It wasn't supposed to go this far, but it was already over before it even began.
5 years ago, Aleah Sterling was presented with a pivotal choice: sacrifice herself to save her parents or sacrifice her parents to save herself.
Fate lied in her hand...
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Aleah's POV (Mentions of blood, and slight descriptive scenes.) ▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
I stood in the shadows of the dimly lit room, my back pressed firmly against the wall. The chilling sensation of the icy concrete permeated through my thin shirt, seeping into my core and leaving a trail of goosebumps spotting my almond-brown skin in scattered patches.
My breaths emerged in shallow, rapid spurts, each exhalation creating ephemeral clouds of mist that dissolved into the darkness that surrounded me. The silence was deafening, only disrupted by the faint sound of dripping water droplets from rustic pipes that reverberated throughout the dismantled room.
The air was thick with enigmatic hostility, permeating my bones, and filling every inhalation with a toxic enmity.
The source of this hostility was undeniably coming from the man before me, bound with corroded cords and ropes to a metallic chair in the center of this small room. His breathing was labored and feral, bearing an almost animalistic quality.
A dim light above etched ominous shadows on his exhausted features, accentuating small knife scars on his face. Most telling, however, were his eyes: dark, abyssal pools of anguish and suffering.
Merely by observing him, it was evident that he embodied the spirit of a warrior—a man with skin bronzed by the relentless sun, hands toughened by years of labor, and an unwavering determination to preserve his pride. Yet, that same pride would soon shatter like fragile glass upon realizing who was observing him from the shadows.
I studied him for a moment longer, allowing the already palpable silence between us to stretch out, forming an uncomfortable bubble of anticipation.
Although his piercing gaze meticulously scanned the shadows where I stood hidden, he couldn't see me, but deep down he knew I was there; that I would emerge any moment now.
His head drooped and his muscular frame rigidly tensed unusually. Suddenly, he let out a deep, pained groan and muttered through clenched teeth, "Just get it over with. I'm not telling you shit." I held my silence, observing him with intense scrutiny as his breathing grew more strained.
Despite his obvious physical strength, he seemed to be crumbling under the weight of his own emotions.
Emerging from the obscuring shadows, I synchronize my footsteps with the rhythmic dripping of water cascading from the rustic pipes. I can feel his eyes frantically searching for my silhouette, and I see the slightest flicker of fear before his gaze comes in contact with my deep brown eyes.
