The First Cut

Ethan didn’t speak to the girl right away.

He just stood there for a moment after the traffic light changed, watching her like she might disappear if he blinked.

But she didn’t.

She stayed exactly where she was, calm and still, like she belonged to the street more than the people walking on it.

---

“You are not imagining it,” she said again, as if continuing a thought he never said out loud.

Ethan frowned. “Who are you?”

The question felt simple, but his voice didn’t sound confident.

The girl looked at him for a moment.

Then replied, “Someone who already passed this point.”

---

A bus stopped nearby.

People got in and out like normal.

But Ethan noticed something strange again. One person stepped into the bus, and for a second, he saw the same person already sitting inside near the window.

Then it was gone.

He blinked hard.

The scene looked normal again.

---

Ethan turned back to the girl. “What point?”

She didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she looked at the street, then at the people, then back at him.

Like she was checking how much of reality was still stable around him.

---

“You’re starting to see missing frames,” she said finally.

Ethan shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

The girl nodded slightly. “You don’t need to. Not yet.”

That answer made him more uneasy than confusion.

---

A loud horn sounded behind them.

Ethan turned slightly.

A car had passed, but for a second, its position didn’t match its movement. It looked like it had jumped forward without traveling the space between.

When he looked again, it was normal.

---

Ethan stepped back a little. “What is happening to everything?”

The girl finally shifted her gaze directly onto him.

“This is not everything,” she said. “This is only your layer.”

---

Ethan paused. “My layer?”

She nodded once.

“Everyone lives in one version and never notices the others. You are starting to overlap.”

---

Ethan tried to laugh, but it didn’t come out properly. “That sounds insane.”

The girl replied immediately, “It is normal here.”

That line didn’t help.

---

A small silence followed.

The city continued moving around them, but Ethan felt like something had split slightly between him and everything else.

Like he was no longer fully synced with the world.

---

Then the girl said something different.

“Come.”

Ethan frowned. “Where?”

She turned and started walking without answering.

Ethan hesitated for a second.

Then followed.

---

They walked away from the main road.

The sound of traffic slowly faded.

The buildings around them started to feel older, quieter, less maintained, like they were not part of the usual city route.

Ethan noticed he didn’t recognize the street anymore.

But he was still sure it was close to his home.

That feeling made him uncomfortable.

---

They stopped in front of a narrow alley between two buildings.

The girl pointed inside.

“This is where it starts becoming visible,” she said.

Ethan looked into the alley.

At first, it looked empty.

Then for a fraction of a second, he saw something else layered over it—another version of the same space, slightly different, slightly wrong.

Then it vanished.

---

Ethan stepped back.

“No,” he said quietly. “I’m not going in there.”

The girl looked at him calmly.

“You already did,” she replied.

---

The air inside the alley flickered once.

Like the world hesitated.

And then—

Ethan felt the ground shift slightly under his feet, as if reality had decided to continue without asking him.

---

🔚 END OF CHAPTER 3

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***