Asteria
I leapt from my seat, nearly knocking off the table, and pulled the café door open with trembling fingers.
Julian reached for my hand, but I stumbled through the doorway before he could touch me.
The world fractured. Voices. Light. The ringing in my ear. All bleeding together into a dizzying, spinning blur.
Rain struck my face like sharp needles. It stole the air from my lungs and drenched my clothes until the fabric clung to me. My hair stuck to my cheeks, cold and heavy.
My hands shook so violently I almost dropped the cigarette. The lighter sparked and hissed before a thin flame finally came to life. Smoke filled my chest and grounded me just enough to feel like I still belonged to this world.
I pressed my back against the cold brick wall and whispered to no one.
"I must be losing my mind…"
Her face surged back into my thoughts.
Hollow eyes. Blood sliding down the skin. That terrifying smile. That impossible stillness.
A creature walking through the world as if it did not belong to it.
My stomach twisted at the memory
What… what the hell is happening?
This isn't a nightmare. It's real. Or maybe…
Maybe I'm finally cracking.
The alley shifted around me as the rain fell in heavy sheets.
Every shadow trembled at the edge of my vision. Something tall and unmoving appeared in the corner of my eye. A figure or a trick of the storm, I could not tell.
I held my breath as I tried to focus on it.
The street was empty, yet every shift of the air felt like a whisper against my skin.
I was alone in the storm, but it felt as if something unseen hovered in the dark.
Watching. Choosing.
Close enough to sense the tremor in my pulse.
Breathe, Asteria. Just breathe.
I counted my breaths to calm myself.
The cold wrapped around me and the drizzle softened, but the dread would not leave.
A soft hum drifted from inside the café. I clung to it.
I lit another cigarette with shaking hands, the bitter smoke cutting through the panic for a moment,
Maybe Julian is right. Maybe I really do need help.
But what would I even say?
Hi, I'm Asteria and I see blood and eyeless people in broad daylight! Please, don't lock me up!
I pressed my palm to the wall, feeling it tremble beneath my fingers.
Nightmares had stalked me for as long as I could remember, but those were dreams. They stayed where they belonged. Behind closed eyes. These visions were creeping into the waking world now, slithering into daylight.
My breath trembled in the air. I pressed my hands against my temples, willing the images to fade, begging my mind to stop betraying me.
The café door opened with a quiet creak. Warmth spilled into the alley for a heartbeat before the cold swallowed it.
I didn't have to look to know it was him.
Julian's presence carried a different kind of weight, steady and grounding, a gravity my body reacted to before my mind caught up. His footsteps were careful, as if he feared startling me.
"Asteria." His voice was low, nearly lost to the rain. "Hey… look at me."
I flinched only from the contrast between his calm and the storm in my chest.
My eyes stayed on the wet pavement as water curled around my boots.
Julian stepped closer, his fingers warm as he tilted my chin up, guiding my gaze to his.
His beard glistened with droplets, sliding in narrow trails along the sharp line of his jaw. Even soaked through, he looked grounded, like nothing could move him.
"What happened?" he asked.
The words caught in my throat.
I opened my mouth, but only a strangled breath escaped. My lips quivered. My brain scrambled to form something coherent, something that didn't make me sound unhinged.
"I… I don't…" The sentence broke apart.
His brows pulled together, worry darkening his eyes.
"Did someone scare you? Did someone follow you?"
If only it were that simple.
I shook my head, pressing a shaking hand to my mouth.
The phantom image of the waitress's hollow face flashed again behind my eyelids.
Blood. Those impossible, empty eyes. That smile.
I squeezed my eyes shut, tears burning hot against the cold air.
Julian closed the space between us, scanning me with worry as if he expected me to shatter right in front of him.
"Asteria," he murmured, voice gentler now. "Talk to me."
How can I tell him that the world is unraveling at the edges?
That shadows are twisting when I blink?
That I'm seeing things no waking person should see?
My breath hitched. "I think… something's wrong with me."
His expression softened, and for a moment, the storm around us felt quieter.
"You're not alone," he said. "Whatever it is, we'll figure it out."
But the darkness pressing against my spine whispered a different truth.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest. The warmth of him entered me like a breath I did not know I needed. I let my forehead rest against him and my body eased, even if the fear remained beneath the surface.
"How about we go to my place?" he whispered against my hair.
"I will cook for you. We can talk or stay silent. We can watch something and I will hold you until you fall asleep. Whatever you need."
His comfort should have soothed me, but inside, something stirred. Somehow, I already knew this was only the beginning.
We walked in silence.
Julian's hand found mine, steadying me against the chaos in my head. Streetlights blurred into halos, puddles reflecting fractured shapes.
I kept checking behind me, half-expecting the shadow to appear, but the alleys remained empty. Still, I could feel a cold presence trailing just beyond my vision.
His home was soft and warm.
Wood, earth, and the smell of dried leaves filled the space. It felt like a miniature forest hidden inside walls.
Julian guided me to the bathroom without a word. I peeled off my soaked clothes, letting the hot water cascade over me. Steam curled around my chilled bones. I scrubbed my skin until it ached as if I could erase the image of that smile. But it clung to me like a stain.
Even as warmth seeped into me, the fear lingered, a weight in my chest that refused to leave.
When I finally stepped out, wrapped in a towel, Julian took over, drying my hair with gentle, deliberate hands.
His touch was grounding, careful, patient.
I shivered, not from cold, but from the quiet intimacy of being held steady when the world felt like it was collapsing.
I sank into the cushions, knees drawn up, letting my muscles relax.
The room smelled of tobacco and old paper, faintly sweet from the potted plants.
Julian moved with quiet efficiency, boiling water, preparing mugs. Each mundane action comforted me, stitching the world together for a fleeting moment.
"Here," He offered me a steaming cup and touched my knuckles with his thumb. "You are safe."
I opened my mouth, then closed it. I wanted to speak, to explain the visions, the shadows, the impossible faces, but words failed me.
"It is okay. You do not have to explain. Not yet. Just breathe."
I nodded even though safety felt fragile.
His blanket wrapped around me and his body warmed my cold hands. I laid my head on his chest.
His heartbeat was slow. Strong. A rhythm I could cling to.
His breathing deepened, unhurried and even, falling in the kind of sleep that made the outside world fade.
I should have let myself follow. I should have surrendered to safety. But my body refused, and so did my mind.
As Julian drifted off, I kept my eyes open.
The lamp painted the room in soft gold, but the corners held moving shadows. Every creak in the floor. Every sigh from the radiator. Each one tightened my breath.
A faint shift in the far corner caught my eye.
I froze.
The shadows pooled together as if they sensed me watching. They did not behave like shadows.
They curled. They breathed. They waited.
Cold brushed the back of my neck. A slow, deliberate touch that made my skin crawl.
A ghost of a finger. A claim.
They are just shadows. Nothing more.
But deep in my bones, I knew something was there. Not watching the apartment, but watching me.
I gripped the blanket tighter as the pressure grew.
The air thickened.
Julian's arm tightened in his sleep as if his body sensed something my mind could not handle.
I listened to his breath. Counted. Tried to steady myself.
Then a soft tap sounded at the window.
My breath stopped.
I did not move. I did not blink.
Whatever followed me here had found me.
It knew where I slept. It knew where I hid. It knew how fragile this moment of peace truly was.
I stared at the corner where the shadow waited, patient and cold.
This was not a warning. This was a promise.
Something had crossed into my life tonight.
Something that had chosen me. Something that would not let go.
And I knew with a certainty that hollowed my chest.
The night was far from over.