Whispers of you

Prologue

Prologue

Alexander sat in the dim light of his apartment, the quiet hum of the television filling the silence. He wasn't watching it. His eyes were on the figure beside him. Noah lounged casually on the couch, his feet kicked up, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Noah teased, his voice smooth, familiar.

Alexander didn't respond, not at first. Instead, he studied Noah the way he always did, as though trying to memorize every detail of him, like he might disappear if he blinked. The sharp jawline, the effortless way he carried himself, the confidence that seemed to radiate from him—everything Alexander wasn't.

Because Noah wasn't real.

At least, that's what Alexander told himself. It was what he had to tell himself. Noah had been there for as long as Alexander could remember, ever since he was a child. At first, he'd thought Noah was just an imaginary friend. Everyone had one, right? A harmless creation of the mind, something he'd eventually grow out of. But Noah never left.

And now, years later, when Alexander was alone, Noah was always there. A constant presence, like a shadow that didn't fade with the light. Noah was everything Alexander wished he could be—bold, outgoing, someone who could walk into a room and make people stop and notice.

But he wasn't real.

"You're thinking too much again," Noah said, breaking the silence. He shifted in his seat, turning to face Alexander, his eyes sharp and focused. "You know I'm here. Whether you accept it or not."

Alexander swallowed, his throat dry. "But you're not," he muttered, almost to himself. "You can't be."

Noah chuckled softly, leaning closer. "I'm as real as you need me to be."

Alexander wanted to argue, to tell him that it wasn't true, that he was nothing more than a figment of his imagination. But the words wouldn't come. Because deep down, a part of him wasn't ready to let Noah go.

Not yet.

And maybe, he thought, not ever.

The prologue sets the stage for the emotional and psychological conflict that will unfold throughout the story, drawing readers into Alexander's inner world where the lines between reality and imagination blur.