Chapter 5: No Safe Haven

The world snapped to black, then color bled back in—same chair, same ticking clock. I wake drenched in sweat, my face pale.

Charles’s face looms in front of me, concern masking suspicion. "Henry, what’s wrong?"

I’ve died four times. There’s no escaping this. Maybe honesty is all I have left.

"Councilman, I know you were sent by Louise," I say quietly.

His expression tightens.

"If the President finds out you’re working for Louise, he’ll suspect you."

He ponders, then finally asks, "What do you want to do?"

I plead, "Can you let me hold out until the President returns? He’ll make a fair judgment."

Charles sighs, rubbing his brow. "Alright. I’ll go and tell Louise you’re nowhere to be found."

"Then… Councilman, can you shelter me?"

He shakes his head, voice hard. "No. Go anywhere you like, but not here."

That night, I knock on Leonard Brooks’s side door. He opens it, sees my face, and without a word packs his family off to the suburbs—leaving me an empty house.

The emptiness presses in: old coffee grounds in the trash, dust gathering in corners, floorboards creaking under restless feet. It’s the kind of American safehouse everyone’s got—someone’s aunt’s vacation home, now hollowed out by fear.