EPISODE 2:
373 Words
THE MAN WITHOUT LIGHT
Alessia didn’t expect to see him again.
Men like Dominic didn’t repeat appearances in ordinary lives. They were like storms—you experienced them once, then spent the rest of your life dealing with the aftermath.
But two nights later, he appeared again.
This time, it was at a private charity event hosted by her family.
Music. Glasses clinking. Fake smiles layered over expensive conversations.
Alessia stood near the balcony, pretending to listen to someone talk about investments she didn’t care about, when she felt it again.
That shift in the air.
Presence.
She turned.
Dominic was there.
Not dressed like a guest who belonged. Not introduced by anyone. Just… standing at the edge of the room like he had always been there.
Their eyes met across the crowd.
And for a moment, the world narrowed.
Alessia walked toward him before she even decided to.
“You don’t seem like you belong here,” she said quietly when she reached him.
“Neither do you,” he replied.
That made her pause.
People always told her she did belong. That she was born into it.
But he said it like he could see through all of that.
“How did you get in?” she asked.
Dominic’s gaze flicked briefly around the room. “Doors aren’t as locked as people think.”
“That sounds illegal.”
A faint smile. “Most truths are.”
There was something about him that made her uneasy. Not fear exactly—but awareness. Like standing too close to the edge of something vast.
“You never gave me your full name,” she said.
“I gave you enough.”
“That’s not how names work.”
He leaned slightly closer, voice lowering. “In my world, it is.”
A chill ran through her that had nothing to do with temperature.
Before she could respond, a commotion erupted near the entrance. Security rushing. Voices rising.
Someone whispered urgently.
“Stay back—he’s not supposed to be here.”
Alessia turned quickly—
But Dominic was already gone.
No goodbye.
No explanation.
Just absence.
And for the first time in her life, Alessia found herself wanting something she could not define.
- Writer
