Rich

I wake up with my eyes burning.

For a moment, I don’t remember why. The room is quiet. Pale morning light slips through my curtains, soft and harmless. Everything looks normal. Too normal.

Then it all comes back.

The sirens, The screams, The gunshots.

I sit up abruptly, my head pounding. My face feels tight, and when I touch it, my skin is dry and sore. I must have cried myself to sleep at some point. I don’t even remember lying back down.

The hallway outside is silent, Was any of it real?

I force myself out of bed and walk to the window slowly, afraid of what I might see, but i only see the Sunlight fills the street below, Expensive Cars move calmly along the road.

A woman walks her dog. Two kids ride their bikes past the fountain in the plaza.

The same fountain where I saw someone's corpse.

I press my hand against the glass.

There’s no police tape.

No broken vehicles.

No flashing lights.

No bodies.

Nothing.

The street looks like it always does — peaceful, ordinary, alive.

My stomach twists.

Did I dream it?

No. It felt too real. I remember the fear in my chest. The sound of the shots echoing between buildings. The way one of them looked straight at me.

I step away from the window and pace my room.

I can’t just stay inside pretending nothing happened.

I grab my jacket with shaking hands and head for the door.

The hallway outside is bright and quiet. i saw the same old woman from the bus, across the hall she's watering the plants like nothing happened.

“Good morning,” she says with a small smile.

I stare at her.

She looks… normal. Relaxed. Not like someone who heard gunfire all night.

“Did you—” My voice cracks. I clear my throat. “Did you hear anything last night?”

She frowns slightly. “Hear what?”

“The sirens. The shooting.”

She blinks at me, confused. then she gasped," honey did you break the rule that Mr. Phoveus told us?" she asked.

her face looked at me worriedly.

I nod slowly, but my chest tightens.

I walk down the stairs and push open the front entrance of the building.

The air outside feels fresh. Birds are chirping. The sky is clear blue.

People fill the sidewalks, talking, laughing.

A delivery truck parks near the corner café.

No one looks afraid.

No one looks like they survived anything.

I walk toward the plaza, my heartbeat growing louder in my ears. Each step feels unreal, like I’m moving through a dream.

When I reach the fountain, I stop.

This is where I saw them fall.

I scan the ground carefully.

There are no marks.

No shattered glass, No stains, Nothing.

It’s as if the night erased itself.

then i saw a familiar face, it's the old man in the office...

i slowly walk towards the bench where he seated, the same beautiful girl ella, beside him, they are talking flirtly.

then his smirk widened, "oh, elara right?" i nodded then a small chuckle escapes his mouth.

"hmm, did you see anything? last night?" he asked that made my blood ran cold, he knew?.

"y-yes" i simply said with shaking lips, he smirk then gets up.

ella gets up as well her eyes sharp as she observes me, like she did when she gave us the box with assassin knife.

i take a deep breath to steady myself then says,"tell me everything..", the gold man looks at ella, then she gets up.

"i will tell you a small information.." she starts to speak then circle towards me.

"you see elara, this is not a normal city..." i felt my heart tightening.. what does she mean?..

"this city is for criminals, for rich criminals that don't want to live in normal life". i clench my fist tightening the grip in the clothes i,m wearing.

she smirk when she sees my reaction, then i asked calmly "then why this city is capturing other people like me?".

she laugh then her face becomes serious again," because those rich criminals kept breaking the rule, they are hard to control". she smirks, then the old man came beside her gripping her waist.

"and because innocent people like you elara are easy to control" he smirk then they left.. me with many thoughts, and fear.

i really need to find Ron fast.........

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