knew that immediately.

This wolf was smaller.

Younger.

It stood completely still.

Watching me.

I blinked.

It was gone.

I stared at the empty road.

My heart beat faster.

Maybe it had run away.

Maybe I'd imagined it.

I walked home faster.

---

That night, I opened my bedroom drawer.

The silver crescent pendant was still there.

I picked it up.

I don't know why.

Maybe I wanted reassurance that at least one strange thing had a logical explanation.

It was just a pendant.

Old jewelry.

Nothing more.

I turned it over.

For the first time, I noticed something engraved on the back.

A single tiny symbol.

A circle.

Half covered in darkness.

I stared at it.

Then I whispered:

"What are you?"

The room remained silent.

I put the pendant back.

Closed the drawer.

And went to sleep.

I didn't know it yet, but the strange things happening around me weren't becoming more frequent.

I was simply becoming better at noticing them.