Voxara Episode 2
370 Words
Episode 2 – “Wordless Attraction”
Sari didn’t look back.
Riven’s footsteps echoed behind her through the dripping maze of alleys. LexCorp drones zipped overhead—scanning, searching, silencing. She darted through a hidden grate into the underlayers of Voxara, slipping into a forgotten train tunnel lined with paint-smeared pipes and whispered graffiti.
He followed.
Of course he did.
When she finally turned, he was there—panting, grinning, slightly bleeding from a scraped palm.
“You run like someone who’s done it often,” he said, catching his breath.
Sari raised a brow. She motioned: Three fingers. One wave. Two fists.
A gesture code. One only the streetfolk used.
He blinked. “I don’t speak hands.”
She rolled her eyes and pointed to his LexChip. Five words left.
He checked. She was right.
“…Damn,” he mouthed silently.
She handed him a torn piece of chalk. In silence, he wrote on a broken pipe:
Why did they chase us?
Sari hesitated. Then, using the same chalk, she wrote below it:
You said my name. Without consent. Triggers surveillance.
Riven stared. Then added:
I didn’t know. I just… knew it. You looked like a Sari.
Her hand froze.
That name had been buried deep, used only once since her family vanished. How did he guess it?
But before she could scrawl a reply, the wall to her right flickered—an emergency broadcast projection beamed across the concrete:
“Public Notice: Word Breach Detected in District 9. Suspect 1: Unlicensed Female. Suspect 2: Male Word-Excessor. Reward: 10,000 credits for capture. Stay silent. Stay safe.”
Sari wiped the message with her sleeve and pulled Riven into a crawlspace behind the pipe wall. They sat there in a cramped darkness, knees touching.
Neither spoke.
Not because they didn’t want to.
Because they couldn’t afford to.
But in the silence, a strange comfort settled. A rhythm. Breathing. A glance held too long. Her fingers brushed his. He didn’t pull away.
He mouthed two words he had no chip-credit left to say:
“Thank you.”
And though she’d sworn never to speak again, something inside her cracked.
She didn’t reply out loud.
But she smiled.
... to be continued
- Writer
