Harvey woke up to the sound of someone calling his name.
It took a moment to realize they were talking to him.
"Sir. Can you hear me?"
His eyelids felt heavy. When he opened them, the first thing he saw was a bright light hanging above him. It made his head throb immediately.
He closed his eyes again.
"Don't move yet," the voice said. "Just stay still."
Harvey swallowed. His throat felt dry, like he hadn't spoken in a long time.
"I'm… here," he said. His voice sounded wrong to his own ears. Too thin.
"That's good," the voice replied. "You were hit by a car. Not badly, but enough to knock you down. We're going to take you in for a check."
Hit by a car.
The words settled slowly. Harvey tried to remember the moment clearly, but everything after the horn felt blurred together. Noise, light, then silence.
Silence.
His eyes opened again. The bright light was gone. Instead, he saw the inside of an ambulance. White walls. Equipment strapped down. A paramedic sitting across from him, watching carefully.
Harvey shifted slightly. His head protested with a dull ache, but the rest of his body responded.
He was alive.
"That's a good sign," the paramedic said, noticing the movement. "Any dizziness?"
"A little," Harvey answered.
"Headache?"
"Yes."
"That's expected. Try not to move too much."
Harvey nodded and stared at the ceiling. As the ambulance started moving, a strange thought crept in.
The words.
His eyes flicked around instinctively.
Nothing was there.
No text. No strange lines. Just the ceiling and the quiet hum of the engine.
He let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
It was probably shock, he told himself. Adrenaline. The brain does strange things when it's hurt. He had read that somewhere. Hallucinations weren't impossible.
Still, the memory felt too clear to dismiss.
Decision recorded.
His fingers twitched. He stared at his hand as if expecting something to happen.
Nothing did.
At the hospital, things moved quickly but without urgency. A few questions. A scan. A doctor who spoke in a calm voice and avoided sounding too serious.
"Mild concussion," the doctor said. "You're lucky. No internal bleeding. You should rest for a few days and avoid screens if you can."
Harvey nodded through it all.
Lucky.
That word didn't feel right.
After a few hours, he was allowed to leave. Someone from the office had already called a taxi for him. Emily had sent a message asking if he was okay. Jake had sent a short one too.
*Heard what happened. Take care.*
Harvey stared at his phone for a moment before replying.
*I'm fine. Just a headache.*
It wasn't a lie.
At home, the silence felt heavier than usual. Harvey dropped his keys onto the table and sat on the edge of his bed without turning on the lights. The room was dim, lit only by the streetlight outside his window.
He closed his eyes.
Nothing happened.
No words. No strange feeling.
A part of him felt relieved. Another part felt unsettled.
He lay back slowly and stared at the ceiling, listening to the distant sound of cars passing outside. His head still hurt, but the pain was manageable. What bothered him more was the thought that kept circling back.
If it was just a hallucination, why did it feel so deliberate?
Harvey turned onto his side and reached for his phone, then stopped. The doctor's advice echoed faintly in his mind. He set it back down.
He needed rest.
Sleep didn't come easily.
When it finally did, it was shallow and broken, filled with fragments of thoughts rather than dreams. Work emails. Crosswalk lights. A horn that never quite sounded.
He woke up early the next morning.
For a moment, he forgot everything.
Then the ache in his head reminded him.
Harvey sat up slowly. The room looked the same as always. Quiet. Normal.
He swung his legs off the bed and stood.
As his feet touched the floor, something shifted.
Not in the room. Not in his vision.
Inside him.
He paused, heart beating a little faster.
Then the words appeared again.
Not all at once. Not aggressively.
Just one line, sitting calmly where his thoughts had been a second earlier.
[Decision point detected]
Harvey froze.
He didn't move. He didn't blink.
The words didn't change. They didn't explain themselves.
Decision pending.
His stomach tightened.
Slowly, carefully, Harvey sat back down on the bed.
This time, he didn't tell himself it was a hallucination.
He already knew better.