Page 190 - TruthAboutLyingFinal

The Truth About Lying
A burst of static cut across the line.
Henry pulled the phone away, wincing. The air around him felt charged, like the moment before a lightning strike, but the sky above was frozen, silent, wrong.
“Jinji?” he said. “You’re breaking up.”
“I’m not—” Her voice fractured. Warped. Then stretched into something that didn’t sound like distance or interference.
Henry frowned. “Jinji?” The signal stabilized. For a second.
Then—
Something else came through.
Not louder. Not clearer.
Just... present.
Jinji’s voice was still there, but underneath it, threaded through it, was a pattern. Not sound. Not language.
Structure.
“Henry,” she said. “Are you still there?” He didn’t answer.
“Henry?” she said again, sharper now. “I...” He swallowed. “Say that again.” “I didn’t say anything.”
The air pressure dropped.
Or maybe it was just his perception of it.
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