Lila
The wind outside bit through my skin the moment we stepped out of the house. It was still dark. Not night-dark, but a heavy, unnatural darkness that sat on the sky like a storm that never came. Cold air wrapped around us. The world was silent. Too silent.
Hana buried her face in my shoulder, clutching her doll so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. I could still see the house behind us when I turned. Our house. Windows shattered. Curtains blowing out through the broken glass. The door we had run through still slightly open, like it was waiting for us to come back.
We were not going back.
I forced one foot in front of the other. The road felt longer than usual. Every sound made me jump, even the rustling of trees. I kept looking around, half expecting one of those arms to burst out of the ground again. Nothing moved. No cars. No people. No voices. The island had gone quiet.
Too quiet.
Hana finally lifted her head.
"Where's Mom?" she whispered.
My throat burned. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I swallowed and tried again.
"She… she'll find us," I said, though the words tasted like lies. "We just have to stay safe."
Hana nodded slowly and hugged her doll again. I wished I could hug something too. Instead, I kept walking.
We reached the small hill near the back of the neighborhood. I led her behind a large rock where the wind didn't blow so harshly. She sat down quietly, which was strange for her. Hana was never quiet.
I sank to the ground beside her.
That was when my body finally remembered how to shake.
My hands trembled. My breathing turned uneven, broken. Images kept flashing in my mind... the shattered glass, the dark sky, the creature's eyes, its dripping arms, Mom...
I bit my lip hard until the metallic taste filled my mouth. I wrapped my arms around Hana and pulled her closer.
She felt real. Warm. Alive.
"Lila?" she said softly. "Are we going to die?"
"No," I whispered immediately. "I won't let anything happen to you. Ever."
Even if it was a promise I did not know how to keep.
We stayed there for a while. Minutes. Hours. I could not tell. Time did not feel real anymore.
The darkness did not lift. The wind did not stop.
The world just… waited.
At one point, Hana fell asleep against my chest, still holding the doll. I brushed her hair away from her face and looked up at the heavy sky.
That strange creature. The way it stared at me. It hadn't rushed at me like it did at Mom. It had just… watched. Like it knew me. Like it was trying to remember something.
A chill climbed my spine.
Why me?
I looked down at Hana again. I didn't have answers. I only knew one thing.
We were not safe.
And somewhere on this island, someone else had probably seen what we had seen.
After what felt like hours, I knew we couldn't stay there. The neighborhood offered no real safety. The broken windows, the wind, the shadow of the house behind us, everything reminded me of what had happened.
I took Hana's hand and led her down the slope of the hill, away from the streets, following a narrow dirt path that curved toward the outskirts.
The neighborhood slowly gave way to scattered trees and underbrush, the smell of wet leaves and damp earth replacing the scent of concrete and dust.