The Favour (COMPLETE)

Chapter 1.

Leyla

I'm sitting under a bridge at quarter to one in the morning and I can feel my butt going numb from the cold. I breathe into my hands and rub them together.
'He can't find me here,' I say to myself not very convincingly. I've been sat here for nearly two whole hours but I know if I move he will come after me. I've just got to last until the sun comes up and those dog walkers start walking around-he wouldn't dare do anything in public.
"Found you," his husky voice echoes under the bridge and I close my eye cuddling my knees towards me believing that if I make myself small enough he won't be able to find. My breath becomes rapid, my heart is beating in my throat and as if I wasn't freezing enough my blood runs cold.
"Please don't hurt me!" I whimper into the darkness which is enveloping me. I feel a hand grab my shoulder, it's warm and boney. I find myself being dragged up the wall until I'm standing, my eyes still clenched shut.
"Okay I'll give you five seconds to find a new hiding place, this one was obvious," the man snarls in my face, the gravel in his throat rattling with each word. His breath has a stench of fish and bananas which makes me feel sick. He lets me go and I stumble forward letting my eyes fly open. There is a small gap of light at the other side of the bridge, a streetlamp probably, and I aim for it. I open my mouth to scream but no sound escapes my closed throat and I feel like I'm choking.
"1." His voice echoes again and I make my feet move in the direction of what I hope is safety.
"2." There is no way I'll get to the other side before five.
"3." I look around at the towering walls beside me, water dribbling down the sides and pooling at the bottom.
"4." There has to be some door to somewhere, anywhere, like Alice In Wonderland.
"5". I turn around and there he stands his gun focused on me. He knew I wouldn't be able to make it, he just likes to tease his victims like a cat playing with its food. The guy has long greasy brown hair which is like rat tails at the side of his face, black hooded eyes, a hook nose and thin lips which always seemed to be in a smirk. His clothes are shabby, like he lives on the streets, dirty and full of holes but enough layers to keep you warm in the Arctic. The gun... Well his guns are always pristine and new. This one glints in the small rays of moonlight the clouds are letting through, taunting me with my end.
"Please..." I call but he can't hear me. He's laugh maniacally and pulled the trigger on the gun. It hits my chest and forces me off balance and I fall backwards watching the trails of my purple scarf dance above me before...

"Leyla!" A familiar voice breaks through and I wake up screaming so loudly I feel like the whole world can hear me. When I finally stop I can't breathe, my throat is sour and scratchy and my eyes are streaming with what people tell me are tears.
"Leyla?" This time Ajay is more concerned, like before he had just been shouting my name but now, now I was awake I knew what was coming next.
"I'm fine," I manage to croak reaching out into the darkness and wrapping my hand around a glass of water. I slowly bring it up to my lips, my hand shaking so I place my other hand around it hoping that in the darkness of my room my cousin wouldn't be able to see.
"Was it the same nightmare again?" He asks turning on my bedside light. I shut my eyes against the light and take a large gulp of the luke warm water. As I feel it slide down my esophagus I open my eyes and take in my cousin. He's furrowing his eyebrows which makes him look cute and there is panic in his brown eyes. Ajay runs his hand through his hair, smoothing down the bits sticking up.
"No," I say placing the glass back beside me. It's the truth, this nightmare, well this nightmare was different. More vivid, more real like I'm getting closer to something but I just don't know what.
"Leyla?" Ajay raises his eyebrows like he does when he thinks I'm lying. I shake my head furiously.
"It wasn't the same nightmare," I insist, "I was falling off a building." Okay so I lie, but what use is telling him some maniac keeps trying to kill me? Ajay wants to protect me but how does one protect somebody from something they don't even understand.
"Okay," Ajay stands up off my bed and looks around. My dorm is a tip. Clothes are cascading out of the wardrobe, my draws are open with stuff sticking out and my desk is covered in paperwork and pens with a mug of coffee that is at least a couple days old. The only place in my room which is tidy is the space at the bottom of my bed where I shoved a beanbag and managed to get permission to put up a shelf. The shelf is low enough to be able to reach from the beanbag but high enough so you don't hit your head. I use that corner of my room as a safehaven, a place I go when I just feel like shit or when I need some time out. It's feels like it is my own space away from the world.
"I'm only next door if you need me," Ajay is staring at the photograph of my parents which has pride of place on the shelf. I look at it too. They look so happy together. I wonder if my father made one of those jokes my grandma says he used to tell, the ones that used to crack everyone up with laughter and make your side hurt and you gasp for air because they were so funnily unfunny. I never heard one of those jokes, or if I did I can't remember it. I was only two and half when they died and this picture is the closest thing to seeing them happy I'm ever going to get.
"Yeah I know," I smile gratefully at my cousin. He had specifically requested a dorm room next to mine when we started at college and now we are both in our final year. Whenever I had a bad dream he was always there when I woke up. He likes to think of himself as my guardian but sometimes it can be a bit annoying, sometimes I just want to wake up and process what I've just witnessed before I forget it. He waves at me before shutting my door quietly leaving me alone... Again. I had never belonged after my parents death. I was passed from one auntie to another to an uncle to my grandparents back round to another auntie until I turned sixteen and my uncle Aravinda said he'd pay for me to attend a college of my choice. I've always been fond of my uncle Aravinda, even though he had never taken full responsibility for me he was always the nicest and most caring even if he does have a short temper sometimes. I flap my duvet out trying to get rid of the creases from my tossing and turning before sliding down into the covers and cocooning myself within the warmth and protection they give me. I sigh as I reach across to turn the lamp off. I can't remember what he looks like now, the man from the dream the one in the dirty clothes with the pristine gun. All I can remember is the feeling of falling and seeing flashes of purple dancing above me.

"Who are you?" I breathe turning the lamp off and closing my eyes, "and what do you want from me?"