The Final Game Of Hide Seek

It was New Year’s Eve, and my little sister was begging me to play hide-and-seek.

The second I covered my eyes and started counting to thirty, that eraser in my brain started moving again. It’s a strange, smooth sensation—the feeling of a chalkboard being wiped clean while the chalk is still writing.

I stood there for a few seconds, staring into the blackness of my palms. Then, I simply turned around, walked back into the house, and started watching the New Year’s countdown on TV.

An hour later, my mother was kneeling in front of me, her hands gripping my shoulders.