What Searches

David Kim found the apartment by accident.

He was looking for his sister. Had been looking for three months. Ever since Emily stopped answering her phone. Ever since she missed their mother's funeral. Ever since she disappeared completely.

The police said there was nothing they could do. Emily was an adult. No signs of foul play. People had a right to vanish if they wanted to.

But Emily wouldn't have missed Mom's funeral. Wouldn't have missed it unless something was very wrong.

So David kept looking. Traced her last known address. Talked to her former landlord. Followed a trail of old mail forwards and utility transfers.

The trail ended at a condemned building in the warehouse district.

David stood outside, looking at the CONDEMNED notice on the door. The broken windows. The graffiti.

Emily wouldn't be here. No one would be here.

But he tried the door anyway.

It opened.

The interior was dark. Smelled like mold and rust. Water damage on the walls. Floorboards that creaked under his weight.

"Emily?" he called out.

No answer.

David pulled out his phone flashlight. Walked deeper into the building. Past empty rooms. Past trash and old furniture and evidence of squatters long gone.

Then he saw light under a door at the end of the hall.

He knocked. "Hello?"

No answer.

David tried the handle. Locked. He knocked again, harder this time.

"I'm looking for Emily Kim. My sister. If anyone's in there, please. I just need to know she's okay."

He heard movement inside. Footsteps. Someone approaching the door.

It opened.

A woman stood there. Mid-thirties. Brown hair pulled back. She looked exhausted. Dark circles under her eyes. Clothes that were clean but worn.

She looked nothing like Emily.

But she looked familiar somehow.

"You're looking for your sister," the woman said. Not a question.

"Yeah. Emily Kim. She lived around here. I'm trying to find her."

"She's not here."

"Do you know where she is? Do you know her?"

The woman studied him. Then: "Come in. But close the door behind you."

David hesitated. This felt wrong. But he'd come this far.

He stepped inside.

The room was surprisingly clean. A cot in the corner. A small camp stove. Boxes of files and papers stacked against the walls. A laptop on a makeshift desk.

No shadow on the floor beneath the woman. The room was bright enough. But she cast nothing.

"You're uncast," David said.

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"I gave my shadow away." The woman moved to the desk. Gestured at the files. "Your sister came to see me four months ago. She was looking for information."

"Information about what?"

"About babies with early shadow separation. About the Early Ones. About what the Department knows and isn't telling anyone."

David's stomach dropped. "Emily's an investigative journalist. She was working on a story about shadow anomalies. That's why she—" He stopped. "You said she came to see you. When was this?"

"September 14th."

"That was right before she disappeared."

The woman nodded. "She disappeared because she found what she was looking for. And what she found terrified her."

"What did she find?"

The woman pulled a file from one of the boxes. Handed it to David.

Inside were photos. Babies. Dozens of them. Each photo had a date and a note attached.

"Shadow separation at 8 weeks." "Shadow separation at 10 weeks." "Shadow separation at 3 months."

"The Early Ones," the woman said. "Forty-seven documented cases worldwide. Babies whose shadows separated before they were supposed to. Before three months. Before the standard attachment period."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because shadows don't separate naturally from infants. It's neurologically impossible. The conscious control required to make a shadow leave doesn't develop until later. These babies shouldn't be capable of shadow separation."

"Then why is it happening?"

"Because their shadows aren't separating. They were never attached in the first place. These babies are being born with independent shadows. Shadows that choose from the start whether to stay or go."

David looked at the photos. At the dates. The earliest was from 2024. The most recent was from three weeks ago.

"And Emily was investigating this?"

"Emily was investigating why the Department was tracking these babies. Why they were being flagged in the system. Why collectors were visiting the families." The woman pulled another file. "She found the Department's internal memos. Classification: Level 5. Eyes only."

She handed the file to David.

He read the first page.

SUBJECT: Early Manifestation Cases - Threat Assessment

The Early Ones represent a fundamental shift in shadow consciousness. Unlike standard shadow separation, which occurs due to trauma or psychological distress, Early Manifestations appear to be intentional. The shadows are choosing independence from birth.

This suggests:

1. Increased shadow autonomy
2. Possible communication between shadows
3. Coordinated preparation for unknown event

Recommendation: Monitor all Early Ones. Track development. Identify pattern. Prepare for potential mass manifestation.

"Mass manifestation?" David looked up. "What does that mean?"

"It means the shadows are getting ready for something. Something big enough that they're choosing independence before they're even fully conscious. Something that requires them to be separate from their people."

"Do you know what it is?"

The woman shook her head. "Emily was trying to find out. She tracked down families of Early Ones. Interviewed them. Documented the patterns."

"What patterns?"

"The shadows all behaved the same way. Standing at windows. Pointing east. Acting agitated in the days leading up to..." She trailed off.

"Leading up to what?"

"Leading up to the summer solstice. June 20th. Every single Early One shadow showed increased activity in the weeks before June 20th."

David checked the date on his phone. June 18th.

"That's in two days."

"I know."

"Where's Emily now?"

The woman walked to the window. Looked out at the city. "She went to talk to someone at the Department. Someone high up who she thought might tell her the truth. That was October 3rd. I haven't seen her since."

"Do you know who she was meeting?"

"Director Keane. Head of Shadow Services."

David pulled out his phone. Started searching for Director Keane's contact information.

"Don't," the woman said. "If Emily talked to the Director and then disappeared, that tells you everything you need to know."

"You think the Department did something to her?"

"I think the Department is desperate to keep the truth hidden. And Emily got too close."

David felt rage building in his chest. "Then I'm going to the police. The FBI. I'm going to find my sister and—"

"Your sister found the truth. That's why she disappeared. Not because the Department took her. Because she couldn't handle what she learned."

The woman turned to face him. "Your sister discovered that every shadow in the Ward system is a lie. That collected shadows aren't being stored. That they're free and have been free this entire time. That the Department has been lying to everyone for twenty-five years."

"And when she learned that, when she understood the implications, she realized something else. Something worse."

"What?"

"That if the shadows are free, if they've been free all along, then what have they been doing? Where have they been? What have they been planning?"

The woman pulled out a map. Spread it across the desk. It was covered in markings. Dates. Locations. Lines connecting different cities.

"Emily mapped every shadow anomaly reported in the past three years. Every separation. Every return. Every case of shadows appearing in multiple locations. She found the pattern."

David looked at the map. At the hundreds of dots scattered across it. At the lines connecting them.

They all pointed toward a single location on the eastern seaboard.

"What's there?" David asked.

"Nothing. Empty ocean. That's what makes it terrifying."

"I don't understand."

"The shadows aren't gathering somewhere. They're watching something. Something in the east. Something coming from the east." The woman's voice dropped. "And they've been trying to warn us for years. But we didn't listen."

David stared at the map. At the pattern his sister had found.

"Where is Emily?" he asked again.

The woman was quiet for a long moment. Then she pulled a photo from her desk drawer. Handed it to David.

It showed Emily. Standing on a beach. Looking out at the ocean. The photo was dated October 15th. Two weeks after she'd met with the Director.

"I went looking for her," the woman said. "Tracked her credit card usage. Found her at this beach in Maine. Just standing there. Staring at the horizon."

"Did you talk to her?"

"She didn't recognize me. Didn't recognize herself. She just kept saying the same thing over and over."

"What?"

"'They're not coming from the east. They're already here. They've always been here. We're just finally seeing them.'"

David felt cold spread through his chest. "What does that mean?"

"It means your sister understood something that broke her. Something about what shadows really are. Something about what's coming on June 20th."

"I took her to a hospital. Psychiatric evaluation. They said she was experiencing a dissociative break. Delusional thinking. They wanted to commit her." The woman's voice cracked. "She walked out the next day. I haven't seen her since."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you deserve to know what happened to your sister. Because Emily deserves someone to know she was right. Because in two days, everyone is going to understand what she understood. And it's going to break all of them too."

David looked at the files. At the photos of babies with separated shadows. At the map showing the pattern. At the evidence his sister had compiled.

"What's your name?" he asked.

The woman hesitated. "I've had a lot of names. Claire. Sarah. Emily. None of them real. I've been investigating shadow anomalies for three years. Trying to warn people. Trying to make them see."

"And my sister helped you?"

"Your sister was the only person who believed me. Who understood what I was trying to show people. Who wasn't afraid to see the truth."

"Why don't you have a shadow?"

The woman looked down at the empty floor where her shadow should be. "Because I gave it away. To someone who needed it more than I did. To someone who I was trying to protect."

"Who?"

"A baby. One of the Early Ones. Emma Chen. I was her nanny for three months. I was trying to understand why her shadow was separated. What made her different." The woman's voice dropped. "And my shadow understood before I did. Understood what Emma was. What all the Early Ones are."

"What are they?"

"They're the ones who might survive. The ones whose shadows chose independence early enough to prepare them. The ones who haven't learned to lie yet." She looked at David. "Your sister understood that too. Understood that the only people who might make it through what's coming are the ones who never learned to perform. Who never learned to hide from their shadows."

"And everyone else?"

"Everyone else has been living a lie for so long they can't handle the truth. Can't accept what their shadows have been trying to show them."

David wanted to argue. Wanted to call this woman crazy. Wanted to walk away and keep looking for Emily somewhere else.

But he looked at the files. At the evidence. At the pattern his sister had died finding.

Had died mentally, at least. Because whoever Emily had been before October 3rd, she wasn't that person anymore.

"What do I do now?" David asked.

"You go home. You be with your family. You wait for June 20th." The woman started packing up her files. "And when it happens, when the shadows stop pretending and show everyone the truth, you remember that your sister tried to warn them."

"Where are you going?"

"East. To the ocean. To watch what comes." She paused at the door. "If you find Emily, tell her I'm sorry. Tell her she was right about everything. Tell her the shadows were trying to help us. We just couldn't see it."

"Wait. I don't even know your real name."

The woman smiled. Sad and tired. "Neither do I anymore. I've been so many people trying to find the truth, I forgot who I was before I started looking."

She left.

David stood alone in the empty room. Surrounded by files documenting the end of everything. Surrounded by his sister's work.

He pulled out his phone. Called Emily's number one more time.

It rang four times. Then someone answered.

"David." Emily's voice. Distant. Wrong. "You shouldn't have looked for me."

"Emily, where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm at the ocean. Watching. Waiting. They're almost here."

"Who's almost there?"

"Not who. What. The thing the shadows have been seeing. The thing they've been trying to warn us about." Her voice was empty. Flat. "I can see it now. On the horizon. It's beautiful and terrible and we're not ready. We're never going to be ready."

"Emily, please. Come home. Let me help you."

"You can't help me. No one can. We made our choice when we decided to control our shadows instead of listen to them. We made our choice when we built a civilization on lying to ourselves. We made our choice when we looked at the truth and decided we'd rather perform."

"Emily—"

"It's June 18th, David. Two more days. And then everyone will see what I see. Everyone will understand why the shadows left. Why they've been preparing. Why the Early Ones are the only ones who might make it through."

"Make it through what?"

"The end of the lie. The end of the performance. The end of everything we thought we knew about shadows and ourselves and what's real."

The line went dead.

David tried to call back. Straight to voicemail.

He looked at the map on the desk. At the eastern coast where all the lines converged.

He thought about driving there. Finding Emily. Bringing her home.

But something told him it wouldn't matter.

That in two days, everyone would be exactly where Emily was now.

Standing at the ocean.

Watching the horizon.

Seeing what the shadows had been trying to show them all along.

David left the condemned building. Walked to his car.

Drove home.

And spent the next two days with his family. Preparing for the only thing you can prepare for when the end is coming.

The truth.