They got home without saying much.
The usual noise — group chats, laughter, useless debates over where to eat — was gone.
Now, it was just silence. The kind that hangs in the air like a warning.
Ayaan stared out the window the entire way back.
He wasn't just thinking — he was listening.
To something.
Something none of them could hear.
They dropped each other off one by one, but no one said goodbye.
Even they knew something was different.
But no one wanted to name it.
When Ayaan reached home, the house felt wrong.
Familiar, yes. But wrong — like someone had moved everything half an inch off.
His mother greeted him with a soft smile.
"You're back early."
He nodded. "Yeah, the plan changed."
No details. He didn't know how to explain them anyway.
She looked at him for a second longer than usual. As if she sensed something…
But didn't ask.
That night, Ayaan couldn't bring himself to go upstairs.
He threw a pillow and blanket onto the living room floor and stayed there.
Lights on. Curtain closed.
His phone played soft background static — not music, not a podcast. Just… something.
Something to make the silence feel less alive.
He laid down, arms behind his head. Eyes wide open.
And in the stillness — it returned.
That feeling.
The one he had when he crossed the line.
Like something watching.
But not from outside.
From inside.
He sat up.
The room was still. No shadows moving. No noise except the soft hum of the static.
But it was too still.
His skin prickled.
Not from fear.
From recognition.
Like whatever had been on the other side… now knew him.
And now that he had crossed, it had the right to be here, too.
He stood up. Walked to the curtain.
Paused.
His hand hovered an inch away from pulling it back.
No movement outside.
But his chest tightened.
Like something dared him to look. Like it was waiting.
He didn't.
Instead, he backed away. Sat down again. Kept the lights on.
All night, he listened to the static.
Not because it helped him sleep.
But because it helped him stay awake.
And just before dawn, he whispered to himself:
"Something followed me."