She did not tap. But at night, when her phone lay face down on the nightstand, the screen would glow faintly. The icon of Subway Surfers—the real, App Store version—would jitter. For a split second, it would flicker to the grayscale tunnel. Then back.

She force-closed the app. When she reopened it, the icon had changed. The tunnel was gone. Now it was a black square. The app loaded instantly. No title screen. She was already running. The score was 1,001. The train behind her was gone. The tracks were gone. She was running on polished bone-white tiles, floating in a black void.

No splash screen. No Kiloo or SYBO logos. No cheerful "tap to start." The screen stayed black for eleven seconds—an eternity in mobile gaming. Then, the audio came first: not the upbeat ska-punk soundtrack, but a low, sub-bass hum, like a distant train passing through water.