The City Between Shadows

The air smelled of dust and forgotten memories. Ezra blinked twice, trying to make sense of the landscape before him. One moment, he had been walking through the bustling streets of his city, the next, he stood in a place eerily similar yet unmistakably different.

The skyline stretched far and wide, mirroring the familiar contours of his home. But something was wrong—there was no sound. No distant chatter, no cars, no birds. The city stood frozen in time, bathed in the dim glow of an ever-setting sun.

Ezra hesitated before taking his first step forward. His breath clouded the air despite the warmth on his skin. He checked his phone—no signal, no time, no messages. The silence was unbearable, pressing against his eardrums like a deafening scream.

“Hello?” he called, his voice swallowed instantly.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw movement. A figure in the distance, cloaked in the same twilight that drenched the city. They moved with unnatural fluidity, flickering in and out of focus. Ezra’s stomach twisted. He took a cautious step forward, the sound of his own footstep louder than it should have been.

The figure turned. No face, just a swirling void where features should be. Ezra’s breath hitched.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the voice was a whisper, yet it echoed in his bones.

“I—” Ezra started, but the figure shook its head.

“Turn back before the city remembers you.”

Ezra didn’t understand, but something deep inside told him he didn’t want to. He turned and ran, his footsteps the only sound in the silent city. Buildings blurred past, shifting as he moved, the skyline twisting into something new.

Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped. He stood once more in his familiar city. The noise of life returned in a crashing wave. Cars honked, people chattered, the world spun as if nothing had changed.

But Ezra knew better.

Something had seen him.

And it would not forget.