What do you see in your daily life ? Are you happy about it ?....the loneliness that sinks into your soul desperately craving to be alive in this world were you are only a fungus under a bush. The chase of others to connect and be with someone who sees you ,it all sounds meaningless - but yet I long for it ,to be seen ,to be loved and needed by someone. To be begged to stay forever. For that one person who will truly know me from head to toe ,from skin to my bones,flesh to soul.

The sky held many stars watching over the night, scattered like distant eyes above the city of Havenfall. Beneath them, the darkness swallowed the spaces between buildings.

In the narrow gap between two structures, a man stood with a baseball bat.

Another figure lay on the ground.

He didn’t think much at first—only a quiet ease settling in his chest. Then something in him clicked, and a smile formed without permission. A need to laugh rose up as he brought the bat down again and again.

Each impact made the world feel heavier, more real, more present.

Eventually, the movement stopped.

The body no longer resembled anything human in his mind—just something still. Something finished.

He exhaled, as if satisfied.

His hands and the bat were stained. He looked at them for a moment, then simply dropped the bat into a nearby bin.

No hesitation. No rush.

He turned and walked away.

The streets were strange—too empty, too quiet. No streetlights, no movement. Just the faint echo of his footsteps against concrete. Everyone else was inside their homes, sealed away from the night.

Cyrus broke into a run anyway.

Not out of fear.

Not out of urgency.

Just a simple decision: home.

When he arrived, he stopped at the door.

He stared at his hands.

A small breath escaped him.

“It would have been better if it was real.”

Then he entered.

---

The house was dark, as if it had been left asleep. Quiet. Still. The kind of silence that feels heavier than noise.

Cyrus moved into the sitting room and sat on the couch.

For a moment, there was nothing.

No voices.

No presence.

Just the house and him.

Then—

“I saw you running, Cyrus. Where were you coming from?”

He looked up.

The lights were on now.

His aunt stood nearby, casual, as if nothing had ever been missing from the room. His cousins were there too, absorbed in a game on the TV, laughing and reacting to the screen.

“Oh, I just went out to buy some snacks,” Cyrus said with a small smile.

As she passed, she continued:

“Nathan, did you wash your school bag?”

“Uh, Mom, I will—don’t worry, tomorrow,” Nathan replied, still focused on the game.

“Ughh, I died—Mom, you got me killed!” Nathan complained.

“Ughhh,” Damien laughed, grabbing the controller from him. “You’re terrible.”

Nathan fell back on the couch dramatically as they kept arguing and laughing.

Cyrus watched them for a moment.

*I can never enjoy playing a story-based game with others. I’d enjoy it more on my own.*

He thought this without emotion.

He looked back down at his phone.

Cyrus was in a narrow space between buildings. The air felt heavy, like it didn’t belong to the day or night.

A group of boys surrounded him.

Voices overlapping—words he couldn’t fully focus on. Something about money. Something repeated.

He didn’t respond. He just stood there, still.

One of them shoved him.

Then again.

A sharp laugh.

The world felt distant, like it was happening slightly away from him instead of to him.

Then a voice cut through it.

“Hey!”

A girl stepped in.

She wasn’t hesitating.

She walked straight up to them like she already decided how this would end.

One of the boys tried to speak, but she slapped him mid-sentence.

The sound was quick. Final.

For a moment, everything froze.

Then the tension broke.

The boys backed off, laughing it off like it didn’t matter, like it had never mattered at all.

One of them muttered as they left:

“Can’t believe a girl is fighting for you.”

Footsteps faded.

Silence returned.

Cyrus didn’t know what to say.

He just stood there.

Then she turned toward him.

The anger was gone from her face now.

Only something softer remained.

She stepped closer and hugged him without asking.

Not tight. Not dramatic.

Just present.

For a moment, the world stopped feeling distant.

Then—