The air was heavy, thick with a silence that felt almost alive.
Harin's footsteps echoed somewhere behind her, swallowed by a darkness that stretched on forever.
She was running. Again. Always.
Her bare feet hit something solid, yet no sound came back to her.
The long, cold tunnel narrowed around her, closing in with every breath, swallowing what little hope she had left.
Each inhale burned her lungs.
Each heartbeat slammed against her ribs like a warning.
Behind her, something moved , a rough breath, a low growl, the presence of a shadow that wasn't quite human.
She turned, breath hitching in her throat…
but there was nothing.
Only a shifting mass of black, an alive and hungry darkness that devoured the light.
She tried to scream, but her voice stayed trapped in her chest.
Fear hammered against her temples.
She ran until her legs betrayed her.
Her knees buckled.
She fell, hands trembling, searching for an exit she knew didn't exist.
Inside her mind, a single thought spiraled:
I kept running without knowing where.
I kept fleeing without knowing from what.
In that endless tunnel… I was a prisoner of my own fear.
A faint breeze brushed her cheek.
She lifted her tear-blurred eyes.
Far ahead , a glimmer.
A light.
Or maybe just another illusion.
The alarm tore her out of the dream.
Her sheets were twisted beneath her, damp with sweat and clinging to her skin.
Her breath came fast, filling the quiet room in uneven waves.
Soft morning light slipped through the curtains, painting gentle shadows over the walls.
Harin stayed still for a long moment, staring at the ceiling as if the tunnel still stretched above her.
Her fingers tightened around the fabric beneath her, a chill climbing her spine.
Slowly, she turned toward the window.
Outside, the world was waking up, colors returning little by little.
Inside her, a softer thought whispered:
The tunnel felt endless.
Fear held me there.
But this morning… I felt something different.
Something steady.
As if even in the dark a light had been waiting for me.
I can't stay frozen anymore.
Today, I have to move forward.
She pushed herself upright.
She drew in a deep breath.
School. A different life.
A girl with long, straight hair walked down the stairs.
Her features were delicate, almost unreal, like the soft lines of a hand-drawn portrait.
At sixteen, Harin moved through the world with a quiet grace , natural, effortless.
Beautiful without arrogance.
Intelligent without pride.
People admired her, but no one dared to get too close.
She never sought the spotlight, yet it found her all the same.
Her simple, thoughtful style, her gentle gestures, the softness in her eyes , all of it made her unforgettable.
But behind that gentle glow was a solitude she chose for herself.
Harin never needed a crowd.
Just a few honest souls.
She preferred silence over forced smiles.
Then one day, a new girl arrived.
Silent.
Dimmed.
Dragging behind her a sadness so heavy it showed in every step.
No one wanted her around , too strange, too sick, too different.
She carried a rare genetic illness that frightened people simply because they couldn't see it.
But Harin, faithful to her quiet light, did what no one else dared to do.
She approached.
She smiled.
She invited her to lunch.
She offered her presence like shelter.
Harin believed everyone deserved a chance.
And that's where everything began to unravel.
Because some wounded souls don't look for the light.
They try to destroy it.
That girl envied Harin.
Her glow.
Her softness.
Her mind.
Her family.
The peace she carried without even realizing it.
And somewhere twisted deep inside her, she decided Harin didn't deserve any of it.
One day, she baked a cake.
Just a simple dessert.
But inside, she hid something else.
Something old.
Something dirty.
A slow, invisible poison.
It wasn't just poison.
It was ritual.
A transfer.
A curse.
Without knowing it, Harin was offered as a sacrifice.
And the girl , she healed.
But Harin fell.
The seizures began.
Pain with no explanation.
Blackouts.
Losing pieces of herself.
She looked in the mirror and couldn't recognize the girl staring back.
In her thoughts, she whispered:
I used to be the girl who shined without trying…
And now I was disappearing without anyone noticing.
The poison didn't just slip into her blood.
It slipped into her fate.
And to free herself…
she would have to fall.
Far.
Before she could rise again , brighter than she ever was.
Sometimes, she murmured to herself:
That day… I began to disappear.
But what she never understood…
is that the light inside me never came from my body.
It came from my soul.
That morning, as she woke, something stirred deep inside her , a quiet strength.
She breathed in, set her feet onto the cold floor, and stood as if finally stepping out of that endless tunnel.
She thought she was ready to walk toward the light.
One step.
Then another.
But suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed through her head.
Her breath caught.
Her legs gave way.
With a dull thud, her body crumpled to the ground.
The twisted sheets slid off with her.
Her fingers trembled, reaching for support.
The room spun around her.
And in the middle of the chaos, a cold certainty struck her:
This wasn't over.
The poison was still there.