Ayla

The night tasted like rust and rain, and it burned all the way down. I ran because stopping wasn’t an option because the sound of footsteps behind me wasn’t fading, wasn’t slowing, wasn’t giving me even a second to think.

My lungs dragged in air that didn’t feel like air anymore, sharp and thin and useless, each breath cutting deeper than the last as if my body had already decided I wasn’t meant to make it out of this. I could still hear the footsteps getting closer and closer and closer. Fuck.

“You can’t escape bitch” one of them shouted, followed by cheerful laughter of his companions, his words slicing through the narrow alley like it had weight, like it could actually reach me and pull me down.

I didn’t look, I didn’t had the courage to look back. I turned sharply instead, my shoulder slamming into damp concrete as I misjudged the space, pain flaring so suddenly it blurted my vision. For a second, my body faltered, balance slipping, but I forced myself anyway, ignoring the way something hung warm ran down my arm.

...“Don’t slow down”...

...“Don’t fall”...

...I repeated. ...

...I fell anyway....

The ground came fast and hard, gravel biting into my palms, the impact knocking the breath clean out of me. For a moment, everything went quiet— not outside, but inside my head, like something had flickered off. My body refused to move, refused to respond, as if it had reached it’s limit and simply stopped caring. Then I heard their laugh again. I pushed myself up, arms shaking, vision pulsing at the edges, and forced my legs to move again. It wasn’t running anymore, not really— just a stagger forward, uneven and desperate each step heavier than the last.

The alley opened into a wider road, but it didn’t help. It just made everything feel more exposed.

...Empty....

Ofcourse, it was empty. The streetlight above flickered weakly, casting uneven shadows that stretched across the pavement. No cars. No people. No one to notice. My legs gave out again. And this time I didn’t catch myself. The world tilted sharply as I hit the ground, and something inside me loosened. The fight that had been holding me upright thinned, slipping through my grip like it had never belonged to me in the first place. My chest rose and fell too fast, but it wasn’t enough.

It was never enough.

Maybe I should stop. Just for a few second, just to breathe. The thought snapped something back into place. I forced myself up again, ignoring the way my body screamed in protest, and stumbled forward into the middle of road without thinking, without looking and then—

Light.

Blinding. Immediate. Absolute.

...A car....

The headlight hit me full force, swallowing everything else, freezing me where I stood. The horn blared loud enough through my skull, but it didn’t matter. My body didn’t move. My mind didn’t panic.

It just....went still. I knew what I was supposed to do. Move. Get out of the way. Survive. But something in me refused. Behind me, the footsteps slowed.

Watching.

Waiting.

A strange calm settled in, quiet and heavy, pressing down on everything else. This is not relief. Not exactly. Just certainty. Better than going back. Better than being dragged into whatever waited behind me.

The horn grew louder. Closer. Urgent. Still I didn’t move. My fingers loosened at my sides. My shoulders dropped at the last of the fight drained out of me, leaving nothing but the weight of it all setting in. For the first time that night—

I stopped. The car almost on me when I closed my eyes. The impact never came.

Instead, the sound of brakes screeched through the night, violent and sudden, cutting everything apart. The car stopped just short of me, close enough that I could feel the heat of it, close enough that it shouldn’t e hit me. But didn’t.

I opened my eyes slowly, the light still too bright, my vision struggling to adjust. The shape of the car came into focus— dark, sleek, completely out of place Ina steeet like this. The drivers door opened, a man stepped out. I couldn’t see his face only the outline. Tall. Still.

For a moment, neither of us moved. The world seemed to hold itself there, balanced on something fragile, like one wrong motion would break it.

Rain started to fall light at first, than heavier, soaking through my clothes, sliding down my skin, mixing with everything else until I couldn’t tell what was what anymore. I swayed.

My body finally giving in to everything it hay been holding back. He took slow steps towards me when my knees buckled up, this time I didn’t fight it.

The last thing I saw before everything went dark was him moving towards me, steady and certain, like he already decided something long before this ever happened.

The first thing I notice when I wake up is the smell. Anticeptic. Clean. Sharp enough to sting. A hospital. For a moment, I didn’t move, I just lie there, starting at the ceiling, waiting for the memory to settle into my head. Last night, I almost died.

Running. Falling. Struggling. And then, Light.

My chest tightens.

I sit up too quickly, and pain slices through me, forcing a sharp breath out of my lungs. My arm is bandaged. My side aches. So I didn’t die…how fucking unfortunate. I swing my legs off anyway. The room is quiet. No visitors. No voices. Just the faint hum of machines and distant footsteps in the hallway. My gaze immediately on the table adjacent to my bed, I’m searching for— a note, a hospital bill, a receipt, or a business card. But, I found nothing. Nothing to prove that guy was even real, the man from last night.

For a second, I wonder if I imagined it. But I didn’t imagine the brakes, or the way he stepped out of the car, or the fact that I’m still alive, inside a hospital and not in a dark basement, tied up. The thought of it makes me sick.

He bought me here. He chose not to leave me in the street. Why?

”Miss? You’re awake.”

A nurse steps in, her voice gentle. I nod once.

”Do you remember what happened?” She asked. I could tell her, I could say everything. But I already know how that would end up. So I choose not to, I shake my head sideways.

”Not really” it’s easier this way.

She gives me a look, half concern and half dissapointing— then she begins explaining things. Minor injuries. Nothing life—threatening. I was lucky.

Lucky. I almost laugh. My life is shit.

I leave before they can ask anything else.

The hallway feels too bright. Too clean. Like a different world from the one I was in last night.

For a moment, I pause near the entrance.

I don’t know what I’m expecting.

A car.

A man.

A shadow.Something.But there’s nothing.

Just people moving on with their lives.

Like nothing happened.Like I didn’t almost disappear.

Fine.If he doesn’t want to be found…

I’ll find him anyway.

By the time I reach the university, I know I look like a mess.My steps are uneven. My clothes are different, but they don’t hide the exhaustion carved into my face. The bruises peek out where they can.People notice.They always do.

Not out of concern.Out of curiosity.

Whispers follow me down the corridor like they always have.I keep walking.

I’ve learned how to exist inside noise withoutletting it touch me.Most days.

A shoulder bumps into mine.Harder than necessary.

“Watch it,” someone mutters.I don’t respond.

I never do.Because reacting only feeds it.

And I don’t have the energy to be entertainment. The classroom is already half full when I step in.Same seats. Same faces. Same indifference.I move to the back, like always. I feel safer there. Invisible. Or at least… less visible.

I lower myself into the chair carefully, my body protesting every movement. My fingers tighten slightly around the edge of the desk as I steady my breathing.

Focus.

Think.

The car.

The man.There has to be something I missed.

Something I can trace back.

People don’t just save someone and disappear.

Unless they don’t want to be found.

Or—

Unless they already know where to find you.

The thought lingers, and an uncomfortable feeling settles deep down.

The door opens, and the room goes quiet all of a sudden. It’s a new proffesser. He walks inside slowly, like he already owns the place. Interesting, an unshakable confidence he is putting on display.

There’s a certain kind of silence that follows someone unfamiliar. A shift in attention. Subtle, but there.

But I don’t give a damn about it, why should I?

It doesn’t matter.Nothing here ever does.

But then—Something feels… off.

I glance up.And for a second—

Just a second—his eyes are already on me.

He isn’t scanning the room, he isn’t observing anything, his face is unreadable.

The eye contact is brief. But it doesn’t feel accidental. It feels…intentional.

Like he found what he was looking for faster than expected. My stomach tightens.

This isn’t fear. Not exactly.

Something else. He looks away first. As if nothing happened. As if I imagined it. Maybe I did. I look down at my desk again, my fingers curling slightly. But my thoughts don’t settle.

Not this time.

I shouldn’t be distracted by anybody like him, I wish I don’t.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***