She wanted to die.
He wanted to live.
•••
A hand grabbed onto my wrist, yanking me back just as the train rushed past, before I'd even had time to comprehend whether or not I'd carry out the action. I stumbled back into the person's chest, my hear...
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I ran.
My fight or flight instinct clicked in and the next thing I knew my legs were carrying me down the platform, towards the direction of an entrance to the train station as the whole world seemed to blur. I fled not out of fear, but rather because that was what I did when things got tough – I ran.
I could hear him behind me, chasing me, calling out words that my mind simply refused to process, instead zoning in on the sound of blood rushing through my ears and the slap of my shoes against the pavement and my laboured breaths that made my chest feel tight with each movement I made.
I had to get away.
All previous illusions of safety associated with the stranger now ceased to exist as my mind jumped through myriads of possibilities: Was he a stalker? A creep? Or perhaps someone I had previously met and forgotten about?
If I had met him before, I surely would have remembered; those intense eyes were not something I could have forgotten easily. Even now as I ran, I could still picture them, murky waves of perturbation crashing above his dark depths of angst that I could so easily find myself drowning in.
Who was he?
As abruptly as I started running, I stopped, stood facing an open door leading inside the station. I bent down, resting my hands on my knees as I gave the oxygen a clearer path to my lungs that were refusing to cooperate now that I needed them most.
As I stood up, the uneven pattering of footsteps trickled into my range of hearing. I didn't bother turning back, readjusting my rucksack as I was about to resume running when something else, something louder and more prevalent than footsteps became audible.
I could hear breathing.
Heavy breathing.
Except it wasn't the type that sent terror straight to my soul, but rather inflicted concern and made me hesitate long enough to make a decision I knew I would regret.
I turned back to look at him.
Like a wounded animal, the stranger was jogging painfully slowly towards me, one hand clutching his chest as his heavy breaths echoed through the night, a contortion of pain twisted on his face. "Cassie..." he breathed out, his voice, though strained, managing to sound like the most alluring thing murmuring through the night, "Wait...please."
I took slow steps backwards, shaking my head despite the protests inside of it discouraging me from going any further, before entering the station doorway and leaving the stranger behind.
I jogged mindlessly throughout the empty station, taking numerous turns before I found myself at an exit, provided with a view of a street still surprisingly busy considering the time.
I skimmed over the area before my gaze landed upon the wall adjacent to the station where there was graffiti unlike any other I'd seen before. Normally, I wouldn't care for such things but my breath was taken away from just a glance at the masterpiece, leaving me with no choice but to pause and admire it.
