HR line… picked up on the first ring.
That never happens.

Neon smoke curls under the skybridge light
Like the city’s exhale, blue and white
I walk past glass that knows my face
But tonight it looks through me, no trace
Call floor doors, same cold shine
Badge to the reader, perfect line
Green should blink like, always done
But the screen stays black like the sun

I try again, slower, clean
Like I can bargain with the machine
A camera turns, then turns away
Like it forgot what it should say

No record found
Like I never made a sound
No record found
Like my name can’t touch the ground
I built my life in midnight calls
Now I’m nothing in these walls
No record found

I call my supervisor, straight to voicemail
I call dispatch my own desk fails
A roster scrolls, my slot is gone
Like I was never logged on
“Can you check my employee ID?”
“Sorry. No match.”
Chrome Alley haze through the window pane
Data Spire skyline like a needle in rain
And every streetlight feels arranged
Like the city’s paperwork got changed

I find my notes from earlier nights
But the wording isn’t how I write
It’s clean, generic, stripped of fear
Like someone else was always here

If the logs don’t know my hands
If the system edits who I am
What else can vanish, quiet, fast
My voice, my past?
My paycheck.
My schedule.
My existence.

Neon smoke, I breathe it in
Like a vow I never meant to live in
The city hums, indifferent, cold
And I feel the story take control

No record found
I’m a ghost in my own hometown
No record found
And the doors won’t let me around
I kept the city alive all night
Now I’m erased by morning light
No record found

If I never worked here.
who’s been answering the calls?