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Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself
Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself
Author: Flip Harmonica

Chapter 1

Author: Flip Harmonica
I sat wrapped in the blanket the officer had given me, clutching a paper cup filled with hot water. Ripples appeared in circles on the liquid due to my trembling hands. The water reflected my pale face.

When I gave my statement, I was so terrified that even the simplest one-syllable words got stuck in my throat. They were reduced to nothing but ragged breaths.

Seeing my condition, the officer didn't rush me. Instead, he brought me a stack of blank paper and a pen. With trembling hands, I wrote down everything that had happened. I recounted everything from the moment the three drunk men began following me.

Two long hours later, hurried footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway.

Hugo Sheridan strode into the room, with Lorelei Judge close behind him.

He was still wearing the dark gray hiking jacket he'd put on while camping. "Well, Andrea, look at you. We asked you to buy some water, and you somehow ended up at the police station. Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?"

The irritation in his voice was unmistakable as he stared at my hunched figure on the bench. He didn't even ask if I was hurt.

The officer who had taken my statement stood up and frowned as he stepped in front of him.

"Are you her family?" he asked. "Three drunk men nearly dragged her into an alley while she was walking alone, yet you didn't even ask if she was hurt. How can you just start scolding her the moment you come in?"

The words that Hugo had been about to say died on his lips. His gaze dropped to my scraped knee, where a large patch of blood had seeped through the torn skin from my fall.

His Adam's apple bobbed twice before his tone softened slightly. "How did you run into those drunk guys? And if you were in danger, why didn't you call me? You never say a word when something happens, but you sure knew how to call the police."

Lorelei poked her head out from behind him and patted her chest, looking genuinely shaken. "My gosh, Andrea. So you didn't manage to keep up with us. Hugo was trying to help you get over your fear. Who knew you'd be so unlucky? It was just a short distance, but you ran into a bunch of creeps.

"Honestly, you could have just run back as soon as you got scared. You shouldn't have troubled the police with a late-night call."

I lifted my head and quietly looked at her innocent face. Then, I turned to Hugo, who stood silently beside her.

Once, I had gotten lost in the school library. Because I stuttered and was too afraid to ask anyone for directions, I hadn't known what to do.

Hugo had searched for me for three hours in the pouring rain. When he finally found me, he hadn't blamed me even once. He had simply pulled me tightly into his arms and kissed the top of my head again and again.

He'd comforted me, "Don't be afraid, Andrea. From now on, I'll be your voice. You never have to bow your head to anyone. If anyone dares make fun of you, I'll shut them up."

But now, he knew perfectly well that I had a stutter and was afraid to speak. Still, he'd left me alone on a completely dark mountain road.

And it was all in the name of helping me build up my courage. In reality, he'd only done it so he could play a stupid bet with his childhood sweetheart, Lorelei.

I set down the paper cup and slowly pushed myself up from the bench. My legs were so weak that I swayed unsteadily. Hugo instinctively reached out, wanting to hold me by the shoulders like he'd done so many times before.

I turned away and avoided his touch.

His hand remained suspended in midair, and his expression visibly darkened.

I picked up the pen from the table and wrote four words in the empty space on the paper. Then, I pushed it toward him.

"I want to go home."

Hugo stared at those four words for several seconds. Then, he took a deep breath and forced down his anger.

"Fine. Let's go home."

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  • Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself   Chapter 10

    After that final confrontation, Hugo disappeared from my life.The owner of the flower shop later told me that the man from the north who had bought flowers every day had looked like a soulless husk when he left.I quit my job at the flower shop and left Nayworth. I moved to an even quieter and more remote town in the southwest.Time was the best medicine for healing everything, as long as one was willing to keep moving forward.Two years later, I passed the exams and earned my teaching certificate through self-study. I became a teacher at a special education school, where I worked specifically with children who had speech and language difficulties.The sun was shining brightly over the playground, and a gentle breeze stirred the treetops. I stood at the front of the classroom with a colorful children's picture book in my hands."Everyone, read it with me. Sun… shine…"My pronunciation was clear. Every word carried the vigor of life, without a trace of the fear that had once hel

  • Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself   Chapter 9

    Hugo went to Grandma's grave and bribed one of the cemetery employees to let him in. He knelt in front of her grave for three whole days.During that time, he refused to eat or drink. He endured the wind and rain until he finally collapsed from exhaustion. Expensive imported health supplements and bouquets of white roses crowded the space in front of Grandma's tombstone.On the eve of Memorial Day, I went up the mountain to visit Grandma's grave.The sky was gray, and a light drizzle was falling. From a distance, I spotted the figure lying on the moss-covered stone steps.I walked over and stepped over him. His pale lips moved faintly in the rain as he unconsciously murmured my name.If this had happened in the past, I probably would have cried from seeing Hugo like this. Now, all I felt was bitter irony.He was trying to make my heart soften by deliberately putting himself through misery, as if he was so sure that would be the outcome. This was just like back then, when he assum

  • Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself   Chapter 8

    From that day on, Hugo stayed at a small motel across the flower shop. No matter if it was rain or shine, he showed up at the flower shop right on time every single day. He bought all of the sunflowers in the store.Sunflowers had always been his favorite flowers. He used to say I was his little ray of sunshine, the one who could chase away all the darkness in his life.The shop owner was more than happy to let me handle such a generous customer myself.I didn't object. I simply took his orders, handled the payments, and wrapped the flowers as I would for any other customer. After all, business was business.There seemed to be no end to the rain in Nayworth.One evening, the temperature suddenly dropped, and the damp air turned bitterly cold.Hugo stood beneath the streetlamp outside the flower shop without an umbrella. He was soaked from head to toe. His face was unnaturally flushed from a fever, and his body swayed in the wind with every violent cough.In the past, even the sl

  • Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself   Chapter 7

    Hugo froze as an expression of shock and disbelief appeared on his face. "You can speak! You… You're not stuttering anymore…"He took a step forward, trying to pull me into his arms.I stepped to the side and put some distance between us. "If you're not here to buy flowers, please don't block the doorway. You're obstructing our business."My voice was calm, as though I were speaking to a complete stranger.Hugo's hand froze in midair. The color drained completely from his face.His voice trembled, and his tone was almost pleading. "Andrea, don't be so cold… I know what happened to Grandma. It was all my fault. I came too late. I punished Lorelei and made sure she was blacklisted everywhere. I ruined her entire career. She'll never be able to return to the country."I also sued the people who spread those lies online. And I paid for the best possible headstone for Grandma…"I listened quietly as he listed all of his accomplishments. Then, I picked up my scissors and continued tri

  • Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself   Chapter 6

    Nayworth was a small seaside town with a mild, pleasant climate. Life was slow there, and the elderly people on the streets spoke in local dialects I couldn't understand.I rented a tiny one-room apartment with a small courtyard in the old part of town and found a job at a flower shop at the entrance to an alley. The owner was a kind middle-aged woman who didn't mind that I rarely spoke.In a city where no one knew me, I learned to breathe again.After work, I would lock the doors and windows in my apartment and put on some instrumental music. Then, I would stand in front of the bathroom mirror to practice speaking over and over again.I started with the simplest sounds. After a while, I moved on to words and phrases. Finally, I started speaking in complete sentences.Hugo used to stroke my hair and say, "You don't have to talk if you don't want to. I'll always be here."I'd lost the ability to live independently inside the cage he'd built for me. Now that the cage was shattered,

  • Dumped in the Dark, Saved by Myself   Chapter 5

    Hugo frowned and tapped on the notification. When he read the contents, the color drained from his face.His fingers trembled as he tapped on my chat. His messages wouldn't go through, and my number couldn't be reached.He stumbled toward the parking lot. On his way home, he ran three red lights along the way.When he pushed open the front door, he found the apartment cold and empty. Half the closet was bare. At the very center of his pillow lay the tablet that had been restored to its factory settings.The screen was lit, displaying only one line. "Welcome. Please complete the initial setup."As Hugo stood in the empty home, his mind went blank for a moment. He dialed my number again."I'm sorry. The number you have dialed is no longer in service."He immediately switched to WhatsApp. Every message he'd sent showed only one gray tick below them.On the coffee table in the living room sat a spare key. There wasn't even a note beside it. Everything was spotless, as though I'd ne

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