🌙 Chapter five — Shadows in Daylight
1672 Words
🌙 Chapter 5 — Shadows in Daylight
Amani woke the next morning with a strange heaviness in her chest — the kind that feels like a dream trying to warn you before reality catches up. Her sleep had been shallow, haunted by flashes she couldn’t fully grasp: a locked classroom door… someone’s breath too close… a voice whispering her name with a smile that wasn’t kind.
She shook the thoughts away.
Today would be better. She had Elias now — strange, quiet, intense Elias — and a school that, for once, didn’t feel like an enemy.
Her grandmother used to say: “Even a wounded bird can fly again if the wind is gentle enough.”
But Amani had learned that gentle moments never lasted.
She walked through the school gate, adjusting the strap of her worn backpack. The courtyard was loud with chatter, laughter, and movement — but something tugged at her attention, a presence like a shadow drifting along the edge of her senses.
It was nothing, she told herself.
Just nerves.
Just another day.
Then she heard it — a voice she hadn’t heard in a year, but one that had carved itself into her nightmares.
“Amani?”
Her feet froze.
No.
No, no, no… not him.
She turned slowly, her heartbeat crashing into her ears like a storm.
And there he stood.
Ethan Kelvin.
His face was exactly as it had been the night her life shattered:
handsome in a cruel way, confident in a way that made her stomach twist, eyes too bright with secrets no one else ever cared to uncover.
He wore the same smirk — like he owned every inch of ground he walked on.
“Amani,” he repeated, stepping forward. “I thought that was you.”
But she wasn’t listening.
Her mind was no longer in the present.
---
FLASHBACK — ONE YEAR AGO
The classroom was empty.
It was late.
She had trusted him.
Her crush, the boy who smiled at her in the hallways… the boy who held her books when they walked together… the boy she thought would never hurt her.
“Amani, I really like you,” he had whispered.
She had believed him.
Then the door locked.
Her voice didn’t matter.
Her tears didn’t matter.
Her pain didn’t matter.
When she told her mother, the words trembled out of her like broken glass.
But no one listened.
No one believed her.
The rich boy’s tears were more convincing than her truth.
Her mother’s voice still echoed in her bones:
“What were you doing with him alone? Are you trying to shame us?”
---
Amani blinked hard as the memory slammed into her chest like a blow.
She couldn’t breathe.
Her hands shook.
Her vision blurred.
“Hey…” Ethan reached out, still calm, still pretending. “Don’t look at me like that, Amani. We were close once, right?”
His fingers brushed her sleeve—
She jerked away, stumbling back.
“I— I have to go,” she whispered, panic clawing up her throat.
And she ran.
Through the courtyard.
Past the building.
Out the school gate.
She didn’t stop until she reached her house and slammed the door, her breath hitching, her chest heaving.
Her legs gave out, and she slid down the wall, tears spilling freely.
“Why… why is he here?” she whispered to no one. “Why now?”
---
Back at school, Elias wondered why she hadn’t shown up to class.
It wasn’t like her.
She was quiet — yes. Shy — definitely. But she was punctual, responsible… and she had promised to sit with him today.
Elias’s jaw flexed as he checked the time again.
“Bro,” his friend Luka nudged him from behind, “you’re looking like you want to fight someone. Chill.”
“I’m not in the mood,” Elias muttered.
“Let me guess,” Luka teased. “It’s about the new girl?”
Elias didn’t deny it.
Luka whistled low. “Wow. You’re serious.”
Before Elias could respond, someone walked into the classroom — someone who drew an immediate reaction from the students.
Ethan Kelvin.
Elias stiffened at the whispers around the room.
“That’s the rich guy from last year…”
“I heard he transferred back.”
“He looks different… darker.”
Ethan glanced around, scanning the class… searching for something. Or someone.
And when his eyes landed on Amani’s empty desk, Elias noticed.
He noticed everything.
Luka muttered, “That guy gives me bad vibes.”
“He’s the reason she’s gone,” Elias replied, his voice low, flat, dangerous.
He didn’t know why he said it.
He didn’t know what had happened.
But he felt it. Deeply. Instinctively.
Ethan seemed to sense Elias watching him. Their eyes met.
Ethan smirked.
Confident.
Unbothered.
Arrogant.
Elias smiled back — but his smile was sharp, cold, and promising violence.
Ethan looked away first.
Luka elbowed him. “What the hell was that tension?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Elias muttered, already grabbing his bag. “I’m going to find her.”
---
Amani sat on her bedroom floor, hugging herself tightly.
The room felt smaller.
Her lungs felt tighter.
Her thoughts wouldn’t stop spinning.
A loud knock startled her.
“Amani!”
Her heart stopped.
“Open the door.”
Elias.
She wiped her cheeks, stood shakily, and cracked the door open.
Elias didn’t wait — he pulled the door fully and stepped inside, shutting it behind him. His eyes scanned her face, taking in every tear track, every tremble.
“Amani.” His voice softened in a way she had never heard. “What happened?”
She shook her head.
He stepped closer.
“Who hurt you?” he asked quietly. “Tell me.”
But the words couldn’t come.
Instead, she whispered, “He’s here.”
Elias frowned. “Who?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to.
Because at that moment, as if summoned by the memory, a voice called from outside the window:
“Amani? I know you’re home.”
Ethan.
Amani gasped and moved back. Elias turned slowly toward the window, his expression shifting from confusion to fury.
“That him?” he asked.
She nodded.
Elias’s fingers curled into fists until his knuckles whitened.
“I’m going to kill him,” he said quietly.
Amani grabbed his arm. “No— Elias, please— don’t.”
He stopped only because she touched him.
Not because he agreed.
Not because he forgave.
But because she was shaking.
“You’re scared of him.” Elias’s voice was slow, controlled. “Why?”
She looked down, tears gathering again.
“I can’t… talk about it.”
“Then I’ll wait,” he said. “As long as it takes.”
A knock came again, louder.
“Amani! Come out so we can talk!”
Elias took a step toward the door, muscles tense.
Amani pulled him back by the sleeve. “Please… don’t go out.”
He paused.
Then he reached out, gently lifting her chin so she had to look at him.
“No one touches you again,” he whispered. “Not while I’m breathing.”
Her heart skipped painfully.
Before she could respond, another voice called from outside the house:
“Elias! What the hell are you doing? You disappeared!”
A girl.
Amani froze.
Soon, footsteps approached the door, and a tall girl with long braids, sharp eyes, and a confident smirk appeared in the doorway. She wore the school uniform with a rebel’s flair — sleeves rolled slightly, collar loose, attitude loud without speaking.
“Really?” the girl asked Elias, raising an eyebrow. “Leaving me with Luka just to chase after a girl? Drama, Elias. Serious drama.”
But when she saw Amani’s red eyes and shaking hands, her expression softened instantly.
“Oh…” she breathed. “Something’s wrong.”
Amani stepped back, embarrassed.
Elias sighed. “Amani, this is Zariah. She’s—”
“A friend,” Zariah finished gently, stepping inside. “Don’t worry. I don’t bite unless provoked.”
Zariah crouched in front of Amani and gave her a warm, sincere smile.
“You don’t have to explain anything,” she said softly. “But I’ve known Elias for years. If he’s this angry, then someone hurt you. That means we protect you. Okay?”
Amani’s throat tightened.
Friends.
She hadn’t had one in years.
Elias shot Zariah a grateful look she pretended not to notice.
Outside, Ethan knocked again — harder.
“Amani! Open the door now!”
Zariah’s expression changed instantly — from gentle to deadly irritated.
“Who the hell is that?” she muttered.
Elias didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
The fury in his eyes told her everything.
Zariah stood up slowly, cracking her knuckles.
“Elias,” she said, “should I go talk to him?”
“No,” Elias said tightly. “I will.”
Amani panicked. “No, please— don’t fight!”
Elias turned to her, his gaze softening.
“No fighting,” he promised.
But the promise was a lie.
“At least not yet.”
Zariah leaned in and whispered to Amani playfully, “Don’t worry. Elias only kills when necessary.”
Amani’s eyes widened in panic.
Zariah laughed. “Relax — I’m joking… mostly.”
Elias opened the door.
And the moment Ethan Kelvin saw him, the smirk on his face disappeared.
Elias didn’t speak.
He didn’t threaten.
He didn’t shout.
He simply stared.
And that stare alone was enough to make Ethan take a step back.
Behind Elias, Zariah folded her arms and smirked. “Oh yeah… he’s scared. This is going to be fun.”
Amani watched from inside, her heart racing — not with fear this time, but with something else entirely.
For the first time since her nightmare began…
She wasn’t alone.
And somewhere deep inside her, the first seeds of strength began to grow.
- Writer
