Chapter Four : Unwanted Guest (Liam).
Visiting Hour — Psychiatric Asylum, Day 1 of Week 243
The Day.
....
The morning light streamed through Lia's window golden, blinding but nothing could outshine the fire in her chest. This was it. The final day. Tonight, she would disappear like smoke through the cracks untraceable, unstoppable.
She had decided to wait but she found out that the council was sending some on the day she had plan to escape.
She tucked the sharpened screw into the hem of her sleeve and wrapped the frayed signal wire around her wrist like a bracelet. Everything was ready. Her eyes gleamed with something close to hunger as she mentally mapped each hallway, each blind spot, each second of guard delay.
But then...
A knock.
Not the usual double-tap of a nurse. Not the brisk rattle of keys.
A soft, deliberate knock. Followed by a voice she hadn't heard in years.
"Lia."
Immediately her spine stiffened.
The door creaked open before she could respond, and in stepped Liam.
Same jawline, sharper now. Same haunted eyes, more shadows beneath them. The boy who once trailed behind her like a loyal wolf now wearing a visitor's badge like a leash.
He stepped inside slowly, gripping a paper bag against his chest like it was some kind of armor. His hands trembled,his knuckles almost pale. He looked around, half-expecting to find someone else but he didn't. Just her. Just that silence.
"I brought you snacks," he said quietly, setting the bag down on the small metal table. "Your favorite. Coconut chips... and chocolate."
Her expression was unreadable. It was like ice behind glass. She didn't turn. Didn't even blink. She didn't need to.
"I'm not hungry," she said. Flat. Final.
Liam sat across from her anyway. "You don't even know if I poisoned them."
Her lips curved, barely. "That would be amusing. Finally growing a spine?"
"I'm not here to fight," he said, though the tremor in his voice betrayed him.
"Then you shouldn't have come."
"I had to," he said quickly. "I can't keep watching you like this. I don't care what they say. You're still my sister."
That word. That...
Sister.
Lia flinched but only for a second.
She stood and walked to the far corner of the room, with her arms crossed behind her back.
"You're wasting your time," she murmured.
"I don't care."
"You should."
He took a shaky breath. "I remember how you held me the night Mum died. You were crying too. You weren't always like this, this... monster everyone says you are."
She turned. Her eyes had turn dark and bottomless. "You think a hug ten years ago changes what I've done?"
"No," he said. "But it proves you're not beyond saving."
Immediately her voice dropped colder. "Saving implies I'm lost."
"Aren't you?"
There was silence.
Then, she stepped closer. "I didn't burn those people because I was lost, Liam. I did it because it felt right."
His eyes welled up, but he held back the tears. "Then why did you scream her name while they dragged you away? If it felt right?"
Lia froze.
"You still dream about her, don't you?" he whispered. "You scream for your twin in your sleep. You still feel. You just hate that you do."
Her hand twitched.
But instead of yelling, she took a breath, a deep, cold, and precise breath
"Leave."
"Lia..."
"Boss, if you insist," she said sharply. "But leave."
She turned her back to him, facing the window. Her eyes locked on a world that had long betrayed her.
Liam stood slowly, hand brushing the paper bag. He hesitated then left it.
"I'll come again."
"I won't be here."
He stopped at the door. "You're planning something, aren't you?"
She didn't answer.
"I hope you get out," he added. "But I hope you don't forget the part of you that cried for her."
The door closed softly.
Lia remained by the window, unmoving.
Only her hand trembled. She quickly shoved it into her pocket to hide the weakness.
---
Later that evening...
The shadows grew longer across the asylum walls. A shift change loomed.
Lia sat once more by the window but now her stillness was deceptive. Beneath that quiet shell, her heart beat in calculated tempo.
No more visitors.
No more warnings.
She turned back to the vent and reached for her gear.
Tonight was Move Three: The Break.
And not even ghosts from the past could stop her now.
Note..
Watch Out For the Break.
To Be Continued