𝐔𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐞 - ᴛᴏᴅᴏʀᴏᴋɪ ꜱʜᴏᴛᴏ

Chapter 18: The City Or Her

Hurry!

Come...

Come...

Come...

Ayla woke up with unease. Glimpses of a familiar park teased her memory like blinking lights—a place held very close to her heart. Bursts of colours edged her vision as she buried her face into her pillow in a pathetic attempt to get rid of whatever is happening. After a few agonizing moments that felt like forever, the headache disappeared—leaving her shaking.

"Why do I have the sudden urge to go there to that place?" she asked to no one in particular. "And why did my head hurt so much?"

Everything and everyone shows her that all will be okay, but Ayla is anxious. It comes as an electrical storm in her brain that, quite honestly, is painful. It's different from a headache and it feels the same as intense sorrow, perhaps as a sort of frozen panic with nowhere to go. So though she appears calm, her sad eyes are saying far more than 'Help me,' they are saying that her soul is in such unbearable pain.

* * * * *

Ayla smiled tiredly and sat at the table. "Hi."

"Morning." Momo, who was prepping tea like always, greeted and glanced at the clock. "Or should I say afternoon."

Shoto came down from the elevator and walked in the kitchen, joining the two best friends. "Oh, you're finally up."

Ayla chortled and got up to get a cup for her tea to start her day, hoping to forget what happened earlier in her bedroom. If only it was that easy. The words 'Come...Come!' struck again. The cup she reached to grab shattered to the floor and scattered to sharp individual pieces. Ayla suddenly groaned and brought her palm to her forehead in an attempt to ease yet another aching headache.

"Ayla." Shoto moved towards her in a flash and seized her other hand in his.

"What's wrong?" Momo asked as she set down the kettle hastily.

"I...T-There's...I d-don't..." Ayla's words threaded words struggled to come out.

"Take your time." Shoto whispered patiently.

There it goes again, her inner dialogue, but it's not her friend. It whispers to Ayla, 'Everything is going wrong, it's going to be terrible, no way back, disaster, ruin...' The world seems closer to her eyes and the air becomes more soupy, harder to breathe. A glossy hue coats her eyes that wasn't there before and her thoughts scatter like there's an electrical storm in her head, too many short-circuits to make any sense. All the while the only thing that comes through is 'Hurry and come...'

"T-There's a voice in my head and it keeps saying the same thing over and over again since this morning."

"A voice?" Momo questioned.

"Yeah." she breathed heavily. "It keeps telling me to come to a park."

"Do you recognize the voice?" The black-haired female said.

The blonde shook her head. "No—I can't even tell if it's male or female." Upon seeing the confused faces of the two people she loved the most, she felt her heart sink. "You guys probably think I'm crazy..."