「 𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨 」

White Dove

The rain fell like an unrelenting curtain, drenching the streets of the city in a slick, dark sheen. Sid’s hands gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled determination, guiding their battered sedan through the winding, narrow alleys that had become their refuge and prison.

“We have to go west—across the border,” he explained, his voice steady despite the storm both outside and within.

Ayana stared out the window, watching the blurry figures of people huddled beneath makeshift shelters, their faces illuminated by the fleeting glow of passing streetlights. The world outside felt distant and foreign, a life she had once known now cloaked in shadows.

She took a deep breath, fighting against the rising panic inside her as a memory flickered back—spending hours dreaming of soaring above the clouds on an aeroplane, gliding freely like a bird across borders, unhindered and unburdened. But that dream had crumbled around her like forgotten dreams often do.

“Keep your head down,” Sid warned, his eyes darting to the rearview mirror, scanning for tails. Ayana nodded, tucking her chin to her chest, feeling the weight of their situation settle heavily on her shoulders.

They weren’t just running from loan sharks; they were fleeing a life of despair, triggered by a matter of survival and a desperate need for her father’s necessary—but costly—surgery.

The debt had spiralled out of control, an unavoidable spiral from which there was no escape; it had led them to this moment, forcing them into this dark night.

-

The tires screeched against the rain-slicked asphalt as they turned sharply down another alley. Ayana closed her eyes for a moment, trying to block out the chaos swirling around them.

The tension in Sid’s jaw, the quickened pace of his breath—these were signals she had learned to recognize. He was determined, yes, but beneath that facade lay fear.

Dark eyes meeting hers in the rearview mirror offered a glimmer of reassurance, but it was fleeting, swallowed again by uncertainty.

“We’ll be okay,” James said, catching her gaze through the mirror. It sounded more like a promise than a declaration. “We’ll find a way.”

She wanted to believe him. Even as the wind rattled against the windows, whispering ominous secrets, she could feel a small flicker of hope growing in the depths of her heart—fragile yet tenacious like a candle against the wind.

If they made it across the border, freedom lay beyond; a fresh start, a life unshackled from the bonds of debt and despair.

“Dad,” she ventured cautiously, nervously toying with her fraying hoodie strings. “What if they catch us?”

“They won’t,” he reassured her, though the resolve in his voice was not as strong as she had hoped. 

-

In the backseat, Ayana sat beside her father, their fingers tightly entwined, as if the bond of their hands could somehow shield them from the world closing in around them.

Each street they passed was draped in darkness, the neon signs flickering like dying stars, illuminating only fleeting glimpses of the chaos they were desperate to escape.

Ayana glanced at James, wishing she could lose herself in the depths of his eyes. In the hectic skies above and the turbulent emotions churning inside her, there was one constant that kept her steady: his presence. He squeezed her hand, a silent promise that they would make it out alive, that they would find safety across the line.