5. The pull

The night brought something else with darkness.

Questions.

I didn't move away from the window, I stood there as the sun bid its farewell and the night replaced the day. I could not take my eyes away from the forest, it was as though something was calling me. Something or someone was there, waiting for me.  

The wind outside was no longer soft, it was singing a loud and dark song. Just like the whispers in my ear, which returned as soon as I came inside the room. The whispers were not leaving my side, and I was not trying to block them. They were not sentences...they were just words that did not make any sense.

But there was one word which kept repeating...moon.

For the first time, I knew Mom chose silence after noticing I was distracted during dinner. My silence was not unheard by her. I knew she noticed everything, but sometimes she would not say anything using the words.

I closed my eyes momentarily, leaning on the window. The wind was supposed to calm the storm brewing inside my head, but it was just helping the storm grow bigger.

I opened my eyes immediately.

Before I knew what I was doing, my feet started moving on their own. It was as though my body was no longer in my control.

I opened the bedroom door and closed it silently, then I did the same with the main door of our house.

I kept walking in a familiar path...a path I swore not to follow again.

I knew very well I should be walking back home. But something was calling me… and I was done pretending I didn’t hear it.

And just like that, I was standing in front of the forest. There was an unknown pull, as the moth feels towards the flame. I was no longer focusing on the darkness around, it was not bothering me. The fear of what could be hiding in the forest also disappeared.

My heart started beating loudly inside my chest. The air shifted once again around me, just like a few hours ago.

I knew he was here as well.

“You shouldn’t have come back.”

I inhaled a deep breath, the scent of night-blooming jasmine entered my nostrils. “Why do you keep saying that?”

He was standing in front of me, even though I couldn't see his face, I could imagine his eyes, his cheeks, his jawline, and his lips properly.

“You don’t understand what you’re walking into.” Once again, there was a warning in his words.

"Then, tell me?"

Then it clicked, he knew I would be here. But how?

“You knew I’d come back.”

He took a step in my direction, and I could feel the warmth of his body. There was a strange comfort around him, despite the dark aura.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t," his voice was deep and low, making it hard to focus on what he was saying.

“You keep saying I shouldn’t be here. Then tell me where I should be," I argued, hoping to get some answers from him.

“Anywhere but here," there was annoyance in his voice, like he was losing patience.

But I was losing my patience as well, “stop pretending you know something I don’t.”

Just as it was not enough, the burning sensation in my mark was back as well. Before I could react, he instantly grabbed my cold wrist with his large, warm hand.

I stopped breathing briefly. The burning on my wrist disappeared under his touch, giving a soothing feeling.

“It’s reacting faster than it should…” the stranger muttered the words to himself, but he probably forgot how close I was standing in front of him.

His words stirred a strange feeling inside the pit of my stomach.

First the whispers, then the mark, and now his words...something bad was going to happen.

"What does it mean?" he was moving his thumb gently on my mark, easing the burning feeling.

Then he stopped, “It means you’re running out of time.”

I opened my mouth to ask him another question, but he quickly let go of my wrist and pulled me behind him.

"What's going on?" My voice was barely a whisper.

He let out a curse under his breath.

But it was not just him, the mark started burning again as well. I couldn't see anything in the dark, but I knew we were not alone.

"Who is it?"

“Something that shouldn’t find you yet.”

A frown formed on my forehead as I heard his response.

Before I could argue, he turned around, "Listen to me carefully, run back home. Don't turn around, don't stop until you reach home."

The urgency in his voice made me wonder exactly how much danger we were in.

"Do you understand?" The authority was back in his voice.

I nodded in response but then felt stupid as I remembered we were standing in the middle of the dark forest and he couldn't see me, but to my surprise, he responded. "Good, run now."

I knew better than to argue and turned around. I used the flashlight on my phone to see the stranger but....I was alone.

A chill ran down my spine.

He left me alone in the forest?

I shook away the strange disappointment and started running just like he asked me to. Maybe it was because of what he said but I felt like a shadow was following me home. Ignoring all the thoughts inside my head, I closed the window as soon as I reached the room.

What the fuck just happened?