The night had felt perfect just minutes ago. We were walking along the narrow footpath that ran beside the main road, our fingers locked together, palms a little sweaty but neither of us caring. Aeri kept swinging our joined hands like we were kids again, humming a random tune under her breath. Every few steps her heel would click happily against the pavement, and the sound made me smile even though that strange, heavy feeling still sat in my chest. The streetlamps glowed soft orange, spacing out pools of light and shadow, and the air smelled like wet leaves and distant rain. I remember thinking how quiet everything was, how safe, how easy it would be to believe nothing could ever touch us.
I was wrong.
A sudden, cheerful *beep-beep* cut through the silence. In the middle of the empty road, a phone lay face-up, its screen flashing with a cartoon cat dancing to some notification. The light from the screen looked almost playful against the dark asphalt.
