I stayed where I was for a few seconds after the boy jogged past me.If I followed him too fast, and I’d draw attention and too slow, and I’d lose him.So I waited. Counted my breaths. Let my pulse settle just enough. Then I followed.I kept my distance as he moved down the street, his pace easy and relaxed. He wasn’t in a hurry. He wasn’t looking over his shoulder. Whatever he was wearing on his wrist didn’t worry him at all.People waved at him, not the polite nod strangers give each other. These were real waves. Familiar ones. A man stepping out of a store lifted his hand and smiled. A woman walking her dog called out his name. Someone driving by honked lightly, not in anger, but greeting.The boy waved back every time. He looked easy to talk to and confident, like he belonged everywhere he stepped.Popular, I thought. Or protected or probably both.I pulled my hood lower and kept walking, pretending to check my phone, pretending I had nowhere important to be. The town was fully aw

You know how, when you’re young, you’re told that wishes come true?That if your tooth falls out and you slip it under your pillow, the tooth fairy will come in the night and trade it for something better. Something magical. Something that means you’re safe.I believed that once.I wished for a lot of things back then. Small things. Big things. Stupid things. Things a kid shouldn’t have had to wish for in the first place.But standing there alone on that sidewalk, watching the black Range Rover disappear down the street, I wished for just one thing.I wished this nightmare would end.I wished I could get the hell out of Cedar City and pretend none of this had ever touched me.The town felt like it was closing in, like it had teeth and was slowly sinking them into my ribs. The air felt thicker than it had a few minutes ago, harder to breathe. Every sound seemed louder. Every passing car felt like it slowed just enough to look at me.“You’re not welcome here” That’s what the place screa

The ride to City Hall felt longer than it should have.The black sedan glided through Cedar City like it owned the road. There were no sirens or urgency in the manner in which they drove. It was just quiet confidence that didn’t need permission or explanations. The driver never spoke, never even glanced at me through the rearview mirror. His hands stayed locked at ten and two, his posture stiff, and his eyes forward like he was transporting something fragile or dangerous.I watched the town slide past the tinted window.People walking dogs. Shop owners unlocking doors. A group of teenagers laughing near a bus stop. Normal life. Too normal. The kind of normal that always sat on top of something rotten.I noticed something odd, every time the car passed people, someone waved.Not at me, but at the car, at whatever power rode inside it.That told me more than any police report ever could.City Hall sat on a small hill, a brick building with white pillars and a freshly manicured lawn. Fla