Chapter 5 — Someone Dies
645 Words
I broke the rule.
Not deliberately. Not defiantly.
I just… forgot.
The night felt normal. Too normal. Laughter drifted through the street outside the boarding house, distant music from somewhere down the block, the illusion of safety settling over me like a lie I wanted to believe.
I told myself I was tired of being afraid.
So when my phone buzzed at 12:07 a.m., I answered it.
“Where are you?” Sam asked. “You said you’d walk me back.”
“I know,” I said, grabbing my jacket. “I’m coming.”
The air in my room shifted instantly.
Heavy. Sharp.
“No,” he said.
The word slammed into me like a wall.
I froze, fingers still wrapped around my doorknob.
“You said don’t leave,” I whispered. “You didn’t say I couldn’t step outside for five minutes.”
Silence.
Then his presence flooded the room, furious and cold.
“You are not going,” he said, each word controlled with effort. “Lock the door.”
“I’m not a prisoner.”
“You will be if you keep testing me.”
Anger flared, bright and reckless. “You don’t get to scare me into obeying you.”
His voice dropped, dangerous and low.
“I’m trying to scare you into surviving.”
I yanked the door open.
The hallway lights flickered violently as I stepped out. The temperature plummeted, cold chasing me down the stairs like something alive.
“I’ll be back,” I said aloud. “I’m not afraid of you.”
The house went silent.
That should have terrified me.
Outside, the night air felt warm by comparison. Too warm. The streetlamps buzzed faintly, insects humming like nothing in the world had changed.
Sam waited near the corner, smiling when he saw me.
“Finally,” he said. “That place gives me the creeps.”
My phone vibrated in my hand.
MIDNIGHT ISN’T FOR YOU.
I swallowed and slid it into my pocket.
“I’ll walk you halfway,” I said.
A figure stood across the street.
I hadn’t noticed it before.
Tall. Still. Watching.
My steps slowed.
“Do you see that?” I asked Sam quietly.
“See what?”
The figure didn’t move.
A sudden pressure settled behind my eyes, sharp and warning.
Go back.
“I think someone’s following us,” I said.
Sam laughed. “Relax.”
He stepped closer to me.
The streetlight above us flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then shattered.
Glass rained down.
Sam yelped, stumbling backward. “What the hell—”
The figure across the street moved.
Not walking.
Gliding.
The temperature dropped so fast my breath fogged.
“Run,” I whispered.
Sam didn’t listen.
A car engine roared suddenly at the end of the street—too loud, too fast. Tires screeched.
I turned, heart slamming, instinct screaming.
“Sam—!”
The impact was sickening.
Metal. Sound. Silence.
I stood frozen, screaming locked in my throat as people rushed forward, voices overlapping, chaos erupting around me.
The driver stumbled out, shaking, swearing he hadn’t seen anyone.
They said it was an accident.
I knew better.
I felt him behind me.
Not touching. Never touching.
“You were warned,” he said quietly in my ear.
I shook, tears spilling down my face. “You killed him.”
“No,” he replied calmly. “I removed a variable.”
I spun, panic and fury tearing through me. “You promised you’d protect me!”
“I did,” he said. “You’re alive.”
Sirens wailed in the distance.
My legs gave out.
As the crowd closed in, his voice followed me—dark, intimate, unwavering.
“This is why you obey.”
“And this,” he added softly, “is why you don’t walk away from me again.”
- Writer
