(Safe, non-graphic, atmospheric supernatural opening suitable for a teen reader.)
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The streetlights in Lumina District always flickered at night.
Most people blamed cheap wiring.
I knew better.
The lights flickered when Echo moved.
Tonight, the entire block seemed restless. The lamps buzzed, the air trembled, and a faint coldness brushed my shoulders as if something unseen had walked right through me.
I tightened my jacket and walked faster.
It had been happening for a week now — the whispers. Soft. Faint. Like someone talking behind a thin wall.
I tried ignoring them. Pretending I didn't hear anything. Pretending I was normal.
But tonight… the whisper wasn't faint.
It spoke my name.
"Aren…"
I froze. My breath hitched.
No one was behind me. The street was empty, except for the shadows stretching along the pavement.
I swallowed. "Who's there?"
For a moment, nothing answered.
Then the streetlight above me dimmed slowly, like someone was lowering a curtain. The shadow beneath it stretched unnaturally across the road… then lifted slightly, as if rising to look at me.
Not a person.
Not animal.
Not anything solid.
Just a shape. A presence.
"You can hear me."
My heart hammered, but strangely… I wasn't terrified.
More confused than scared.
"N-No," I whispered. "This is just—my imagination."
"If it were imagination," the voice sighed gently, "I wouldn't be able to answer you."
The shadow pulsed.
It wasn't threatening.
It felt… sad.
Like it wanted something but didn't know how to ask.
I stepped back slowly. "What do you want from me?"
Before it replied, a sudden gust of cold air swept across the street. The shadow recoiled, shrinking as a sharp buzzing sound filled the air — like static crackling through the sky.
A drone floated overhead, sleek and metallic, its blue scanner sweeping the street.
A City Guard drone.
The shadow hissed silently and melted into the wall behind me.
The drone's scanner paused on me.
"Citizen," it announced in a calm robotic voice, "unregistered Echo activity detected. Please state your identification."
My throat dried. Echo activity? On me?
I forced a smile. "Just heading home."
The scanner hummed, then blinked green.
"Proceed. And report any unusual visual or auditory phenomena."
"I will," I lied.
The drone flew off.
My hands shook slightly, but my mind raced faster.
A shadow just talked to me.
A drone detected Echo near me.
And Echo-Readers — people who could hear beings like this — were supposed to be extremely rare.
People like me weren't supposed to exist in public.
As I turned the corner toward my apartment, a soft whisper floated behind me, barely audible:
"Aren… they're coming."
I didn't look back.
But I knew one thing for sure—
my life in Lumina District was no longer normal.
It had just begun.
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