Strangers

Prologue

Metal scrapped against Metal, Shreds of glasses flew everywhere, some of them piercing in my arms as I tried to block them. I sat there breathing heavily as the blood trickled down my forehead mixed with my sweat.

The headlights of the other vehicle shone directly in my eyes blinding me in the process. The smell of scrapped metal mixed with our blood and sweat gave me a nauseous feeling.
For a moment a dangerous eerie silence draped the whole nerve-wracking atmosphere except my ragged breathing.

I tried to call someone, anyone but my throat constricted. My eyes widened and my mouth felt dry as I looked over to the left seeing a body crashed in the windshield lying unconscious and a whole lot of blood pouring out from places the glass pierced.

Lost in the horrifying scene I felt as something grabbed my hand. Looking down I saw a bloodied hand grasping my own forcefully.

"Save Me Please" came a gruff voice from the unconscious body lying next to me as the pool of blood poured from his eyes as well as arms.

With a scream my body jerked upwards on the bed I was sleeping, My breathing became heavier as I took in the darkness of the night and the emptiness of the room. I glanced at the clock realising it was nearly five in the morning and was glad that I got at least two hours of sleep which was rare nowadays.

Scrambling away from the sweaty blanket I made my towards the bathroom and stood before the mirror taking in the form of the broken girl, her dark brown locks scattered in different directions and eyes that had dark circles under it making her look rather skinny and ill nutritious.

The sleeves hang around her arms loosely as she washed her face with cold water, which brought her back to the harsh reality of the world. Hot tears poured down against the cold beads of water which made her shiver a bit.

I decided to take a walk since it's early as I have a lot of time before I need to get ready for school which is starting today. I just wanted to pass this year without any high school drama as I went through my last school, which left me exhausted.

Letting out a pained sigh I made my way downstairs into our house. The sound of my foot against the hardwood steps cuts the silence as I descend towards the living room right across the kitchen.

Empty Bottles of expensive wine and alcohol was laying scattered across the hall. A woman layed on the couch knocked up, rather uncomfortable with her arms hanging loosely on the edges.

Sighing I ran a hand in my dishevelled hair and brought myself to endure it. Slowly and carefully I tried to wake her,

" Mom, Hey Mom," I said while shaking her lightly knowing that if I did something more she would burst out and I don't want that just now.

She stirred a bit and mumbled something and then slowly opened her eyes which were puffed red and swollen

"Hey, Mom, why don't you Go in your room and sleep there, it's still early" I advised her so that she could be more comfortable.

She stared at me for a second then replied " Mind your own business Ava, and don't bother to wake me up, you are giving me a headache" She closed her eyes rubbing her forehead in the process, dismissing me rather rudely.

I neither felt the pain nor hurt because there was nothing left for my body to feel except the numbness as I made way towards the door, feeling suffocated in this dark soulless house. It felt as if my heart was bleeding with pain and agony but I couldn't feel it.

It has always been like that, me trying to bring her back from sleep or to say, from darkness and her shouting at me for disturbing her or whatsoever.

I have always loved to jog to clear my mind whenever I could not sleep, breathing in the fresh air and to enjoy the silence of early morning occasionally interrupted by the chirping of birds and dog barks.

Wandering around the street and seeing people walking around with their loved ones, I couldn't help but think how would it be to be loved by someone dearly, someone to be affectionate towards you.

Minutes passed, numerous streets wandered, but still, there was a hole in my chest that kept me connected to the past for years. I made my way towards the house we moved into two days before.

Being lost in my thoughts, I wasn't aware of the surroundings, I heard some shouting from far away. Going further I squinted my eyes to get a better look, at three bulky guys, standing and cornering a person whose face I couldn't exactly see, due to darkness

Was he being bullied? Or were they threatening him? I should save him, shouldn't I? But he didn't seem the one to be bullied. His perfectly shaped body seemed to be towering over those bulky guys. Looking around, I searched for someone to help, but there was no one, it was a secluded neighbourhood, which means that if these guys are dangerous, anything could happen to me and no one would know.

Mentally debating pros and cons, I finally decided to stay out of it and return as quickly as possible.

As I was going, Someone shouted, "Hey Stranger, wait" in a ragged voice.
Huh!! What? Was he calling me?

Turning around, I saw the man hidden in shadows, whom I couldn't make out properly, calling and gesturing towards me. What!! Did I know him?

The two bulky guys narrowed their eyes in my direction, now making me the centre of attention. They were looking like I was a piece of meat for them. This was bad. Too bad.

Taking this opportunity, the guy in the silhouette swiftly ducked over and ran towards me, taking me and those bulky guys by surprise. My eyes widened when those guys also began running towards me like a mad furious bull.

I should run, really fast, but my legs wouldn't move. The shadowy guy jolted me out of the stance by snatching my hand, and yelling,

"Run!!!"

My mind jerked to action and in a second we both were running, skipping around the freeways, like mad bulls were behind us.

I don't know in which direction we were running, mostly importantly why was I running when I hadn't done anything wrong. My mind was blank, I just kept running, gasping for air, his hand tugged in mine.

Finally, after running for continuous ten to twelve minutes, I was out of the air and my legs were badly paining seeing that we have lost those guys, I decided to stop. I noticed that we were still holding hands, sweaty out of breath.

Noticing my attention, he untangled my hand from his and brushed his fingers in his already messy hair. There I noticed his features, his strong jaw, long lashes which swept through the definite cheekbones, curly strands of hair falling over his eyes. Definitely Handsome.

He was also gasping for air, bent so that his knees were supporting his weight. The curls bounced around his beautiful face, giving him an aura of a Model. His rugged jeans and white shirt gave a contradictory impression.

"Who were those people, and most importantly why did you dragged me in this mess?" I asked in a rough voice, suddenly feeling thirsty. I mentally slapped myself realising that I don't even know him and I was enquiring about those people. Who knows if he is dangerous, or he is going go abduct me. Silly me.

He smirked and then looked away in a thoughtful manner

" Those were...." He said looking over me, a small smile playing over his face, thinking of words to describe. As I opened my mouth to say something he continued.

"Not friends, Not enemies, not family, just...... Strangers, like us " His ocean blue eyes stared at me as if conveying something, I couldn't understand and then he suddenly started walking in the opposite direction.

I was dumbfounded. What the fuck just happened. Did we seriously escape from the serial killers or what. And most importantly who was he. And what did he just say?