The line stayed with him longer than it should have.
Lucas noticed it when he woke up.
Not in a dramatic way. No sudden realization, no sharp clarity. Just a quiet awareness sitting in the back of his mind, like his body had learned something his thoughts were still catching up to.
He moved through the morning slower than usual, not because he was tired, but because he kept noticing things he normally ignored.
The way people paused before stepping into the hallway.
The way conversations started, stopped, then restarted with slightly different phrasing.
Even his own movements felt… deliberate.
He caught himself hesitating at the door, hand on the handle, waiting half a second longer than necessary.
He opened it anyway.
"Still doing it," he muttered.
The hallway wasn't loud.
Not quiet either.
That same in-between state they'd been stuck in lately.
Lucas walked past a group near the stairs, catching a fragment of conversation.
"…you moved too early."
