Characters Shopkeeper

Zach. The friend at the stall in Construction. The person the protagonist pushed away in Reality.

This profile holds the relationship.

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Who they are

Survivor. Zach was on the cliff with the friend the day the friend died; the protagonist was not. Two survivors of the same routine, one of them at the edge when it stopped being routine. That asymmetry is the wedge.

Zach carries the memory; the protagonist carries the absence. Talking would mean naming where the protagonist was instead. The protagonist pushes him away because Zach IS the failure of presence, made daily and visible. Not as judgment; as mirror.

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Open questions

• Gender, age, presentation. Deliberately open. The anchor is the relationship to the protagonist and the family resemblance to Stephanie.
• Where Zach has been across the search. The cliff at the end is the place the gate has been locked since the friend died; the protagonist has not thought to check there because the gate has been locked their whole life. How Zach reached the cliff, and how he passed the time there, is unresolved.