chapter five
1017 Words
The Wedding Invitation That Should Never Have Arrived
Zara was beginning to suspect Skyline Heights had a personal vendetta against her.
First the noise.
Then the bucket incident.
Then the wall tapping war.
Then Noah.
And now—
A wedding invitation.
She stared at the envelope on her kitchen counter like it might explode if she blinked too hard.
Cream-colored.
Thick paper.
Gold lettering.
Too expensive-looking for anything that should ever concern her.
Her name was written on it.
Perfectly.
Neatly.
Like whoever wrote it had far too much confidence in the universe.
Zara picked it up with two fingers.
“No,” she said immediately.
She had not even opened it yet.
And already she did not like it.
Inside Room 9B
Noah was also staring at something similar.
Except his expression was worse.
“…This is not mine,” he said.
Mason, sitting on his couch eating something questionable, didn’t look up.
“It has your name on it,” Mason said.
“It also has a date that doesn’t exist,” Noah replied.
Mason finally looked up.
“Time is flexible,” he said casually.
Noah slowly turned to him.
“That is not how time works.”
Mason shrugged. “Says who?”
Noah held up the invitation.
“This says I’m attending a wedding at Skyline Grand Hall tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“No weddings are scheduled there.”
“Yes.”
“No one I know is getting married.”
“Yes.”
Noah stared.
Mason smiled.
Noah narrowed his eyes.
“…Why are you smiling like that?”
Mason leaned back. “Because this is going to be fun.”
“No,” Noah said slowly. “This is going to be illegal.”
Zara’s Apartment
Zara finally opened the envelope.
Against her better judgment.
Inside was an invitation card.
She read it once.
Then again.
Then a third time.
Her brain refused to accept it.
“You are cordially invited to the wedding ceremony of Zara Bennett & Noah (Room 9B)”
Silence.
Deep silence.
The kind of silence that feels like reality just slipped on a banana peel.
Zara blinked.
“…Excuse me?”
She flipped the card over.
Nothing.
Flipped it again.
Still nothing.
She checked the envelope.
Checked the counter.
Checked the ceiling like it might explain itself.
Then she said very calmly:
“This is harassment.”
The Knock
Knock knock.
Zara froze.
“No,” she whispered.
Knock knock.
She marched to the door.
Opened it.
Noah stood there holding the exact same invitation.
They stared at each other.
Long silence.
Then, at the same time:
“I didn’t send that.”
Zara pointed at him immediately. “This is your fault.”
“My fault?” Noah repeated.
“You live in Room 9B. Everything starts there.”
“That is not how causation works.”
“It is in this building.”
Noah lifted the invitation slightly. “Do you see this?”
“Yes.”
“This says we are getting married tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“We are not.”
“Obviously.”
Noah exhaled. “Good. We agree on something.”
Zara nodded. “Finally.”
Another pause.
Then both looked at the card again.
Zara frowned. “Why is my name spelled correctly?”
Noah looked at his. “Mine too.”
“That’s suspicious.”
“That’s terrifying.”
The First Glitch
A faint flicker happened in the hallway lights.
Just for a second.
Then normal again.
Zara paused.
“…Did you see that?”
“No,” Noah said.
Zara narrowed her eyes. “You hesitated.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Another flicker.
Longer this time.
The air felt slightly wrong.
Like reality forgot what it was doing for a moment.
Noah straightened.
“…Okay,” he said quietly. “That was new.”
Zara stepped slightly out of her doorway.
“Tell me I’m not imagining this.”
“You’re not imagining it.”
“That is not comforting.”
“I know.”
The lights flickered again.
Then stopped.
Silence returned instantly.
Too clean.
Too perfect.
Zara slowly looked at Noah.
“…Did you order this?”
“No.”
“Because if this is one of your pranks—”
“This is not my level of mental illness,” he interrupted.
Zara nodded once. “Fair.”
Then looked at the invitation again.
“And yet,” she said slowly, “we are apparently getting married tomorrow.”
Noah sighed. “We are not attending anything.”
Zara crossed her arms. “Good.”
A beat.
Then Noah added:
“…Right?”
Zara looked at him.
He looked back.
Neither of them answered that question properly.
That Night
Zara tried to sleep.
She really did.
But every time she closed her eyes, she saw the invitation again.
Zara & Noah.
Wedding.
Tomorrow.
She sat up.
“This is insane,” she said aloud.
From the other side of the wall—
Tap.
Zara froze.
“…Noah?”
Tap tap.
She exhaled sharply.
“Not now.”
Tap.
She stood up and walked to the wall.
“You are not tapping through a wedding crisis,” she said firmly.
Tap tap tap.
Zara frowned.
“…You think it’s fake too?”
Tap.
Silence.
Then:
Tap tap.
She leaned her forehead against the wall.
“This is going to ruin my life,” she whispered.
Tap.
A pause.
Then—
Tap tap tap.
Something softer followed.
Tap.
Zara hesitated.
“…Don’t agree with me like that,” she muttered.
But she didn’t move away.
And for the first time—
The joke didn’t feel like a joke anymore.
Inside Room 9B
Noah stared at the wall.
The invitation lay on his table.
Unmoving.
Unchanging.
Wrong.
He tapped once.
Then again.
Then stopped.
“Zara,” he said quietly, even though she couldn’t hear him.
“…This is not normal.”
No response.
Just silence.
But for some reason—
He felt like the silence was already answering him.
- Writer
