Ava’s head pounded as she slowly regained consciousness. Her body felt stiff, her wrists aching. Blinking against the darkness, she tried to move, but the cold clink of metal against metal stopped her. Her hands were cuffed to the headboard of a bed, the cold bite of the chains sending a shiver through her.
She tried to steady her breathing, but panic gnawed at her chest. The room was dimly lit, and the faint scent of dampness filled the air. Shadows stretched across the walls, flickering eerily from a dim light somewhere above her. She glanced around, her eyes adjusting to the gloom. The room was small, the walls crumbling and covered with strange dark stains. The air was heavy and cold, and something about it felt... wrong.
Ava tugged at the cuffs, testing their strength. They held firm. The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed through the room. Her breathing quickened as fear set in.
"Where am I?" she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible in the silence.
Gathering her strength, she sat up and pulled herself toward the window. The cuffs allowed her just enough slack to peer outside. What she saw made her heart race. The rooftop stretched into the distance, surrounded by jagged stones and a seemingly endless drop into darkness. The view looked ancient, almost surreal, with twisted iron structures and high, towering walls.
The setting reminded her of something out of a nightmare—a rooftop so haunting it felt like stepping into another world. The feeling of isolation crept up her spine.
Her eyes stung with tears as she pulled back from the window, her chest heaving with sobs. She was scared. Confused. Why had this happened to her? She had only come to find answers, not be dragged into a dark world she didn’t understand. With each shaky breath, Ava tried to pull herself together, wiping at her face with trembling hands.
“Help!” she screamed into the emptiness. “Please, somebody help me!”
Her voice echoed through the desolate rooftop, disappearing into the void. There was no response, just silence.
A sudden creak from the door jolted her. She whipped her head toward it, her heart in her throat. The door swung open slowly, revealing the silhouette of a man—tall, broad-shouldered, and cloaked in shadow.
He stepped forward, the dim light casting enough detail for her to see his face. His eyes were sharp, piercing, and calculating, and there was something about him that radiated danger. He was dressed in dark clothing, a heavy coat hanging off his frame. He looked at Ava, his expression cold and indifferent.
“You’re awake,” he said in a low, measured voice.
Ava recoiled, pressing herself against the headboard, her wrists tugging at the cuffs painfully.
“Who are you? Why am I here?” Her voice cracked with desperation, but she tried to keep her fear from showing.
The man stepped closer, his boots echoing in the room. He didn’t answer immediately, his gaze moving over her as if assessing her worth. Finally, he spoke.
“You don’t need to know who I am, but let’s just say I’m the one who found you snooping where you didn’t belong.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “Snooping? I wasn’t— I didn’t—”
“Save it,” he cut her off, his tone sharp and unforgiving. “People like you, always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. You don’t know the rules here, do you?”
Ava swallowed hard, shaking her head slightly, her voice barely above a whisper. “I was just... I didn’t mean to—”
He let out a humorless laugh, cutting her off again. “Meaning doesn’t matter. You’re here now, and that’s all that counts.”
Ava stared at him, confusion mixing with terror. She didn’t understand what he was talking about. “Please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone. I don’t even know where I am—”
His expression darkened as he leaned closer, his face inches from hers. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? You don’t know anything. And that’s exactly why you’re dangerous.”
Ava’s breath caught in her throat. His presence was suffocating, every inch of him radiating menace. Yet, beneath it all, there was something else—a simmering intensity she couldn’t quite place.
“Let me go,” she pleaded again, her voice trembling. “Please.”
The man smirked, but there was no kindness in it. “Oh, you’re not going anywhere. Not yet.”
He straightened, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m Detective Liam Creed. This city—this world—isn’t for outsiders. People who ask too many questions end up in places far worse than this. So, consider yourself lucky.”
"Lucky?" Ava's voice was thick with disbelief. “I’m cuffed to a bed in a place that feels like it’s fallen out of time, and you call that lucky?”
Liam shrugged, unfazed by her outburst. “You’re alive, aren’t you?”
Ava’s anger flared. “You can’t keep me here! Someone will come looking for me.”
Liam’s smirk returned, this time more amused than threatening. “I doubt that. You made sure of it when you started meddling in things you don’t understand.”
Tears filled Ava’s eyes again, but she blinked them back, refusing to let him see her cry. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You did enough.” He turned, heading toward the door, but paused at the threshold. “Get comfortable. You’ll be here for a while.”
With that, Liam Creed disappeared into the hallway, leaving Ava alone in the cold, oppressive silence. The weight of his words sank in, and she felt her resolve crumbling.
She was trapped, and the man who had taken her was more dangerous than she could have ever imagined.
YOU ARE READING
ECHOES OF TIME
Ficción histórica**Trailer for Echoes of Time** In a world where the past holds the key to the future, Ava Chloe is a brilliant computer science engineer haunted by a tragedy she can't remember. Driven by a relentless desire to uncover the truth, she builds a time m...
