Chapter 3 The shadow watching her

The first thing that hit her as she stepped through the gate was the smell, sharp, sour, heavy, like rust and sweat mixed together.

It clung to her throat, making her want to gag.

Then the sound. The noise. The clanging of metals. The shouts.

The clanging shut of the gate behind her made her flinch a little.

The sound echoed like the end of her life. The image of her plans flashed across her eyes, her planning for the prom dress, her plan to confess her love, and her plan for the college interview.

But each step deeper into the prison felt like being stripped of all that. Of all her dreams.

Maybe she was already stripped when she got sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ariel followed the guard quietly, trying to steady her trembling hands and her heart that was pounding so hard with fear and pain but it was impossible.

The uniform they gave her was rough against her skin. Faded grey uniform that smelled of disinfectant. It was stuffed and oversized. With a pair of worn-out rubber slippers, the kind that slapped loudly against the floor with every step.

Her body flinched each time she looked somewhere and saw women either sitting on the ground in clusters staring, or leaning against the cell gate, with their eyes following her.

Their gazes were sharp, curious, and cruel, like predators sizing up a new prey.

Ariel felt like she was walking into a nightmare she couldn't wake up from. Her heart thud painfully in her chest.

Every step she took felt heavy.

" Keep moving." The guard trailing behind her barked orders, pushing her forward.

His voice was hard and bored, as if she were just another number in a long line of lost souls.

She swallowed hard, her grip clutched tighter against the small basket between her hands as if to steady herself.

They'd handed her the small dented basket before leading her to her cell. Inside it was a thin blanket, a toothbrush, a cracked plastic plate and cup, and a spoon that felt flimsy enough to snap. A small bar of soap, and a tube of toothpaste so tiny it could be finished in a week.

'Her property' they called it, like some kind of welcome gift.

The sound of distant banging never stopped, voices shouting names, guards yelling back. Somewhere, someone was crying. Someone else, someone was laughing at the crying.

Finally, they reached her cell, and the guard opened the door with a loud screech.

Ariel stepped in.

The room was small with just a bunk, peeling walls, and a faint stench of mold.

She glanced at the huge lady sitting on the upper bed. Her cellmate. She stared blankly back at her with her short, black, and rough hair.

The guard slammed the door shut behind her.

She flinched a little.

And slowly her head dropped. Her legs remained glued to the floor.

Her throat aches. Her eyes burn.

She just wanted to curl up in a corner. Where no one would see her, where no sound could reach, where no air would touch her.

" What's your name?" Her cellmate asked. Her voice, rough and cold.

She opened her mouth to speak but her cracked voice was barely audible. " Ariella."

She said nothing to that.

Ariel wanted no feedback. She appreciated it when the inmate just turned away.

She dragged her feet to her bed, then sank onto it with a slumped shoulder, like the world had ended, but she was still forced to keep breathing.

Every heartbeat ached with pain, every breath burned with the weight of abandonment. Her name was stained. Her truth is buried.

She lay down on the bed, faced the wall, and curled up into herself.

Her chest tightened so painfully it was hard to breathe. Heat surged up get throat until her nose began to sting, that sharp, burning ache that came before the tears.

They broke out of her eyes freely, hot, and endless.

Her lips trembled, her breath hitched in small, uneven gasps

Each sob scraped her throat raw, leaving behind a hollow sound that filled the cold cell. Her nose ran, her face flushed, and her hands shook as she pressed them over her mouth to muffle the broken cries. It wasn't just sorrow - it was the kind of pain that made her body ache all over, as if her heart was trying to tear its way out.

" Swallow it this instant if you don't want to die."

Ariel froze.

She'd heard her inmate ordered sternly.

Die? Was she going to kill her? For crying?

The inmate added. " I'll tell you the same thing I told the girl before you. Keep your head down and your mouth shut. The ones who cry at night, are the first to disappear."

Cold chills run down Ariel's spine. ' What does she mean by disappear?'

She asked in her mind with her heart pounding against her rib.

" What do you mean?" She asked weakly, hesitantly, not sure if she was allowed to ask questions.

But once again. She got no answer. Even though she wants one this time.

Fear crawled up her skin. Her head was spinning for clarification.

Her chest thudding with fear as she remained still on the bed, with the words echoing over and over again in her head, till she fell asleep.

***

When the night was lifeless. Dark and silence. Heavy and cold. It crawled up to her.

Her body sensed it before her mind could.

That feeling.

The unmistakable weight of being watched.

It crawled along her skin like a phantom touch, raising every hair, sending a cold shiver down her spine.

Her chest tightened, her pulse quickened. The darkness around her wasn't empty.

She could feel him. His presence. His gaze.

Watching her.

Ariel remembered what her inmate said. Have they come to take her away? Because she cried last night?

Fear clung to her like a second skin. Her eyes flung open, but nothing moved. No shadow out of place. Yet her heart thudded violently against her rib.

Then...a faint creak.

One step.

He was closer.

The sound froze her veins. She could feel him before she saw him.

His presence. Heavy. Dark. Commanding.

Like the shadow of the night.

Then she felt him tower over her. Like a predator planning to seize his prey.

She trembled on the bed, looking at him, but his face was blurred, like a man carved from the shadows.

Then she caught his scent. Rich and magnetic, the kind of cologne that screams of money, sins, and power.

It filled her lungs, wrapping around her like a silk, dangerous and alarming.

Then the shadow did the unexpected. He didn't strangle her, or drag her out of the bed. Rather, he pulled the blanket over her, slowly, like he was memorizing the seconds.

Her breath hitched. Fear sliced through her-sharp, cold, real. But beneath it, deep where logic couldn't reach, something softer stirred. His scent, his presence, the quiet control in the way he moved. It didn't just frighten her, it soothed her.

How could something so dangerous feel like comfort?

She opened her mouth to ask who he was, but no sound came.

As suddenly as he came, he slipped away, back into darkness, back into the shadow, as if he had never been there.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ariel sprang out of bed, panting and sweating. The loud, sudden sound of the guard banging against the cells was waking them all up.

Then the noises started. The curses. The grunts.

But none of that matters.

All that filled her thoughts was him.

' Was that a dream? Hallucination? Or imagination from her pain and loneliness of how much comfort she craves...'

Her thoughts halted instantly.

She inhaled deeply, and her body shivered.

He was here. It wasn't a dream or a hallucination.

The shadow was indeed here.

His scent still

lingers in the air. That rich, dark scent.

When her gaze fell on her body and saw the blanket, she knew instantly.

That something was coming for her. Someone was hunting her.