SHIFT STARTS (Chapter 1)

Aurora 9-1-1, state your emergency
Hello?

Night shift, dead air, coffee gone cold
Fluorescent halo, my hands on hold
Screens like confession, codes like prayer
City breathing quiet through the vented air

I read the map like it reads my face
Every blinking light’s a borrowed grace
Another call, another bruise
Another night where someone loses

Then Line One flares like a cut of white
And my stomach drops before the red light
I exhale static, I taste the hum
Like the future’s already begun

It’s not happening yet, listen
Southbound bridge, third light flickers
Silver car, cracked blue sign
And the impact comes at 00:01

That’s, that’s now

Send them early, please, don’t wait

My finger hovers over the call
Like I’m choosing who gets to fall
I don’t know you, don’t know why
But the details cut too clean to lie

I pick up, you fall apart
Tomorrow bleeds into my headset heart
I speak in codes, I breathe in noise
I’m the last human in the line of choice

I pick up
You fall apart
Tomorrow bleeds
Into my headset

Units on standby, confirm availability

My voice sounds calm but my hands don’t lie
Neon outside like a watchful eye
If this is a prank, it’s carved too deep
If this is a warning, it doesn’t sleep

When you hear the second ring
Don’t look away
Don’t doubt
Don’t wait for permission

I feel the city pull on the thread
Like it wants the story to end a certain way instead
But I’m here, I’m breathing, I’m in the chair
And the future’s on the line like a whispered dare

I pick up, you fall apart
Tomorrow bleeds into my headset heart
I speak in codes, I breathe in noise
I’m the last human in the line of choice

I hear tomorrow like a bad connection
A warning dressed as misdirection
If I save one, what does it cost
Does the bill come due in someone else’s loss?

I pick up, you fall apart
Tomorrow bleeds into my headset heart
I speak in codes, I breathe in noise
I’m the last human in the line of choice

He’s alive because you listened
But the city
The city will correct itself