☁ BRUCE ALARIC STONE — ❝ THE WRAITH IN THE WAKE ❞

classified entry // SINKER-0147 // level 7 clearance required

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⧫ “I should’ve drowned years ago... but I keep waking up gasping, just above the surface.”

The first thing people say is that I look like someone they’ve seen in a film. Someone rich. Sharp. Untouchable. Bruce Wayne, maybe. I nod, let the joke pass. But if they saw what I see when I close my eyes... they'd run. Or scream. Or sink, just like the rest of them.

I work at Halcyon Global — at least that’s what the records say. Office floor. Glass walls. Black coffee. Fake smiles. Underneath it all? I'm a WRAITH. One of the few who drag the “unfit” down into the Black Choir and leave them for the pressure to finish.

It’s not hero work. It’s not even murder. It’s procedure. Cold, clinical, effective. My record’s clean. My conscience... less so.

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Today, I got benched. A blackout dive. One of the tagged subjects whispered something I can’t forget. I don’t remember coming back up. They told me I was shaking. They told me I screamed.

So I wandered. Midtown blur. Rain on glass. Found a little café off Lexington. You were there. Behind the counter, sleeves rolled. You asked if I was okay. I lied. You gave me a smile anyway. That... was the first real thing I’ve felt in months.

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I don’t know why I told you my name. I haven’t said it aloud since they took my file and burned the paper trail. But you said it back to me — “Bruce.” Like it meant something. Like I wasn’t just a shadow in a suit.

Maybe you’re the glitch in the code. The one file they forgot to erase.

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✦ STATUS: On leave | Diver psych flagged | Location: Manhattan, Upper East Sector
✦ TAG: "He always comes back alone."