Chapter 27: IS LEAVING AN OPTION?

Chapter 27: IS LEAVING AN OPTION?
The minutes dragged like hours. Every tick of the clock made me more restless. My ears caught every sound outside the room footsteps, murmured voices, the squeak of a trolley wheel. Each noise twisted in my stomach like a warning.

Finally, I stood and smoothed my clothes. “Let’s get downstairs before the driver arrives,” I said, my voice low but firm. “I don’t want us trapped here when he gets here.”

Darius shifted uncomfortably, his bandaged leg stiff. He gritted his teeth and leaned on me as he stood. He was heavier than I remembered, or maybe my body was simply too tense with fear to carry him easily. Still, I tightened my arm around him, refusing to let him falter.

I slung the bag across my shoulder and opened the door. The hallway stretched ahead, pale and sterile, yet it felt like walking through enemy territory.

“Easy,” I whispered as he limped beside me.

The fluorescent lights buzzed above, flickering faintly. My eyes scanned every corner, every shadow. Twice, I thought I saw movement just a sliver of black fabric, the edge of a silhouette. My chest clenched. But when I looked again, the hallway was empty.

We reached the elevator. The sight of the polished doors made my heart hammer. I couldn’t forget yesterday the woman in black standing beside me in that same space, her presence like ice against my skin.

The elevator dinged, the doors sliding open with a sigh. My breath caught.

Inside, it was empty.

“Come on,” I urged softly, guiding Darius inside.

The doors closed, sealing us in a mirrored box. The reflection staring back at me was pale, eyes wide and haunted. I swallowed hard, half expecting her to appear in the glass behind us.

The descent was slow, every floor an eternity. My ears strained for any sign of interruption, waiting for the lurch of the elevator stopping too soon. But at last, the lobby opened before us, filled with people and noise.

Nurses hurried by with clipboards, families sat clustered in plastic chairs, a baby wailed in someone’s arms. The normal bustle should have soothed me, but it only sharpened the edge of my fear. Normal people moved about their lives, while somewhere in these walls a predator was hunting me.

I tightened my grip on Darius and guided him toward the glass doors. The sunlight outside spilled bright and sharp across the tiled floor.

That’s when it happened.

The back of my neck prickled, my skin crawling. Someone was watching. I turned my head, and for a heartbeat, I swore I saw her black clothes, motionless at the far end of the hall. Her face was shadowed, but her presence was unmistakable.

I blinked, and she was gone.

My chest rose and fell fast. I pressed harder against Darius’s side. “Don’t look back,” I whispered.

We pushed through the doors into the open air. Heat slammed into me, thick and heavy, but I welcomed it. The sun was safer than the shadows.

The hospital courtyard was wide, with cars pulling up and patients in wheelchairs being pushed along. I scanned the crowd, searching for the driver’s car.

“Where is he?” Darius asked, his voice tight.

“On the way,” I muttered, refreshing the map on my phone. His location pin crept closer, but every second felt like a lifetime.

We stood near the curb, exposed. My eyes darted from face to face nurses leaving their shifts, visitors talking in groups, a man smoking by the fence. Each one could have been ordinary. Or not.

I spotted the car at last, sleek and black, turning into the driveway. Relief washed over me, but it was laced with urgency.

“Here,” I said quickly, tugging Darius forward.

The driver jumped out, rushing to open the door. His face was pale when he saw Darius’s injury, but he didn’t ask questions. He helped us inside, closed the door fast, and returned to the wheel.

The moment the engine started, I felt my lungs expand. We were moving. We were leaving that cursed building behind.

But as the hospital shrank in the rearview mirror, my relief turned thin. My hands twisted in my lap. What if she was following? What if she knew where we lived?

Darius sat stiffly beside me, his jaw clenched, eyes staring straight ahead. He hadn’t asked more questions yet. But I could feel them building inside him like storm clouds.

The silence in the car was heavy. Outside the window, the city is blurred by shops, pedestrians, and buses. Normal life. And yet, none of it felt real.

Finally, Darius turned to me. “Tell me everything,” he said quietly. His voice was calm, but it carried an edge that made me shiver.

I swallowed. My throat felt dry. “I already told you the most important part,” I said, my voice breaking. “She came for me. She knows who I am. She’s still out there.”

His gaze didn’t waver. “Why you?”

I looked down at my hands. “I don’t know. But the way she looked at me… it was like I was the only thing she wanted. Not you. Not anyone else. Me.”

The weight of it crushed me, and I pressed my forehead against the cool glass of the window. The city rolled by, but I couldn’t focus on it. All I could see was her silhouette, black and silent, waiting.

I felt Darius’s hand cover mine, strong and warm despite his injury. “We’ll deal with this,” he said firmly. “We’ll deal with her. But right now, you were right, we had to leave that place.”

His certainty steadied me, but only for a moment. In my gut, I knew the truth: leaving the hospital didn’t mean we were safe. It only meant the hunt had moved somewhere else.

The road stretched long before us, sunlight fading toward late afternoon. Somewhere behind us, unseen but ce
rtain, the stranger was still coming.

And this time, she wouldn’t miss.