The knock came only once.

Not loud.

Not urgent.

Just a dull, hollow tap from somewhere beyond the bedroom wall.

Kai didn’t look toward it.

He couldn’t.

His eyes stayed fixed on the black phone screen long after the stream vanished, like staring away would make it real again. The reflection staring back at him looked wrong under the monitor glow—pale skin, exhausted eyes, the kind of expression that didn’t belong to a person who had slept in the last twenty-four hours.

The apartment felt different.

Not because something had changed.

Because something had stopped pretending it wasn’t there.

Something had stopped pretending it wasn’t real.

"Kai."

Luna’s voice came through the call, barely audible.

"Can you hear me?"

He nodded before remembering she couldn’t see it.

"...Yeah."

"Talk to me."

A quiet breath left him, almost a laugh but not quite.

"I think my brain officially quit."

"I’m serious."

"I know."

He sank onto the couch, slowly, like his body was negotiating the movement instead of obeying it. His elbows rested on his knees. His hands hung loosely for a second before he buried his face into them.

Every muscle in his body felt overused, like it had been pushed past its limit and simply hadn’t stopped yet.

"I don’t understand anything anymore."

A pause.

"You don’t have to."

Her voice softened in a way that didn’t match the situation.

"You just have to make it until morning."

Kai looked up slightly.

The window was brighter now.

Not sunlight yet.

Just the weak gray glow of early dawn creeping through the sky like it wasn’t sure it was allowed to be there.

Morning was close.

Too close for how wrong everything still felt.

His phone vibrated.

Not a text.

Not a call.

A Discord file.

building_floorplans.zip

Kai frowned immediately.

"When did you get this?"

"I didn’t," Luna said instantly.

That was all it took for his stomach to tighten.

"What do you mean you didn’t?"

"I mean it appeared in the chat. I didn’t receive a notification. It just... exists."

Kai stared at the file.

It sat there like it had always been part of the conversation.

No sender.

No upload history.

No timestamp.

Just something dropped into reality and left there.

Derek’s voice came through the call, lower than usual.

"Don’t open random files."

Kai blinked.

"You’ve been quiet."

"I’ve been talking to the officers downstairs."

"And?"

"They’re still outside your apartment."

Kai slowly turned his head toward the front door.

"...The real ones?"

"As far as I can tell."

That phrase again.

"As far as you can tell is starting to sound like a problem."

Derek didn’t argue.

"I know."

Kai looked back at the file.

It could be malware.

It could be bait.

It could be nothing.

Or it could be the first thing all night that wasn’t actively trying to confuse him.

"What do you think?" he asked Luna.

A pause.

Then—

"If someone wanted to harm your computer, they’ve already had better opportunities than this."

He exhaled slowly through his nose.

He hated that she was right.

He clicked it.

The file opened instantly.

No lag.

No warning.

No hesitation.

Blueprints filled the screen.

Old architectural scans of the building.

Every floor mapped in cold, precise lines.

Kai zoomed in immediately, skipping everything else.

Seventh floor.

7A.

7B.

Storage room.

Maintenance shaft.

Then he stopped.

His breath caught slightly.

There it was.

7C.

Kai leaned closer to the screen.

"...That’s not possible."

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"The entrance."

He zoomed out, comparing it with the apartment layout in his mind, then turned his head slowly toward the physical space around him.

"The front door isn’t where it should be."

He stood.

Slowly.

Not because he was thinking.

Because something inside him had already decided to move before he could stop it.

According to the blueprint, the front door should open near the kitchen.

But in reality, it opened into the living room.

That alone shouldn’t have meant anything.

Except now everything meant something.

He walked toward the kitchen wall.

Each step felt slightly delayed, like his body and thoughts were no longer aligned.

His flashlight beam swept over the surface.

Peeling wallpaper.

An old calendar pinned crookedly to the wall.

A vertical crack running down the plaster like something had once struck it hard enough to leave a memory behind.

Kai stopped.

He raised his hand.

Knocked.

Solid.

He knocked again.

Still solid.

Normal.

Just a wall.

Then the third knock came back.

Not louder.

Not stronger.

Different.

Thinner.

Like something on the other side had answered by pressing closer instead of hitting back.

Kai froze.

"...Luna."

"I know."

No hesitation.

No curiosity.

Just recognition.

That was worse than fear.

He rested his forehead lightly against the wall.

It was warm.

That wasn’t right.

Walls weren’t warm.

Not in an apartment this old.

"I don’t know what I’d do without you tonight," he said quietly.

The words slipped out before he could stop them.

Silence followed.

Not awkward.

Just full.

Luna’s voice changed slightly when she finally spoke.

"You won’t have to find out."

Kai didn’t answer.

Because he believed her.

And that belief felt like stepping off something without knowing how far down it went.

His phone buzzed again.

Milo.

Kai... are you awake?

Kai gave a tired laugh and replied.

Unfortunately.

Three dots appeared.

Then stopped.

The message changed.

I didn’t send that.

Kai frowned.

"...What?"

Before he could react, the entire chat began to shift.

Messages disappearing one by one.

Scrolling upward without movement.

Like time was being rewound manually.

Until only one line remained.

Don’t open the wall.

Kai slowly lifted his head.

He hadn’t told Milo anything.

Not the blueprint.

Not the hollow section.

Not even what he was thinking right now.

His throat tightened.

Something behind him shifted slightly.

Not the wall this time.

The air.

Then—

the wall knocked back.

Three slow, deliberate taps.

From the other side.

Not random.

Not searching.

Answering.

As if whatever was inside had heard the warning...

and decided it already knew exactly where he was standing.

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