Before I remember

Beginning

Chapter One



She stood completely still in the middle of a vast hall, looking utterly peaceful.



Smoke billowed through the air, thick and black, burning throats and bringing tears to people's eyes. Emergency alarms screamed overhead. People ran in every direction, desperately fighting to save their lives. Mothers dragged their children through the chaos, men shoved past one another, and bags and shoes lay abandoned across the marble floor.



No one cared about anything else.



Everyone was fighting to survive.



It was a mall—a grand, luxurious shopping mall in Karachi, the kind of place where designer boutiques lined polished corridors and a single bottle of perfume could cost more than most people's monthly rent. Glass elevators connected its floors, and expensive storefronts glittered beneath elegant lighting.



But today, the air smelled of burning plastic.



A bomb had exploded on the second floor, near the food court.



The first blast.



And yet, she stood there as if nothing had happened.



She was in the middle of the main atrium, directly beneath a massive chandelier that swayed dangerously overhead.



Her face was peaceful, almost unnaturally so, despite the chaos raging inside her mind. A faint smile rested on her lips as she stood in her black dress, watching the world fall apart around her.



Her hands were cold. Her heart pounded so violently that it hurt.



Yet her feet remained rooted to the floor.



Is this how it ends? she wondered.



In a place I never even wanted to come to?



A bitter, almost sarcastic smile touched her lips.



Then, slowly, she began to walk.



She moved as though she had nothing left to lose, as though there was nothing in that place worth fearing. Her black dress brushed against the marble floor, now dusted with ash. People collided with her shoulders as they rushed past, their terrified screams filling the air.



A woman grabbed her arm and shouted, "Run!"



She didn't listen.



She continued walking slowly, almost like a living corpse, seemingly untouched by the panic surrounding her.



Because something inside her was louder than the explosions.



A memory.



A voice.



Something she had been trying to put an end to for months.



Suddenly, a man collided with her and shoved her aside.



"Move!" he shouted.



She lost her balance and stumbled backward, falling toward the hard marble floor. Instinctively, she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact.



But it never came.



A man stood directly behind her, though neither of them had expected their paths to cross.



He appeared to be in his early thirties. He wore a police uniform, his dark brown hair slightly disheveled and dust coating his shoulders. His muscular arms were visible beneath his rolled-up sleeves, and his sharp jawline gave him an intimidating appearance.



His dark brown eyes were focused and fierce, reflecting the urgency of the situation around him.



He had the kind of appearance that made him seem almost unreal—the sort of man girls in college might describe as too good to be true.



But there was nothing unreal about the danger surrounding him.



His attention was fixed entirely on his rifle.



He held it firmly, aiming toward the second-floor balcony, where a shadow had just moved.



He was about to pull the trigger.



Then the girl collided with him.



The sudden impact threw him off balance. He stumbled backward, and before either of them could react, they both crashed to the floor.



She landed directly on his chest.



For one brief second, the chaos around them seemed to disappear.



Her black hair spilled across his face. Her hands pressed against his uniform, while his arms instinctively caught her around the waist, preventing her from striking the marble floor with greater force.



Their eyes met.



His widened in shock and disbelief.



Hers remained strangely empty, calm, and completely tearless.



"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed, his voice low and furious. "Do you want to die standing here?"



She didn't answer.



She simply stared at him, as though he were the only real thing in a hall full of ghosts.



For a moment, he searched her face, unable to understand how someone could remain so unnervingly calm in the middle of a bombing.



Then his expression hardened.



He was about to push her away and order her to run when—



A deafening explosion ripped through the mall.



The floor trembled beneath them. A thunderous roar swallowed every other sound, shaking the entire building to its foundations.



And then—



Everything went black.