He’s Out There
1173 Words
Reza
By the time I’m standing in front of the mirror, I barely recognize myself.
Not because I look different, though I do, but because the woman staring back at me looks like she’s preparing for battle rather than a night out.
I smooth my hands down the fabric of my dress for the third time. It’s dark red, soft and fluid, clinging just enough to remind me that I still have a body, that I still exist outside of shock and scent and power. My long blonde hair falls loose down my back, freshly washed, still faintly damp at the ends. I’ve added eyeliner, more than usual, and a swipe of lipstick that feels too bold, too deliberate.
Too much.
Perfect.
Starla stirs uneasily beneath my skin.
- This is a bad idea, she murmurs.
- I know. But I don’t stop.
Because sitting alone tonight would be worse.
Because if I stay in this apartment with nothing but silence and memory, I will unravel. I will replay the hallway. The impact. His eyes. The way he turned away without looking back.
A car horn blares outside, short, sharp. Stephany.
Saved by the girls.
I grab my bag and head down just as laughter spills from the car even before I open the door. Music pulses from inside, bass-heavy and unapologetic.
“Finally!” Stephany calls from the driver’s seat. “I was about to come drag you out myself.”
I slide into the backseat, Carol already there, giving me a quick once-over and a sympathetic smile.
“You look good,” she says. “Like… dangerously good.”
“That’s the goal,” I reply lightly.
Beside me, a woman I don’t know turns in her seat, studying me with open curiosity. Her dark hair is pulled into a loose knot, her expression warm but sharp, like she notices everything whether she means to or not.
“Oh, right,” Milly says, twisting around. “Reza, this is Nancy. Nancy, this is the doctor I told you about.”
Nancy smiles easily. “Nice to finally meet you. You caused quite a stir today.”
I wince. “That bad, huh?”
She shrugs. “Depends who you ask.”
Stephany shoots her a look. “Tonight is not about pack politics.”
“Relax,” Nancy says mildly. “I’m just observing.”
Carol snorts. “She always is.”
The car pulls away, laughter rising again as the music gets turned up. I lean back against the seat, letting the noise wash over me.
“Are you okay?” Carol asks quietly, just loud enough for me to hear.
I hesitate.
“I will be,” I say. “Eventually.”
Starla huffs, unimpressed.
Milly leans toward me, eyes twinkling. “Ready to survive a night out?”
I nod, even though my chest still tightens in places I don’t want to acknowledge. The excitement feels borrowed, like I’m wearing someone else’s jacket. It fits well enough, but it isn’t mine.
We drive only a few blocks before Stephany pulls the car over near the bar. The bar has a small patio lined with low tables and string lights that cast soft halos across the pavement.
“Let’s sit outside first,” she says. “Catch up.”
The girls hop out, stretching, laughing, the night greeting them like an old friend. I follow more out of habit than agreement.
The music from inside drifts out in low waves, muffled by walls and glass. Laughter spills through the open doorway, mixing with the night air. The scent of warm concrete, alcohol, and blooming night flowers settles around me, grounding and unfamiliar all at once.
Carol pulls out a chair for me without comment. Stephany drops into the one across from me, grinning like she’s already three drinks in.
“You need this,” she says. “Tonight, no thinking. No worrying. Just..” She gestures broadly at the street, the sky, the hum of life around us. “everything else.”
Milly chuckles beside her. “You look like you need a drink before you even enter.”
I manage a small smile, but my fingers curl around the edge of the chair, gripping harder than necessary.
Starla growls low, a warning rumble that vibrates through my sternum.
-Relax, I whisper, more to her than anyone else.
Nancy remains standing, leaning against the railing with her arms crossed loosely. She hasn’t said much since we left the car, but there’s a weight to her attention. Not prying. Assessing. Like she’s watching a pattern unfold in real time.
“You’re tense,” she says finally, not unkind, not soft either. Just factual.
“I’ve had a… long day,” I admit, keeping my voice low.
Nancy hums. “I can tell. But you’re here. That counts for something.”
I glance at her, surprised by the bluntness. She just shrugs, eyes flicking back toward the street as if the conversation is already complete.
Carol and Stephany drift into an animated discussion about something trivial, work, someone’s terrible date, I’m not sure. Their laughter rises and falls around me, but my attention keeps slipping toward the faint, persistent hum beneath my skin.
Starla presses against my chest.
- He’s out there.
I bite back a shiver. Not yet. Not while the girls are here.
Stephany nudges my shoulder. “Drink?” she asks. A small gesture, a protective one.
I hesitate, then nod. “Sure.”
Carol claps her hands. “Let’s get something exotic for us all.”
I force a grin through the flicker of unease twisting in my stomach. “Let’s,” I say, injecting fake enthusiasm into the word.
Nancy watches this exchange quietly, eyes narrowing just a fraction, not accusatory, just attentive. She doesn’t know Aaron. Doesn’t know the bond. But she knows tension when she sees it. She waits, patient, like she expects something to surface eventually.
The drinks arrive. Bright colours in tall glasses, citrus and sugar cutting through the heavier scents of the night. I take a cautious sip. The taste is sharp, sweet, distracting.
Good.
We sit a little longer, the girls chatting around me, pulling me into small fragments of conversation. A joke here. A comment there. They don’t hover. Don’t prod. Just let me exist among them without explanation.
It helps more than I want to admit.
Eventually, Stephany claps her hands together. “All right. Enough outside. Let’s do this.”
My pulse jumps.
I inhale slowly, bracing. The hum beneath my skin sharpens, stretching, tightening like a wire drawn too far.
Starla growls softly.
- It’s coming. It’s going to hit you inside.
I nod to myself.
- Yes. I know.
But I step forward anyway, letting the girls lead the way toward the door. Toward the music. Toward the heat and scent and chaos waiting on the other side.
The bar door looms ahead.
Music.
Warmth.
The unknown.
I push the door open.
The night begins.
- Writer
