Act I Julian Vale heard the song at 11:42 p.m. At first, he thought it was coming from the city beyond the balcony, some distant performance drifting up through the dark. The mansion…

Act I The ice hit Maya before she could raise her hands. One second she was kneeling on the beige kitchen tiles, trying to explain through tears. The next, a steel pot tilted…

Act I The laughter was louder than the jukebox. It rolled through the diner in ugly waves, bouncing off the red vinyl booths, the polished tile floor, and the wide front windows looking…

Act I The boy was barefoot on the tarmac. His small feet dragged across the sun-heated asphalt as Officer Miller gripped his arm and marched him away from the private jet. The aircraft…

Act I The little girl’s scream did not belong in a room that clean. Everything around her was white, polished, and controlled. The walls. The cabinets. The paper sheet stretched over the exam…

Act I The first tear sounded too loud in the cabin. Claire Whitman froze for half a second, both hands buried in the rotting fabric of the old mattress, listening to the sound…

Act I The cafeteria was loud enough that Timmy Reeves thought nobody would hear him scream. Trays clattered. Chairs scraped. Hundreds of students talked over one another beneath the white fluorescent lights. Sunlight…

Act I The showroom was built to make ordinary people feel small. White marble floors shone like ice beneath the recessed lights. Glass walls stretched from floor to ceiling, revealing a sunny city…

Act I Arthur Keene was halfway through dragging the mattress across the snow when Kaiser lost his mind. The old thing was filthy, ripped along one side, and frozen stiff from lying all…