The Last Witness
Morning arrived long before Elena realized it, not because she saw the sun rise, but because the city woke around her. A delivery truck rumbled past her apartment at exactly six-thirty, right on schedule. Downstairs, the old woman dragged her metal watering can across the balcony floor, humming the same off-key tune she had sung every morning for nearly three years. In the distance, the first call to prayer drifted through the cool morning air, blending seamlessly with the chatter of early commuters. On the surface, nothing had changed, but to Elena, everything had.