THE RULE
1352 Words
Lina didn’t answer the call.
She stared at the glowing screen as it vibrated in her hand, the unknown number flashing like a warning. The ringing cut through the quiet apartment, sharp and relentless, until it finally stopped. Silence rushed back in — heavy, thick, pressing against her chest.
When she looked up, he was still there.
Watching her from the edge of the room, half-hidden in shadow. The earlier tension in his expression had eased slightly, but his eyes remained locked on her, intense and unreadable.
“You listened,” he said, his voice low and steady.
Lina swallowed hard and slowly lowered the phone. Her fingers tightened around it like a lifeline. “That doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
His calm had fully returned now, that brief moment of urgency gone as if it had never existed. It unsettled her more than if he had stayed tense. Who was this man — if he even was a man — who could appear and disappear at will?
“What was that call?” she demanded.
“Something you shouldn’t have answered.”
“That’s not an explanation.”
“It’s enough.”
Lina’s grip tightened until her knuckles turned white. “No. It’s not.”
He didn’t argue. He never did. He simply stood there, watching her with that quiet patience that made her feel completely exposed, like he could see every racing thought behind her eyes.
The apartment felt smaller with him in it. The air cooler. She could almost smell rain and something metallic clinging to him.
“Fine,” she muttered. “I’ll find out myself.”
Before she could second-guess herself, she tapped the screen and redialed the number. It rang once. Twice—
He vanished.
Just like that. No sound. No shimmer. One moment he was there, the next the space where he had stood was empty.
Lina’s breath caught. Her eyes darted around the room, heart slamming against her ribs.
“Hello?” a flat, disinterested voice answered on the other end.
She forced her attention back to the call. “Hi… you just called me a minute ago.”
A brief pause. “I think you have the wrong number.”
The line went dead.
Lina slowly lowered the phone, staring at the blank screen. Wrong number? The explanation felt too simple, too ordinary for the way her skin was still crawling.
Her gaze returned to the empty spot.
Nothing.
She exhaled shakily. “Come back,” she whispered.
Silence.
Lina pressed her lips together. “Come back,” she said louder, the words feeling strange and desperate leaving her mouth.
Still nothing.
The realization crept in slowly, like cold fingers tracing her spine. If he disappears when I’m not alone…
She hesitated, then reached for her phone again. Instead of dialing, she turned the screen off and set it face-down on the table. The room settled into a new, expectant quiet.
A few seconds passed.
Then—
“You figured it out.”
Lina spun around.
He was back — standing closer than before, barely three feet away. The air around him felt heavier, charged. His presence filled the small apartment in a way that made the walls seem closer.
Her breath caught. “You disappear when I’m not alone,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
“And you come back when I am.”
“Yes.”
The easy honesty in his voice sent a shiver down her spine. No games. No denial. Just truth.
“So that’s the rule?” she asked, her voice steadier than she felt. “You only exist when I’m alone?”
He tilted his head slightly, studying her. “For now.”
For now. The two words dropped like stones into still water. Lina’s stomach twisted.
“What does that mean?” she pressed. “For now?”
He didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t.
Her mind raced, trying to find logic in the impossible. This wasn’t a dream. He was too consistent. Too real. She could see the subtle rise and fall of his chest, the way his dark eyes tracked her every small movement.
“Okay,” she said slowly, forcing herself to breathe. “Then we test it. Properly.”
He remained motionless. “Test it?”
“Yes.” She lifted the phone again, fingers more deliberate this time. “If this is real — if you’re real — then it has to work the same way every single time. No exceptions.”
His eyes stayed on hers, calm but watchful. “Go on.”
Lina pressed the call button. The ringing filled the room, and he vanished mid-breath. She ended the call immediately. Two heartbeats later, he reappeared in the exact same spot, expression unchanged.
“You already knew it would work,” he said quietly.
“I needed to see it for myself.” She set the phone down but kept it within reach. “I need things to make sense. If something breaks every rule I know, there has to be a reason. A purpose.”
“And if there isn’t one?”
Her jaw tightened. “There has to be.”
He studied her for a long moment. Something almost like understanding flickered across his face. “You need control.”
It wasn’t an accusation. Just an observation. And it stung because he was right.
Lina crossed her arms, trying to steady herself. “You said ‘for now.’ Tell me what that means. And don’t dodge the question this time.”
His gaze didn’t waver. “You’re still asking the wrong question.”
“Then tell me the right one,” she snapped, frustration bleeding through.
Another pause — longer this time. For the first time, he looked almost… conflicted.
“Ask me why I’m here,” he said finally.
Lina’s pulse quickened. The room felt smaller. “Why are you here?”
His eyes held hers, steady and unblinking.
“To keep you safe.”
The words should have comforted her. They didn’t. They felt heavy. Loaded.
“Safe from what?” she whispered.
He said nothing.
Lina stepped closer despite the warning voice in her head. “You keep doing this — showing up, disappearing, giving me half-answers. That call wasn’t normal, was it?”
“No,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t.”
Her grip on the phone tightened again. “Then what was it?”
Before he could answer — if he even would — her phone buzzed violently in her hand.
Another unknown number.
Lina flinched. She looked up at him, searching his face. He was watching her in silence. No urgent warning this time. No move to stop her. Just that steady, waiting gaze.
The phone kept buzzing, insistent and angry.
Her thumb hovered over the screen. Her heart thundered in her ears.
“If I answer this one,” she said, barely above a whisper, “what happens?”
He didn’t move. “Next time, I may not be able to pull you back.”
The words chilled her to the bone.
Lina stared at the glowing screen as it vibrated again. The choice no longer felt simple. It felt like standing at the edge of something vast and hungry.
And deep down, she was starting to realize that the man standing in front of her — the one who only existed when she was alone — might be the only thing standing between her and whatever was trying to reach her.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD