Lucen didn't move for a while.
His shoulder leaned against the wall. One leg stretched out. The other bent just enough to balance a cheap remote on his knee.
He stared forward.
Then reached up. Clicked the power button.
The screen lit the room in soft gray.
[Metro Feed 7 – Evening Digest]
Same anchor from earlier. Still wearing the same too-bright tie. Still pretending the world wasn't on fire twenty-four hours a day.
Lucen turned the volume up halfway. Just enough to hear the edges of things.
"—citywide stabilizers are now re-engaging following the localized drift rupture in the 7th Transit District. Authorities confirm the anomaly has been contained. No confirmed fatalities. Eight injured. Two in serious condition."
Lucen blinked once.
Sat up straighter.
The footage cut to grainy aerial drone cam.
The street below. His street.
A crater still cooling in the center. Cleanup crews moving like ants across the debris.
A familiar shape stood near the edge.
