The woman's breath was heavy, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Though her body was wounded, her eyes remained sharp, filled with the tenacity of a hunter who hadn't given up. From behind her arm, wrapped in torn robes, her hand clutched something—a small, dark object, almost invisible in the shadows.
Mr. Gharrick narrowed his eyes, his jaw hardening. He recognized that stance.
A fight wasn't over until the opponent truly surrendered.
"Don't even try." His voice was flat, but laden with threat.
But he was too late.
The woman shot forward.
Not toward him.
Toward Neir.
"NEIR, MOVE!"
Dani shouted, his voice echoing in Neir's head. But Neir's body froze. Her feet seemed rooted to the floor.
And at the same time, Dani—who was in the store's stockroom—felt the same thing.
A threat. An attack.
His body jerked unconsciously, and in his panic, he lost his balance on the metal stairs.
In different worlds, two connected bodies felt the same terror.
Neir saw a flash of rapid movement before her eyes. Dani saw himself falling.
WHOOSH!
Neir wanted to scream, but her voice choked. The woman was already in front of her, hand outstretched, ready to strike.
Dani saw his own body losing control. The stockroom floor felt far below.
THUD!
A hard impact hit his head.
Neir staggered. Her left eye... went dark.
Her left ear... fell silent.
As if a part of her had been forcibly torn from the world.
"Dani—?!"
The sound escaped her lips, but her body went limp. Her knees couldn't support her.
"Neir!"
Mr. Gharrick moved. Swift as lightning, he leaped forward, pulling Neir's body before the girl could fall.
CRASH!
Their bodies hit the remaining table and chairs, adding to the existing chaos. Wood fragments flew, the remaining plates fell and shattered.
Mr. Gharrick growled, trying to get up.
But it was too late.
The woman was gone.
Outside, under the blinding midday sun, her silhouette was seen nimbly jumping onto the roof. Her hand pressed against her ribs—something was broken inside. The wounds from the earlier fight were clearly severe, but she didn't care.
Her breath was ragged, her eyes remained vigilant.
Then, in a faint voice, she whispered.
"I have to report... Rasmus must know."
And in an instant, her shadow vanished from sight.
---
Retail Store – Noon
Rizal wiped his slightly sweaty forehead. The line of customers had begun to thin, with only one or two people still choosing items. He sighed, then glanced at the CCTV screen.
At that moment, his heart nearly stopped.
On the screen, Dani—who should have been organizing cardboard boxes on the metal stairs—was now lying on the floor.
Blood.
"Huh?! Dani?!"
Rizal's voice choked in his throat. His hand reflexively grabbed the mouse, zooming in on the camera view. Dani wasn't moving. There were no signs of him trying to get up.
His customer was still standing near the counter, looking unsure whether to ask or not. Rizal clenched his fist.
Damn.
As soon as the last customer paid and left, he immediately jumped over the counter, ignoring store rules. He ran toward the stockroom as fast as he could, his breath ragged, his heart pounding erratically.
"Don't die, you idiot!"
He grabbed the stockroom door handle and pushed it open roughly.
The door swung open with a loud noise.
---
Darkness.
Dani sank into emptiness.
No sound. No light.
Only a suffocating silence, as if the world had plucked his existence from reality.
But then, faintly, he began to feel something.
A slow pulse in his skull. Like waves coming and going, bringing him back to the surface. A heavy sensation in his chest. Cold air piercing his skin.
And... sound.
Unclear. Unreal.
A distant buzzing. Like an echo reflecting inside a cave. Sometimes loud, sometimes fading. But constantly there, piercing through the layers of his fragmented consciousness.
A siren?
Yes. That was a siren sound.
Dani's mind tried to dig for meaning from the sound, but everything felt blurred. His body felt like it was floating between consciousness and dreams. Without control. Without direction.
He couldn't feel his body.
But he knew—he was moving.
Not with his feet. Not by his own will.
Someone... was carrying him.
There was pressure on his chest. A seatbelt? Then, vibrations against his back. A hard, vibrating surface?
A car.
An ambulance.
Ah... so that's it.
Dani wanted to open his eyes. Wanted to say something. But no part of him responded. As if his body was no longer his.
In that darkness, he began to remember.
The metal stairs. His unsteady step. A shock from nowhere.
And then—
The fall.
Dani didn't remember the sound of impact. Didn't remember anything after.
He only knew that he was trapped between the real world and the other one.
Then, suddenly, something changed.
In the midst of the darkness, something appeared.
Not light. Not sound.
But... a presence.
Someone.
Dani couldn't see them, but he could feel them.
And what was stranger…
He recognized this feeling.
Not his own.
But belonging to someone else.
Neir.
Dani's chest felt tight. Something wasn't right.
Neir.
Why could he feel Neir now?
Weren't they... supposed to be separated?
A foreign feeling crept through his body.
Fear.
But not his own.
Neir's.
Then, before he could understand further—
The darkness swallowed him again.
---
At Mr. Gharrick's house, the tension began to subside, but the silence that remained felt more eerie than the chaos that had just occurred.
Neir was still in Mr. Gharrick's arms, her body trembling slightly. Her hands clenched on her skirt, her nails pressing hard into the fabric, as if hoping to grasp something real—something that wouldn't just disappear.
But the reality was, something had disappeared.
Her left eye was still dark. Her left ear silent.
And Dani...
Dani wasn't there.
Mr. Gharrick finally brought her to the living room, letting the little girl sit on the sofa. He himself went to the kitchen briefly, only to return with a small basket of Beysolun specialty food—a snack shaped like small rolls with a faint aroma of spices.
He offered it to Neir, his voice sounding softer than usual.
"Here. You know, this food is like an old sailor. It has weathered many storms, yet it survives. Maybe because it's too stubborn to sink."
Neir didn't react. She only looked at the food for a moment before finally taking it with a slightly trembling hand. She took a slow bite, and though it tasted sweet, something felt bland on her tongue.
Her mind was still in chaos.
Mr. Gharrick sat beside her, watching her for a moment before sighing.
"I'm sorry," he said, this time without metaphors.
Neir looked at him.
"I'm truly sorry, Neir."
Neir didn't say anything. She just looked down, her fingers gripping her skirt tighter. She knew what Mr. Gharrick meant. All of this... shouldn't have happened to her. There should have been no kidnapping, no green pendant, no burning pain inside her body.
No strange exchange.
No Dani.
Neir swallowed, trying to gather courage. There was a reason she came here. Something she had to do—something she had to say.
So, with slightly ragged breath, she began to tell her story.
But her words didn't flow immediately.
They got stuck in her throat, held back by something bigger than just fear.
Because how could she explain something she didn't even understand herself?
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
The first time it happened...
She didn't immediately realize something was wrong.
She remembered darkness. So deep, so thick, as if her body was sinking into something colder than a starless night.
Then there was a voice.
Not her own.
Not her mother's.
A foreign voice—male, but gentle. Faint, like an echo from a faraway place.
Neir wasn't alone in that place. Before her stood someone—clear, real, not swallowed by the darkness. A young man who looked unfamiliar, yet didn't feel threatening. However, Neir was terrified. She didn't understand where she was, why she was there, or who that person was. Her body trembled, and uncontrollably, tears began to stream down her cheeks.
The young man didn't approach suddenly, didn't try to touch her. He only spoke, his voice calm, trying to soothe. His words were simple, but enough to ease Neir's fear bit by bit.
It took time, but finally Neir was calm enough to speak. They introduced themselves—their names, that was all they could share in the strangeness of that place. Dani. That was the young man's name.
And for the first time since the darkness swallowed her, Neir didn't feel alone.
When she opened her eyes, everything seemed normal. Everything felt like before. But then, a few weeks later, and without warning—
The pain came.
Not like a normal wound. Not like a scrape on the skin or a bruise on the body.
But deeper.
More piercing.
As if something inside her was trying to break free, or perhaps... trying to enter.
And from that moment on, everything changed.
Sometimes she heard things that shouldn't be there. Sometimes she saw things she shouldn't see.
And the strangest of all—
When she spoke, that voice answered.
Neir took a deep breath. She tried to explain with words, but it was hard.
How could someone explain that they could see through another person's eyes?
How could someone say they could hear things that didn't exist in their own world?
And more than that—how could someone admit that for months, they hadn't felt alone... but also hadn't felt whole?
Mr. Gharrick listened intently. But behind his calmness, there was something in his eyes.
An understanding.
And...
A regret.
Neir didn't know why.
But she knew one thing—
Mr. Gharrick might know more than he was saying.
And this time, he couldn't hide it with metaphors.
---
Silence enveloped the room. Mr. Gharrick sat quietly, digesting every word that had just come from Neir's mouth. Meanwhile, Neir still looked down, her fingers gripping the hem of her clothes tightly. Her breath was irregular, as if every word she had spoken had drained all her energy.
She didn't dare look at Mr. Gharrick. What would the man say? Would he believe her? Or would he think she was insane?
But what happened was the opposite.
Without a single word, Mr. Gharrick let out a long sigh, then with a slow movement, he drew Neir into his embrace.
Neir flinched. Her body tensed for a moment, her eyes widened, but the warmth enveloping her made her defenses waver. She didn't cry—no sobs escaped—but her eyes trembled slightly.
Mr. Gharrick patted her back gently. "You've been through a lot, Neir." His voice was deep and warm, different from the joking tone he usually used.
Neir didn't know what to say.
"I don't know how much pain you've endured all this time," he continued, his voice even softer, "but one thing I can assure you... you don't have to bear it alone anymore."
Neir froze. Something in her chest seemed to crack, not from pain, but from the sudden surge of relief.
Slowly, her fingers gripping her clothes loosened.
"I will help you," said Mr. Gharrick, this time with a firmer tone. "Whatever happens, you can rely on me."
Neir didn't answer, but she nodded slowly.
For the first time since all this began, she felt she wasn't alone.
And for the first time, she felt her decision was right—to trust Mr. Gharrick.
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