Chapter 3

Nora’s POV

I stood frozen as the hospital attendant slowly pulled the stiff, plastic-lined sheet away from the two gurneys.

I forced myself to look, every primal instinct in my body screamed at me to turn away and run. The bodies were charred beyond immediate recognition. Skin blackened, blistered, and stripped of anything that made them human.

My legs felt like jelly, but I forced myself forward, one agonizing step at a time, until I was standing beside the gurney on the left. It belonged to a woman. Trembling, my hand hovered over the ruined expanse of her forearm before I forced my fingers down to brush against the skin.

There it was. Faint, scarred into the charred surface, but unmistakably present: the small, perfect circle with a crisp letter N stamped right in the middle.

"No," I choked out, stumbling backward. Hot, blinding tears spilled over my lashes. My gaze flickered from the dead woman to the second gurney. These can’t be my parents. No, it isn't possible. How could they get this burnt?

Nothing at home could ever cause this. Nothing!

Desperate for a lie, any lie, I rushed to the man's gurney. With shaking fingers, I rolled back the scorched fabric of his sleeve. There it was again.

The exact same small circle. The same cruel initial N branding his flesh. I blinked through the haze of tears and found Matilda standing beside me, her expression grim.

"How—how did they... how did they get this burnt?" I whispered, my voice hollow.

Matilda voice came out, filled of emotion. "I was called the moment I walked out of the dorm. They were found outside your home. Arranged... as if they were placed there on purpose."

"More like they were murdered?" My voice cracked, fracturing into a pathetic sob. Who would do something like this? My parents were the most gentle, easygoing people on earth.

They never offended a single soul in their entire lives. Then who? Who could possibly be cold enough, to do this?

"All we know is that it wasn't a natural death." She replied.

I nodded numbly, wiping the relentless tears from my face with the back of my hand before looking at her. "Do me a favor." She gave a small, hesitant nod.

"Help me arrange whatever rites they need, please," I pleaded.

"Nora, are you okay? You're shaking," she said, taking a step toward me. Instinctively, I stepped back.

"I'm fine," I lied, forcing the corners of my lips up into a tight, brittle smile that didn't reach my dead eyes.

"Fine. I'll handle the paperwork," Matilda sighed, eyeing me with deep suspicion. "Just go straight back to the hostel, lock the door, and don't try anything stupid."

I didn't answer. I turned on my heel and practically fled the room. Outside the hospital gates, I flagged down the first taxi I saw, choking out the address of my campus hostel to the driver.

The ride was a blur of neon lights and racing thoughts. The moment the cab pulled to a stop, I scrambled out, practically flew up the concrete stairs, unlocked my dorm door, and threw myself onto my bed.

Memories flashed behind my closed eyelids like a terrifying slideshow. Who could be this brutal? What did my parents possibly do to warrant a death like that? Suddenly, the door clicked open.

I didn’t turn around, assuming it was Matilda coming back to check on me, or perhaps to grab something she'd forgotten.

I stayed pressed into the mattress, too emotionally exhausted, to care about company. But something was wrong. The absolute silence in the room stretched out, thick and suffocating.

Slowly, dread curling icily in my gut, I raised my head. The blood in my veins instantly turned to slush, freezing every nerve ending in my face. Familiarity flashed over me in a violent, paralyzing wave.

It was the same tattooed man. The exact beautiful man I had seen mercilessly taking a life in the shadows just last night. For a terrifying second, my brain short-circuited. I blinked hard, expecting him to vanish, half-convinced I was losing my mind, hallucinating ghosts born from grief.

I stood up on legs that felt like jelly, walking toward the door like a sleepwalker, my wide eyes glued to his silhouette. Before I could reach the handle, a heavy hand lashed out, gripping my arm with bone-crushing force. Any lingering doubt that this was a dream vanished instantly.

In a flash of motion, my back was slammed hard against the door. A towering, dark shadow loomed over me, caging me in, his face inches from mine.

"Witness," he rasped, his husky voice dripping with menace as his breath fanned across my skin. "Told anyone yet?"

My brain stalled completely. How did he find me here? I had woken up to the nightmare of my parents' charred corpses. And now, less than twelve hours later, the monster had hunted me down to my private sanctuary after I saw him kill.

"I... I didn't tell anyone," I whispered.

"You take me for a fucking imbecile?" he snarled, his dark eyes raking over my pale face like a predator assessing its prey. My breathing slowed dangerously. I tried to push him off again, but my trembling hands slipped, falling uselessly to my sides.

Normal me would have screamed, fought, run for my life. But this wasn't normal. My entire world had collapsed into hell in less than twenty-four hours.

My knees gave out, and I slumped forward, losing consciousness against his hard, unyielding chest.

*

"Nora! Nora! Wake up!"

A frantic voice snapped me violently out of the dark trance. My eyes flew open, the harsh fluorescent light of my dorm room blinding me for a second before Matilda’s terrified face came into focus.

"Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling beside me, pressing a cool glass of water into my shaking hands. I snatched it from her, greedily emptying the contents down my parched, burning throat.

My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it felt bruised. "You met him here?" I blurted out, grabbing Matilda’s wrists, my eyes wide with panic.

"Did you see him?" Her forehead crinkled in deep, genuine confusion. "Met who, Nora?"

"The guy! With the tattoos. Tall, slim build, dark hair. You didn't run into a man leaving here?"

Matilda gently pried my fingers loose, looking at me as if I had completely lost my mind. "No one was here, Nora. I came back to check on you after you didn't answer my calls, and I found you lying completely unconscious on the floor. I had to drag you to the bed myself."

The breath completely left my lungs. It was real. I hadn't imagined it. He had been right here in this room.