When Mira opened her eyes on her birthday, nothing felt unusual. Traffic murmured outside her window, and her phone glowed with the same routine notifications it always delivered. There were no plans, no parties waiting, and no sense that the day would be any different from the rest. She moved through her morning on autopilot, expecting quiet normalcy and little else. On her way to work, she stopped at a small café she frequented often. When she went to pay, the barista smiled and wished her a happy birthday, waving off the charge. At first, Mira thought it was a...
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