I didn't remember how I got home.
One moment, I was standing in the rain, my world falling apart under the weight of everything he had said.
The next—
I was inside my apartment.
Dry.
Breathing.
Alive.
I stood in the middle of the room, unmoving, my eyes scanning the familiar space as if I were seeing it for the first time.
The couch. The small table. The faint hum of the refrigerator in the background.
Everything was exactly the same.
But I wasn't.
My hands trembled as I slowly lifted them in front of me, turning them slightly under the dim light. They looked normal. No blood. No wounds.
No sign that I had died.
But I knew the truth.
I felt it.
Something inside me had changed.
Something that couldn't be undone.
My chest tightened as I pressed a hand against it.
There it was again.
That feeling.
A faint pull.
Subtle.
Constant.
Like an invisible thread stretching from me… to him.
I swallowed hard.
"No…"
I shook my head, backing away slightly as if I could escape it.
"This isn't real."
But the pull didn't disappear.
If anything, it grew stronger.
A quiet knock echoed inside my head.
Not a sound.
A sensation.
Like something brushing against my thoughts.
My breath caught.
"Stop…" I whispered.
Silence.
Then—
"You feel it."
My body froze.
His voice.
Inside my head.
"What—" I stumbled back, nearly losing my balance. "Get out of my head!"
"I am not in your head."
The calmness in his tone made it worse.
"Then what is this?!" I pressed my hands against my temples, trying to block him out.
"Our connection."
My heart pounded violently.
"This is not normal!" I snapped.
"No," he agreed. "It is not."
I let out a shaky breath, pacing the room in small, restless steps.
"Make it stop."
"I cannot."
"Then learn how!"
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Unmoving.
For a moment, I thought he had gone quiet.
That maybe—just maybe—I was alone again.
But then—
"You are afraid."
I stopped.
My hands clenched at my sides.
"Of course I am!" I snapped. "You killed me! You brought me back! And now you're… in my head!"
"I am not in your head," he repeated.
"Then where are you?!"
A pause.
Then—
"Close."
The word sent a chill down my spine.
Slowly, I turned toward the door.
My heart began to race again.
"No…"
Don't be there.
Please don't be there.
I took a cautious step forward.
Then another.
The closer I got, the stronger the pull became.
Like something was drawing me toward it.
Toward him.
My hand trembled as I reached for the door handle.
For a moment, I hesitated.
Then I opened it.
He was there.
Standing just outside.
Dry.
Untouched by the storm that still raged outside.
His presence filled the space instantly, heavy and undeniable.
My breath caught.
"How—" I shook my head, stepping back. "How did you even know where I live?"
"I did not need to know."
That wasn't an answer.
But I was starting to realize—
He didn't give normal answers.
He stepped inside without asking.
Without waiting.
Like he belonged there.
Like he had every right.
"Hey—" I started, but the words died in my throat.
Because the moment he crossed the threshold—
That pull inside me shifted.
It calmed.
Not completely.
But enough to make me notice the difference.
My breathing slowed slightly.
My chest loosened.
Relief.
Unwanted.
Unwelcome.
But real.
I hated it.
"You feel it," he said quietly.
I looked at him, anger flaring again.
"That doesn't mean I like it."
"I did not say you did."
I crossed my arms, putting distance between us.
"Then why are you here?"
"To stabilize the bond."
The words sounded clinical.
Cold.
Like he was talking about something simple.
Not something that had just destroyed my life.
"And what happens if you don't?" I asked.
His gaze met mine.
"You will weaken."
A chill spread through me.
"How much?"
He didn't answer immediately.
That alone told me enough.
"That bad?" I whispered.
"Yes."
I turned away, running a hand through my hair, trying to process everything.
"This is insane," I muttered. "This is completely insane."
He didn't disagree.
That made it worse.
I walked toward the window, staring out at the rain, my thoughts spiraling.
"So what? I just… stay near you now?" I asked. "Like some kind of… shadow?"
"If you wish to survive," he said simply.
I let out a bitter laugh.
"Great. That's comforting."
Silence settled between us again.
But this time, it felt different.
Less suffocating.
More… tense.
I turned back to him slowly.
"You still haven't told me who you are."
His expression didn't change.
"That knowledge is not necessary yet."
"Necessary for who?" I challenged.
"For you."
"That's not your decision to make."
"It already has been."
Frustration burned through me again.
"You don't get to control everything!"
His gaze darkened slightly.
"You misunderstand."
"Oh, do I?"
"Yes."
The word was sharp.
Definitive.
"You are alive because I allowed it."
The room seemed to shrink around us.
The air grew heavier.
"You exist now because of me."
My chest tightened.
"And because of that… you are no longer entirely your own."
The words hit harder than anything else he had said.
Something inside me cracked.
"That's not fair," I whispered.
"Life rarely is."
I looked at him, really looked this time.
At the calm.
The control.
The way he spoke as if everything was already decided.
"Do you even care?" I asked quietly.
His expression stilled.
"About what?"
"About what you did to me."
For the first time—
There was a pause.
A real one.
"I corrected an outcome," he said.
"That's not what I asked."
Silence.
Then—
"I did what was necessary."
My chest ached.
"That's not the same thing."
He didn't respond.
And somehow…
That hurt more than anything else.
I looked away again, blinking quickly.
"Fine," I said after a moment. "Let's say I believe you."
A lie.
But I needed answers.
"What now?"
He watched me carefully.
"Now… you learn."
"Learn what?"
"How to exist like this."
I let out a slow breath.
"And if I don't want to?"
His answer was immediate.
"You do not have that choice."
Of course I didn't.
I laughed softly, though there was no humor in it.
"Figures."
The rain outside began to slow, the storm finally losing its strength.
But inside…
Everything was just beginning.
I looked at him one last time.
At the man who killed me.
The man who brought me back.
The man who now held my life in his hands.
And I realized something that made my stomach twist.
This wasn't just fear anymore.
It wasn't just anger.
It was something worse.
Something far more dangerous.
Because no matter how much I hated it…
I could feel it.
That pull.
That connection.
That chain.
And the more I tried to resist it…
The tighter it became.
I wasn't just alive.
I was bound.
And there was no breaking it.