The house no longer felt like a bare structure. It was a living, breathing reality, case and eternal, threading its mindfulness through every ray, floorboard, and shadow. Alex moved through the hallways with a surreal mindfulness, as if his senses had been expanded beyond mortal limits. He could feel the palpitation of the walls, the subtle shift of air, and the faint, patient meter of the doorframe in the garret — a twinkle aged than memory itself. murk coiled along the edges of his vision, bending around corners, forming vague shapes that suggested at the long- dissolved inhabitants of the house. The whispers were ever-present,