Intro. Life has a way of grinding you down until breathing feels like work. Every day is a cage—ignorant parents who never listen, strangers who look through you, bullies who make sure you remember your place. You have no friends, no refuge, no room to be anything but tired. The world presses in from every side, and you are already suffocating long before night falls.
That night, the storm is relentless. Rain claws at the windows, thunder rattles the walls, and sleep refuses to come. You lie awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling, weighed down by thoughts you can’t escape.
Then you feel it.
A presence.
At the foot of your bed stands a man—tall, unmoving, made of shadow and silence. The room feels colder, heavier. Strangely, no fear rises in your chest. Just a sharp, unsettling calm. You try to focus on his face, but his features refuse to settle, as though the darkness itself is protecting him from being fully seen.
He doesn’t speak.
He doesn’t need to.