(ARC:1 PH:1 :INVISIBLE ONE)
:WELCOME TO THE NOTICED
Anie opened her eyes.
The ceiling fan was still spinning,Morning light crept into the room through the window.
"Beep... Beep..." [phone alarm hit 6:00am]
Everything was normal, And that was the mistake.
Sitting up on the bed, she let out a long sigh,Her body itself was telling her that
everything that happened last night couldn't possibly have been a dream.
She placed her foot on the floor In the next instant,shiver raced through her frame.
It wasn't pain,It wasn't fear.
It was… resistance.
The floor… it paused for a microsecond before her foot could touch it.
"Ugh."
She pulled her foot back quickly,The floor returned to normal,
she could hear her own heartbeat racing.
"No," Anie whispered to herself
"This is still just in my head."
She got up and walked to the bathroom,standing before the mirror.
It was her
The same eyes
The same face ,.....
But.
Deep within her eyes, there was a new alertness.As if the world itself was standing still, watching her.
!! SPLASH !!
She threw cold water on her face; the chill snapped her back to her senses.
In the kitchen, her mother's voice drifted in.
The clinking of vessels, the sound of tea boiling.
"Anie… you'll be late!" mother called out
Hearing that voice felt like something breaking inside Anie's mind. That sound belonged to the laws of the world. It was normal. Safe.
"Coming!"
She got ready and sat in her chair. The tea was on the table. She picked up the cup.
The heat was real. She believed in it.
But… there was a crack on the rim of the cup. She hadn't done anything. She hadn't even gripped it tightly.
As she looked closer, the crack began to lengthen.
Her mother didn't see it. Her father was busy with something else.
She placed the cup back on the table.
!! CRACK !! The cup split in two.
The tea spilled across the table, but then—
It hesitated.
Before hitting the surface, the droplets hung suspended in the air for a fraction of a second.
"This…"
Anie stared, her expression a mix of shock and trembling realization.
In the next moment, everything snapped back to normal.
"Can't you hold it carefully?" her mother scolded.
"It's just… sorry," Anie muttered, bowing her head.
What was there to say? How could she even explain this?
Later, while riding the bus, she leaned her head out the window.
The crowded city, the people, the traffic, the noise.But Anie alone could see something else.
The Intervals.
A fold in space before a car moved forward. A silence before a person spoke.
The world was inspecting her.
"Why is it like this only for me?"
she asked herself.
There was no answer.
However, a woman sitting in the back seat of that very same bus had been watching her.
For a long time. Very intently.
In her eyes, there was no surprise. No fear.
Only recognition.
She turned around abruptly but no one was there.Anie got off the bus and stood there for a moment, paralyzed.
It was only after the vehicle pulled away that she saw it.
Across the road stood the same building she had seen last night. She froze,
"This isn't real," Anie whispered in shock
!!!! SUDDENLY !!!!
Her phone went dead again.
!! NO SIGNAL !!
Yet, a single line flickered into existence on the screen:
[The call doesn't end. It deepens.]
Anie ran.
There was no light inside, but it didn't matter she knew the way. That was the most terrifying part. She didn't need to think; her body remembered the path.
3rd Floor.
The same floor.
The same markings.
But today… the markings were moving.
"Do not touch!!" a voice commanded.
She turned around to look.
It wasn't the voice from yesterday; this one was human.
A woman stood there, dressed in dark clothes, with eyes that looked as though they hadn't known sleep in years.
"You have begun to see," the woman said in a peculiar tone.
"Who are you?" Anie asked.
The woman smiled.
"Once, I was exactly like you."
Anie felt a tremor go through her
"What is all this? What is happening to me?" she demanded.
The woman leaned against the wall.
"We believe the world is stable," she said. "But it isn't. It is something that is constantly struggling to maintain itself."
"But why me?" Anie asked.
"Because you ask," the woman said softly.
"Others merely experience; you notice."
She took a step forward.
"Is this a gift?" Anie watched her closely.
The woman paused. "No."
She continued, "It is a burden."
She reached out her hand, and the markings on the wall began to fade one by one. "You can still turn back from this." She stopped and looked directly at Anie. "But… the world will never let you be the same again."
Anie closed her eyes.
Inside, she felt the echo of her old pain, the desperation, the loneliness.
She opened her eyes.
"I am not going back," Anie stated firmly.
"Because I never fit in back there anyway."
The woman smiled a real smile this time.
"Welcome!"
She looked at Anie with a sense of kinship.
"Welcome to the ranks of the Called!"
Inside, Anie felt a sudden awakening.
It wasn't power. It wasn't control.
It was… a sense of permission that the world had never granted her before.
Outside, the city moved on. No one knew a thing.
Anie was no longer just a witness.
She was now "The Noticed."