Chapter One
667 Words
Karma Slivermoon had learned the hard way that staying was more dangerous than leaving.
She’d stayed once—long enough to believe in the illusion of safety. Long enough to let herself want things she couldn’t afford to lose. When it all shattered, it did so violently, leaving scars that didn’t show and a hollow ache that never quite dulled.
So she ran.
The road into Black Hollow was narrow and unmarked, winding through dense forest that pressed in on both sides like a held breath. Karma’s boots dragged against the gravel, every step heavier than the last. Three days without real sleep. Too little food. Too many miles behind her.
Her body was done.
But stopping felt worse.
She hugged her jacket tighter around herself as dusk bled into night, the trees swallowing the last scraps of fading light. The forest here felt… different. Not threatening. Aware. The air was thick, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth, settling into her lungs like it belonged there.
She told herself it was nothing.
Just exhaustion playing tricks on her mind.
Her thoughts drifted—unwanted—to the life she’d abandoned. The apartment that never felt like home. The hands that had once held her too tightly. The promises that curdled into control, then violence she’d explained away until she couldn’t anymore.
You don’t owe anyone your pain, she reminded herself, echoing her mother’s voice from years ago.
Her mother.
The thought hurt worse than the blisters forming on her heels.
She hadn’t been able to stay after the funeral. Too many questions. Too many looks from people who suddenly wanted answers Karma didn’t have. Her mother had always been secretive, always moving them from place to place, never staying long enough for roots to form.
It’s safer that way, she’d said.
Karma had never understood what she meant—only that leaving felt like muscle memory now.
The road dipped suddenly, and lights appeared ahead. A town. Small. Quiet. Nestled between trees like it was trying not to be found.
Black Hollow.
Relief washed over her, fragile and fleeting. She’d rest. One night. Then she’d keep moving.
As she stepped past the tree line, something tugged low in her chest.
Karma faltered.
The sensation wasn’t painful—just strange. Like a sudden shift in gravity, a gentle but insistent pull drawing her forward. Her breath caught, fingers curling against her jacket.
“What…?”
She shook it off, forcing her legs to move. Anxiety, she decided. Her nerves had been frayed raw for weeks. Her body was simply catching up.
Still, the feeling lingered—quiet, persistent—threaded through her exhaustion like a question she didn’t know how to answer.
She barely made it into town before the ground seemed to tilt beneath her feet.
Her vision blurred. The lights smeared into hazy gold streaks. Karma stumbled, heart pounding as weakness surged through her limbs all at once.
Not now.
She swayed, knees buckling, the world narrowing to breath and dark.
Strong arms caught her before she hit the ground.
The pull flared—sharp and sudden—as if whatever had been tugging at her finally found its anchor. Her fingers instinctively curled into the fabric of a jacket that smelled faintly of smoke and pine.
“Easy,” a low voice murmured.
Warmth surrounded her, steady and solid, grounding her even as consciousness slipped away. Karma fought it, blinking up at the man holding her.
Tall. Dark hair. Eyes so intent they cut through the fog in her mind.
For a fleeting moment, clarity pierced the haze—and something inside her recognized him.
Her chest tightened.
“Sorry,” she whispered, the word barely a breath. “I didn’t mean to—”
Her strength gave out.
The last thing Karma Slivermoon felt before darkness claimed her was that strange pull settling deep in her bones—quiet now, patient—as if it had been waiting for her all along.
- Writer
