Zayid sat at his desk, eyes fixed on the glowing screen of his phone. The bright light reflected in his dark brown eyes, but it wasn't the messages or notifications that held his attention. It was the sound.
Outside his window, the city hummed with life. He could hear distant conversations from blocks away, the quiet murmur of traffic, even the soft thud of approaching footsteps near the front of his building.
His senses were sharper than anyone could imagine. He could smell the faint scent of rain hanging in the air and feel the distant vibration of a car engine revving two streets down. The city had unknowingly become his playground, and its secrets were his responsibility.
It hadn't always been this way. The powers had started quietly, then sharpened with time until he couldn't ignore them anymore. While his classmates worried about exams or crushes, Zayid was out every night, slipping between shadows, protecting people who had no idea he even existed.
He was still just a teenager. But when the sun went down, he became something else. A shadow. A protector. A masked vigilante.
His phone buzzed again. This time, it wasn't a notification.
"Patrol downtown. Someone's causing trouble again."
He sighed and set the phone aside. It was becoming routine. Same streets. Same danger. Same silence from the people he saved.
Grabbing his mask and slipping it into his jacket, Zayid crept out of his room. The house was silent. His parents were asleep, completely unaware of the life their son lived after midnight.
Minutes later, Zayid stood at the edge of a rooftop, the city stretching endlessly beneath him. The air was cool, the wind brushing against his face.
He closed his eyes and breathed in the calm before the chaos.
Then, he jumped.
Landing without a sound, Zayid took off running. Faster than the eye could follow, he moved through alleys and backstreets, listening to the city's heartbeat.
Across the street, Kari stood at her bedroom window.
Her eyes scanned the empty street below. She had always found Zayid a little odd. Quiet, reserved, like he was carrying something too heavy for someone his age. Tonight, she could have sworn she saw him leaving his building in a dark jacket, hood pulled low.
But now, there was no sign of him.
She leaned closer to the window, her curiosity rising. Something about him felt different. Not bad... just secretive.
Her phone buzzed, pulling her attention. A message from her best friend.
"Hey, you coming to the party later?"
Kari glanced at the street one more time before replying. She wasn't sure about the party. Something about tonight felt off. Maybe she was imagining things. Or maybe...
She would finally start to figure out who Zayid really was.
As the night unfolded, Zayid moved silently through the city. He didn't know someone was watching. He didn't know that Kari, the girl next door, was starting to piece things together.
And he definitely didn't know that the mask he wore wouldn't just protect him.
It would be the thing that changed everything.