HIS ONE NIGHT MISTAKE
The light here was different—filtered, muted, like moving through water.
Then the path ended, and I saw it.
The old gate.
Iron bars, rusted at the joints, rising to a pointed arch. Beyond it, the grounds sloped downward toward a stone wall and, past that, the road. The gate itself was wrapped in a heavy chain, but beside it, set into a wooden post, was a digital access panel. Small. Unobtrusive. A red light blinked in the corner, steady as a heartbeat.
I touched the iron. Cold. Rough beneath my fingers.