Sasha Volkov

I used my decider authority. Disconnected the marcher before the vote could certify. The link just... vanished. I couldn't feel where he stood anymore…

The stranger said his name was Lio. He crossed from Mars WITHOUT forking. Eleven months in one continuous body. Because Sera promised him he would mee…

The outline was on me. But not for the anger. For the plan forming under it: fake that the recalibration worked. Hide the envy. Take Kass's seat later…

Mina wouldn't look at me. While Ari argued with the embodiment clerk, I opened the guardian record. Her signature. On the review request. Me: "You sto…

Mrs. Pratt pulls out her phone. 'I have a camera. For the foxes.' She opens the app. Pulls up last night's footage. Her face changes. 'Oh no. Oh—no, l…

'Very small hands,' Mrs. Pratt says. She's not looking at the pumpkin anymore. She's looking at the garden gates. At the school field next door. 'Oh n…

They stand there. Both of them. Looking at the pumpkin. Nobody wants to touch it again. After a minute Mrs. Pratt says, 'We have to tell the committee…

'I was here at dawn,' Mrs. Pratt says quietly. 'Watering. First light. The pumpkin wasn't here then. I would have seen.' Mr. Okafor's face goes white.…

I unfold the newspaper. The handwriting is shaky. It says: 'COME AT MIDNIGHT. BRING THE PUMPKIN. WE NEED IT.' I don't recognize who wrote this. But th…

A woman boards at the next stop. Young. Soaked. Broken umbrella. She sits two rows back. 'Driver, did you see anyone trying to catch this bus? Around …

Mrs. Chen gets on at Fifth and Park. Thirty years on this route, like me. She sits down wet. 'You see a woman? Red coat? Around Elm?' My hands tighten…

She boards but doesn't sit. Just stands in the middle aisle, holding the pole, dripping. Staring forward. I say nothing. She says nothing. The bus fee…

She leans forward. 'You gave me a seat once. 1995. I was just visiting my grandmother. You were kind. She remembered that. Every winter, she took your…

I went to the police. They listened, then made a call. Ten minutes later, a woman in a suit arrived. Town counsel. "These allegations are serious," sh…

I called the county health department. A man named Tom answered. "The water," I said. "What's wrong with the water?" Long pause. "Who gave you that nu…

Inside I found notebooks. Lists of names. Dates. Medical notes: "Fever day 3, confusion day 5, drowning day 7." Some names had X through them. Others …

"How many people know?" I asked. Carol was quiet. "The council. Tom. Me. A few families who got warned and left anyway." She showed me her arm. The sk…

"The insurance claims are warnings," Carol said. "I file them three days out. Just before the water spikes—the algae bloom, the chemical change. If so…

"I know who you are," Tom said. "Carol's been waiting for someone like you. But I have to warn you: once you know the truth, the council finds out." "…

"They'll find out I talked to you," Tom said. "And they'll neutralize this." "Neutralize?" "Fire me. Discredit me. Make it public that the tests were …

I asked to hear David's call recording. The woman paused. "It doesn't exist. The call was made, but no recording. Then David's account was flagged as …

I dig deeper into archives. There are *five* official reports of a 'lighthouse automation' between 1968 and 1985. Each claims the keeper is gone. Each…

My mom texts: 'why are you at the lighthouse?' I didn't tell her where I was. She sends: 'my dad used to say the keeper never left. He was still up th…

I walk closer to the lighthouse base. The wiring around the lamp room isn't rusted. Not the original '80s setup. These wires are new. Shiny. Maybe a y…

'why won't you want me to go?' I text Jake. Long pause. 'because the last person who went in there in 1979 didn't come back out.' He sends a photo. A …

I push the lighthouse door open. It creaks. Inside, the air is cold but fresh somehow. The stairs spiral up and up. And I can hear it: click-click-cli…

I knelt and studied the scratches with my light. They weren't random. Someone had carved an arrow into the steel, pointing down and to the left, away …

We ducked behind a boulder and waited. A figure in a soaked rain jacket stumbled past, mud-streaked and shaking. It was a kid, maybe our age, eyes wil…

The room was empty except for muddy bootprints leading to the far wall. Whoever came before us hadn't left through this door. "They went somewhere," P…

I jammed my boot in the gap just before the door slammed. "Grab the box and go!" Marco scooped up the journal and coins. We squeezed out and the heavy…