The tunnel always frightened him.
Too long, too dark.
The echo of hurried footsteps usually drove him faster, heart racing.
Today, he slowed.
One step.
Two.
In the silence between echoes,
he heard it — a low vibration, like a deep chord struck somewhere underground.
It wasn’t frightening.
It wasn’t beautiful.
It simply was.
And for the first time in years,
he walked through the tunnel without looking back.