The clock ticked steadily in Lara's dim apartment, each second louder than the last. Rain tapped lightly against the windows, and the yellow streetlight outside flickered just enough to make her living room feel lonelier than usual. She sat curled up on the couch, a worn book in her lap that she hadn't turned a page of in over twenty minutes. Her mind drifted, as it often did lately, to the photograph she had left behind at the cottage — and the way Kaven had looked at her that day. Too still. Too knowing.
A creak pulled her out of her thoughts.
She froze.
Her eyes darted toward the hallway.
She lived on the fourth floor. There was no reason for anything to creak.
Setting the book aside, Lara stood slowly. The apartment was quiet again — eerily so. She walked toward the kitchen, where she thought the sound had come from. Her fingers hovered over the light switch when she heard it.
A second sound.
Closer this time.
The faint sound of her bedroom door clicking shut.
She didn't wait. Grabbing the nearest thing she could — a heavy glass candleholder — she moved cautiously down the hall, her breath catching with each step.
And then —
A shadow moved past the crack beneath the door.
Before she could run, the door flung open.
"Lara—don't scream—" Kaven's voice hissed, breathless.
She stumbled back in shock. "What the hell—"
"It's me. I had no choice—I had to come here. I didn't know where else to go—"
His chest was rising and falling rapidly. His shirt was damp from the rain, his hair sticking to his forehead.
"Kaven?" she gasped. "You broke into my apartment?"
He shut the door behind him quickly, locking it. "I didn't break in—the door was unlocked."
"That doesn't make it okay—!"
"I know—I know. I'm sorry. I just—" He paused, leaning against the wall. "Someone was following me."
Lara stared at him, her pulse still racing. "Who?"
He didn't answer right away. Instead, he walked into the living room, dragging his hand across his face as if trying to shake something off. "I don't know. I think I was followed from the station. Or maybe earlier. I couldn't tell. But it didn't feel right."
"You're scaring me," she said quietly.
"I scared myself too."
She stood in the middle of the room, candleholder still gripped tight in her hand. Her mind was whirring. Was this real? Had he actually been followed — or was this something else? Something darker?
"Did you see anyone?" she asked cautiously.
Kaven shook his head. "No. Just... a presence. You ever feel watched, even when there's no one there?"
He gave her a hollow smile. "That's what it felt like. It's probably nothing. But it felt like something."
Lara's heart thumped. He wasn't making sense. But something about his voice — low, shaken, cracked at the edges — made her believe he believed it.
She finally set the candleholder down on the table.
"I'll get you a towel," she said. "You're dripping."
As she moved to the bathroom, Kaven sank into the armchair, wiping rainwater from his face. His eyes wandered to the bookshelf, then the half-read book on the couch. The apartment smelled faintly of lavender and coffee.
He hadn't planned to come here. He hadn't planned anything at all.
But someone had.
And somewhere in the shadows between his memories and the truth, something — or someone — was beginning to stir.
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End of Chapter 5