The night was thick with shadows. Her heart pounded in the dark, a cruel reminder of her past. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move. The heavy, suffocating presence of him loomed over her. His face was always obscured, but she could feel his eyes, like a burning brand against her skin.
Then the door creaked open.
She tried to scream, but the sound caught in her throat. She tried to run, but her body was paralyzed, trapped in a prison of fear she couldn't escape.
His hands were cold when they touched her, and his breath smelled like cigarettes and whiskey. She couldn't remember how it started—only that it was always the same. The weight. The suffocation. The helplessness.
And just as quickly as it came, it was gone.
Her eyes snapped open. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she shot upright in bed. Sweat clung to her skin, and her pulse raced in her chest. She had woken from the nightmare again. Or was it a memory? She couldn't tell anymore.
The apartment was silent, the morning light creeping in through the half-drawn curtains. It was safe here, in the quiet, away from the nightmare that had followed her for years. But the fear remained, a permanent shadow. The past never left her, and no matter how many years passed, it still had a way of crawling into her mind when she least expected it.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a deep breath.
Not today, she told herself, but her hands trembled. They always did after the dreams.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. She had moved on, or at least, that's what everyone told her. She was married now, to someone who had once been her enemy. And though she didn't want to admit it, she had begun to feel something she hadn't expected: a strange connection that both terrified and comforted her in ways she couldn't explain.
But it was complicated. More than anyone could understand.
Her phone buzzed on the bedside table, pulling her from her thoughts. She glanced at the screen, her heart skipping a beat.
"I'm coming home early today. Get ready. We're going out."
It was from him.
She stared at the message, her stomach tightening. There was no "I love you" or anything comforting. Just orders, just commands. His words always carried weight, like a storm waiting to break. But there was also something else there—something she couldn't deny. A part of her had come to rely on him, even if she hated herself for it.
Her life was inextricably tied to his now. He was a part of her in ways she couldn't explain.
And yet… he had once been the reason her world had crumbled.