Not all fractures are visible.

Some live beneath polished surfaces, hidden by composure and time.

Invisible until pressure finds them.

And when it does…

They spread.

Quietly.

Unstoppably.

The city had regained its rhythm.

At least on the outside.

Traffic surged.

Voices layered over sidewalks.

Glass buildings reflected a world that looked perfectly intact.

But beneath that surface, shifts were happening.

Small ones.

Silent ones.

The kind you only notice when it’s already too late to stop them.

Ethan felt it first in the way people looked at him.

Not openly.

Not rudely.

Just differently.

He noticed it in the elevator that morning.

A man who used to greet him...