Soulmate Run

No safe place.

I woke with a start.

For one blissful second, I didn't know why my chest felt so heavy.

Then yesterday came rushing back.

The voice.

Kai.

The break-in.

The letter.

The key.

My parents.

My eyes flew open.

"...I fell asleep."

I sat up so quickly my head spun.

I was supposed to leave.

I remembered sitting on my bed, telling myself I'd rest for just a few minutes before finding somewhere else to go.

Instead...

I'd cried myself to sleep.

"What is wrong with me?" I whispered.

How could I have been so careless?

If they came back...

I was still here.

I grabbed my phone and immediately called my mum.

Straight to voicemail.

Dad.

Voicemail.

Again.

Nothing.

The silence hurt more than hearing it ring.

I took a shaky breath and forced myself to move.

I threw a few clothes into my backpack.

My charger.

My wallet.

A bottle of water.

Then I picked up the key from my bedside table.

I still had no idea what it unlocked.

But someone had risked too much to get it into my hands.

I slipped it into the front pocket of my backpack.

Before leaving, I found myself standing outside my parents' bedroom.

I pushed the door open slowly.

Everything was exactly as they'd left it.

Dad's reading glasses rested on the bedside table.

Mum's favourite novel still lay open with a bookmark tucked between the pages.

The room didn't look abandoned.

It looked...

Waiting.

My eyes drifted to the framed photograph beside the bed.

It was an old picture of Dad from years ago.

He was younger.

Smiling.

Dressed for work.

I'd seen that photograph my whole life.

When I was little, it was just...

Dad at work.

Nothing more.

I'd never paid much attention to it.

But now...

Now it hurt.

Because it was one of the few pieces of him I still had.

"I miss you, Dad..."

My voice cracked.

Without thinking, I slipped the photograph out of its frame and carefully placed it inside my backpack.

I didn't know why.

Maybe...

I just wanted to take a piece of home with me.

Two car doors slammed shut outside.

Every muscle in my body tensed.

Slowly...

I walked to the window and pulled the curtain back just enough to look.

A black SUV.

Two men stepped out.

Neither wore a uniform.

Both moved with calm, practiced confidence.

One looked toward the front door.

The other slowly scanned the windows.

They weren't knocking on random houses.

They were here.

For me.

I stepped back immediately.

No.

Not again.

I wasn't making the same mistake twice.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and hurried toward the back door.

Just as my hand touched the handle—

Three slow knocks echoed through the house.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Not loud.

Not rushed.

Patient.

Confident.

They believed I was still inside.

I slipped out through the back door as quietly as I could.

I didn't look back.

⸻

I don't remember which bus I got on.

I only remember running until I saw one with its doors still open.

I climbed aboard, paid the fare with shaking hands, and dropped into the nearest empty seat.

Only then did I realise how hard I was breathing.

The bus pulled away.

For the first time since waking up...

I wasn't running.

I was simply trying to breathe.

My hand brushed against something inside my backpack.

The key.

I turned it over absentmindedly.

A tiny engraving near the base caught my eye.

A small symbol.

I frowned.

Why did it look so familiar?

My heartbeat quickened.

Without thinking, I pulled the photograph from my bag.

My eyes moved from the key...

...to the picture.

Back to the key.

There it was.

The same tiny symbol.

Not on Dad's clothes.

On the metal ID badge clipped neatly to his chest.

My fingers tightened around the photograph.

"...Dad?"