GHOST QUEUE (Chapter 16)

Tomorrow Hotline.
Priority Zero accepted.
Welcome to the queue.

No streetlight.
No skyline.
Just a long hum in the dark.
Shapes in a slow line,
Like breath held inside a spark.
I step and the air responds,
A velvet echo under my feet,
And every silhouette I pass
Feels unfinished, incomplete.

No names.
No timestamps.
No “next available.”
Only the tone that never ends,
And a pull, undeniable.

Ghost queue
I can feel you waiting through the wire
Ghost queue
Like a prayer caught in a dial tone choir
I came looking for the silent lane
Found a city made of held-back pain
Ghost queue
And it knows my name (knows my name)

Hold.
Hold.
Hold.
Do not disconnect.

Some look human, some look thin,
Like a file with nothing in,
Hands raised like they’re mid-call,
Mouths open, no sound at all.
I reach out and the static warms,
Like it recognizes my touch,
Then one turns slow, steps out of line,
And I swear I know it too much.

Its face is blur.
Its eyes are light.
But the rhythm is mine.
And when it speaks, the whole place bends,
Like the future drew the line.

Ghost queue
I can feel you waiting through the wire
Ghost queue
Like a prayer caught in a dial tone choir
I came looking for the silent lane
Found a city made of held-back pain
Ghost queue
And it knows my name

It says a sentence I haven’t said yet.
It says it, in my voice.
“Please remain on the line.”
That’s, me.

Ghost queue
I won’t leave you sleeping in the wire
Ghost queue
I’ll break the lock without a fire
If the system made you disappear
Then I’ll become what it can’t clear
Ghost queue
I’m pulling you near

You’re not dead.
You’re, pending.