Chris TrentChapter 3: The Woman in the Street<br>
Some things, once seen, can’t be unseen.<br>
<br>
The boy stood on the front porch, watching the night stretch out over the quiet street. The neighborhood was still, the way it always was after dark. But then—movement. A woman, jogging on the opposite side of the road, dressed in dark clothing. He didn’t know who she was, didn’t know where she was going.<br>
<br>
And then, headlights.<br>
<br>
A car turned onto the street behind her, its tires humming against the pavement. The boy watched as the woman made a choice—she stepped off the curb, right into the car’s path.<br>
<br>
For a split second, he thought, She’s not going to make it.<br>
<br>
Then—impact.<br>
<br>
Her body lifted from the ground, thrown forward like she had been ripped from reality itself. Ten feet, maybe more. The sound of metal hitting flesh, the eerie silence afterward, like the world itself was holding its breath.<br>
<br>
And then, everything blurred.<br>
<br>
A police officer came to the door. His parents spoke in hushed tones. They told him to go inside, but he had something to say. He saw it happen. He was a witness to something real, something dark. But his words didn’t matter.<br>
<br>
They never asked what he saw. They never asked how he felt.<br>
<br>
So, like everything else, it became a story only he carried.<br>
<br>
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