I thought he was having a breakdown. But when noon arrived, I realized his warning didn’t just save my life—it exposed a lie I was born into. The pounding on my door wasn’t just loud; it was desperate. I looked at the digital clock glowing in the dark: 5:02 AM. No one knocks at this hour unless their world is ending.
I pulled on a sweatshirt, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. When I threw open the door, my neighbor Gabriel Stone was standing there, pale and trembling. He looked like a man who had run miles just to reach my porch. “Don’t go to work today,” he rasped, his eyes darting to the empty street behind him. “Stay home. Lock the doors. Just trust me.”
Gabriel was the kind of guy who barely nodded when we checked our mailboxes. Now, he looked terrified. Before I could ask why, he whispered, “You’ll understand by noon,” and vanished back into the shadows.
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