Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

By the time my shift ended, I felt it everywhere. My feet, my back, even my head. The kind of tired that doesn’t go away with sleep.“You good?” Tasha asked, already halfway out the door.“Yeah,” I said, grabbing my bag. “I’m straight.”She looked at me like she didn’t believe it, but she ain’t push. “Get home safe.”“I will.”I stepped outside and the city hit me all at once. Cars passing, music playing from somewhere down the block, people laughing like life wasn’t heavy. DC at night always had energy, whether you had it in you or not.I pulled my jacket tighter and started walking toward the stop. My phone buzzed in my hand. Same number. Third time tonight.I flipped it over without answering.Some things don’t need to be revisited.I was almost past the corner when I noticed him. At first it was just somebody leaning against a truck, head down, minding his business. I wouldn’t have looked twice if something in me didn’t already feel off.Then he lifted his head.And just like that

KeishaI kept telling myself I was imagining things.That feeling you get when you swear somebody watching you even when the street look normal. Even when people walking past you like you just another face in the city.But I knew what I saw.Malik.I ain’t say his name out loud again after I left that sidewalk. I didn’t trust my voice not to shake.I walked two blocks before I finally slowed down, pretending I had somewhere important to be. Truth was, I just needed air that didn’t feel heavy.Five years.And he still had the same look when he said my name.Like I never left his thoughts.That’s the part I didn’t like.Because I worked hard to become somebody who didn’t turn around when the past called.My phone lit up in my hand. I almost dropped it when I saw the number.Unknown.I let it ring.Then it stopped.I stared at the screen like it might explain itself, but it didn’t.I kept walking.My apartment wasn’t far, but tonight everything felt longer. Every corner. Every shadow. E

KeishaI didn’t sleep.I tried to. I really did.But every time I closed my eyes, I saw that message again.“You saw him. Now it’s already started.”It wasn’t just the words. It was the way my body reacted to them. Like my mind understood something my mouth wasn’t ready to say out loud.I stayed up on my couch with the lights on, TV playing something I wasn’t watching. Just noise so I wouldn’t have to sit in silence with my thoughts.Because silence was making everything worse.Malik was outside.That part still didn’t feel real.I kept replaying his voice in my head. The way he said my name like it still belonged to him. Like nothing had changed.But everything had changed.Or at least it was supposed to.My phone sat beside me like it was dangerous now. Like it had its own intentions.I kept staring at it, waiting for it to do something again.And it did.A notification popped up.Not a message.A photo.My building again.But this time… it wasn’t just the outside.It was my hallway

KeishaI didn’t move right away after Malik left.Not because I was okay.Because I wasn’t sure what direction “okay” was supposed to be anymore.The apartment felt off in a way I couldn’t explain. Nothing broken. Nothing changed. But it didn’t feel like mine for a second.Like something had passed through it and didn’t fully leave.I stood in the middle of the room, listening to nothing, trying to convince myself I was overthinking.My body didn’t agree.I walked to the window. Everything outside looked normal. Cars moving. People talking. Life continuing like nothing had shifted at all.That’s what bothered me the most.Because something had shifted for me.My phone buzzed.I almost dropped it.Unknown number.Again.One message.“He didn’t tell you everything.”My chest tightened.“No,” I whispered.I deleted it fast.But it didn’t feel gone.It felt like it already did what it came to do.I grabbed my keys.I needed air.I made it halfway down the block before I felt it again.Tha

Keisha kept walking through Southeast DC, but it didn’t feel like walking anymore.It felt like moving through something she couldn’t see but could definitely feel.Every step sounded louder in her head than it should’ve. Every passing car made her shoulders tighten. Every shadow along the sidewalk felt like it had weight.She didn’t stop.Stopping felt like giving whatever this was permission to catch up.Her phone stayed in her hand the entire time, screen off now, like she didn’t trust it anymore. Like even holding it connected her to whatever had just started following her.The message kept replaying in her mind anyway.“You’re easier to track when you’re alone.”Alone.That word kept sticking.She glanced over her shoulder again.Nothing obvious.But she was learning now that nothing obvious didn’t mean nothing there.A Metro bus passed at the corner, loud, normal, full of people who didn’t look at her twice.That almost broke her more than anything else.Because life was still m