Chapter 3 – Disturbance

Part 1

The rain had suddenly taken over the weather in Sainte-Coline, and the crowd quickly huddled under nearby buildings for shelter.

As the younger Nakama sister raised her arm softly to hail a taxi, Patrick Dokovic recklessly crossed the large avenue, causing the vehicles in his path to brake abruptly. He knew the danger of his reckless actions, but he yearned—no, he longed with every fiber of his being—to confirm whether what his eyes had seen was real, authentic, tangible. If it was truly her.

But by the time he reached the place, the person had disappeared. Only a subtle, familiar scent remained, recognizable from times long past. But was it truly her? Or was his irrational desire to see her again causing him to have unhealthy delusions?

Patrick placed a hand on his chest and felt how that muscle—long dead to him—was now pounding rapidly, like a volcano coming back to life after hundreds of dormant years.

"Patrick, what’s happening? Are you okay?" asked Annie, grabbing his arm once she caught up to him.

"Nothing's wrong," he responded without looking at her, his eyes lost in the distance.

Annie's concern was visible on her face; she had never seen Patrick so unsettled. As if he had seen a ghost, his rain-soaked skin had turned pale, and his delicate, long hands had begun to tremble.

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Meanwhile, kilometers away from Elise, heading toward Sorine, inside the metro, the noise of the crowd was drowned out by the rattling of the tracks beneath the train and the occasional announcement of upcoming stops.

Yuna spent the half-hour commute, both to and from work, engaged in her favorite pastime: reading comics. As she relaxed, reading Districs, one of her favorite stories of the past year, a pair of familiar shoes stood in front of her, immediately alerting her senses.

"We meet again," she heard a familiar voice that made every inch of her body tremble.

As soon as she recognized the face, Yuna instinctively stood up from her seat, dropping everything she had been holding.

"You’re... you’re the man from the alley..." she exhaled, looking around in horror.

"You can call me Ben," he replied with a mocking smirk. "Don’t bother looking around; no one’s going to help you," he continued, slowly approaching her with his hands in his pockets.

Yuna had been so absorbed in her reading that she hadn’t noticed her surroundings. Inside the carriage were a hooded man whose face was mostly hidden, a tattooed gothic-looking couple, and an elegant woman with long, manicured nails. They all stood up in unison when they heard the man with the snake tattoo speak, and they began walking toward Yuna.

Her body felt frozen with fear. It seemed that everything that had happened that snowy night in the alley wasn’t a hallucination. And although she felt surrounded by these sinister, supernatural-looking people, this time, she wasn’t going to let fear win.

"I can handle myself," Yuna said defiantly as Ben moved closer, now just a few inches away.

Quickly, she grabbed one end of her backpack, which had been resting on her right side, and with all her strength, she swung it at his head. Yet, Ben didn’t flinch, not even an inch. He didn’t even try to dodge. He merely smiled at the horrified look on her face as she realized her attempt had failed.

"Now, be a good girl and come with us," he said, tilting his head slightly while his eyes flashed with a golden, inhuman glow.

Yuna’s heart was racing frantically. Though her mind urged her to give up, cry, and beg for her life, her survival instinct was stronger. She began running toward the doors of the carriage. But they were locked, and even though she used all her strength trying to open them, scraping her fingers raw, they wouldn’t budge even a fraction.

"Get away from me!" Yuna screamed, her voice shredded with fear as she pressed her back against the door, watching the “creatures” approach her.

"We’re not going to hurt you; I just want to take you to my father," Ben said with a playful grin.

"If I don’t know you, why would I know your father?!" she shouted, her voice alternating between nervous laughter and terror as the others closed in on her. "Don’t come near me!" she screamed again, waving her sweaty, trembling hands as they were just inches away from her.