There were rules to this kind of quiet.
Not the peaceful kind. Not the kind you find beneath starlight or inside half-remembered dreams. No. This was the kind of silence that pressed its fingers against your throat and waited.
Thaniel stood by the door, barely breathing.
Three knocks.
Not urgent. Not angry. Just… precise.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
His mind leapt somewhere it shouldn't. Back to the first time he heard that rhythm. The night his dead girlfriend stood at his doorstep.
Now?
It was happening again.
He crept toward the door and peeked through the peephole.
And nearly collapsed.
It wasn't a monster. It was worse. It was Mara.
Her name echoed like a leftover prayer. Mara. A name that didn't hurt yet. Not the same way.
His sister.
He forgot she would visit this month too.
Bag in hand. Face drawn but kind. The past, wearing a worn-out hoodie and a concerned frown.
Thaniel swore. Spun on his heel, floorboards creaking.
"Closet. Now."
The mimic blinked from her perch on the couch, half-wrapped in a blanket and holding an empty cocoa mug like it might explain humanity to her.
"…What?"
He rushed forward. "Hide. Closet. Don't breathe. Don't move. Don't… be."
The monster stood, her smile dropping. Hands twitching. Confused. "Are we under attack?"
His eyes dimmed. "No. Worse. It's… A friend."
That, oddly, made her obey. She put down the cup of cocoa beside his, and stood up.
Thaniel grabbed her by the wrist—gently, but urgently.
He shoved open the hall closet. It was narrow, cluttered with dusty coats and a vacuum cleaner that had never known use. She folded herself inside like, skin rippling, joints creaking, eyes flickering between shades of confused amber and concern.
"Thaniel…" she said softly. "You're shaking."
"I said don't talk."
He closed the door on her face. Her fingers disappeared last.
Then he wiped his palms on his shirt, pasted on a smile made of duct tape and delusion.
After a deep breath, he closed his eyes halfway and slowly opened the door.
There she stood.
Mara stepped in with a blast of cold air and quiet judgment, the wooden floor creaking as she strolled in like she owned the place.
"Hey," she said, smiling. "Still not dead?"
"Give it a few more hours," Thaniel muttered blankly, trying to keep his voice grey, as she rolled her eyes.
She handed him a paper bag. Inside: food. Real food. Things that used to grow instead of groan. Not the mutated things found in grocery stores.
He blinked, taking in the bag that would've probably cost his entire apartment to buy, his voice softening. "What's the occasion?"
"You looked hungry last time I saw you." She scanned the recently cleaned room. "Also, it smelled like sadness and rot. You're… shockingly tidy now."
Thaniel tried not to twitch.
The projector was still warm. Two mugs sat beside it on the table. One was bone-dry.
She stared at the cocoa mug, stretching the second… before shaking her head.
She raised an eyebrow. "Expecting company?"
It slipped out of his mouth. "Nope. Just my… cocoa addiction. It's Kagami's favorite drink." His throat tightened. "...Was."
Her gaze drifted. A toothbrush in the kitchen sink. Kagami's toothbrush. A blanket folded with eerie precision. A necklace on the wall. And… The broken dishwasher..?
Something deep in her eyes flickered. But she didn't say anything. Not yet.
She sat down. It took a few seconds for him to join her.
"Thaniel," Mara said softly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, great," He mumbled. "Lots of things keep me from wanting to test gravity. The job's paying well, and…" He trailed off. Now that he thought about it, there wasn't much else to say.
Other than the thing in his closet. But he probably shouldn't mention that.
"No, you idiot." Mara sighed, rubbing her brow. "Eating? Sleeping? Talking to ghosts?"
His smile thinned. "Which ghosts are we referring to?"
"Kagami," she said, too gently. "You… Still said her name like she's in the room. Her stuff laying around like you expect her to use them."
He didn't answer. He could feel the thing in his closet move.
"Are you…" she hesitated, "...seeing her again?"
He flinched, as he forced himself to smile. His throat trembled, as he avoided her gaze. "...No… I don't."
Her voice stayed kind. "It's okay if you are. Grief doesn't end just because the body's gone."
He looked at her again. The same black eyes that he always saw in the mirror. The hair he remembered braiding every day, until the walls were built. The way she looked at him, full of worry and comfort… Just like that day. She was the only one who comforted her. The only one who didn't run.
His heart ached at the thought of losing her too.
He didn't lie. He couldn't. He let out a breath that had razors in it.
"I'm not… seeing her," he said.
The air grew thicker, as the apartment walls seemed to lean in once again, his heart beating faster.
Mara's eyebrows rose. She looked at her, flinching, as he immediately looked away.
"But… I am. But also I'm not. It's not her but it is. She came back. And I let her in, she's wrong, and I think she might not be human, but…"
His voice cracked.
Mara didn't scream. She moved closer.
And hugged him.
Tightly.
His eyes opened wide, the apartment walls fading, as he found himself in an abyss.
"I'm here," she whispered. "I know how much you loved her. It doesn't matter if it's all in your mind."
He widened his eyes… Before closing him.
Thaniel didn't correct her. Couldn't.
Because maybe this was insanity. And maybe that was better than being alone.
From inside the closet, the being listened.
That again. The sound of people embracing each other. The feeling of comfort in the air.
She wanted to feel it too.
And so… she tried to breathe in time with him. She closed her eyes, imagining the same arms wrapping around herself.
Just to feel what he felt. The feeling of warmth, even if she didn't know the name for it yet.
Mara reached out to him. "...If you want, I could stay, and-"
Thaniel's face darkened, as he spoke louder than he had wanted to, his mind going to the closet. "No, it's fine. Don't." His eyes softened a little when his eyes met hers. "...I just… Want a bit of time alone."
His sister's hand tightened. His eyes went to the floor.
But eventually, Mara sighed, and… She stood, and looked at the broken clock on the wall.
"...Alright. I should go," she said softly. "You need rest."
"Yeah," Thaniel whispered. "Thanks for… for the food."
She smiled. "And Thaniel?"
He looked up, unable to meet her eyes.
"You're not crazy. It's… Fine. You're just lonely."
Then she left. The door clicked.
And as he sank into the emptiness of the room, his mind drifted. Just for a second, he imagined the embrace of something real, something true.
But it was only the dark that held him now.
But then… It stepped out of the closet.
She was quiet. Thaniel didn't look at her as she slowly approached, the creaking of joints already tuned out of his mind. He just rubbed his eyes with both hands, like trying to scrub grief off his face.
Her voice was soft. "She was kind to you. I could feel it in her bones."
He nodded.
A long silence.
Then she asked: "Thaniel. What kind of person… was I?"
His breath hitched. Thaniel looked up.
And finally saw her.
…
…But it wasn't time yet. He wasn't ready. Not yet. The ticking of the clock continued on. The sound he hated the most.
So he closed his eyes, pushed down the abyss…
Before letting out a soft sigh. "...You were too good for a person like me."
He put a hand on his cute girlfriend's head, rubbing her hair as she reeled, her jaw unhinging. "What- I just fixed it today."
He sighed. "It was too adorable. I couldn't resist."
Slowly… They both smiled, as a missing poster rolled in the wind outside the apartment window.