Chapter 4: Unseen Chains

The silence between them was suffocating.

Ava's breathing was steady now, but Cliff could still feel the way her body had tensed moments ago, how she had clung to his wrist as if it were the only thing keeping her tethered to reality.

She had seen something.

And whatever it was, it wasn't human.

Cliff exhaled sharply, glancing around the dimly lit alleyway. The city felt wrong, like a backdrop in a nightmare that refused to fade when you woke up.

"What the hell is going on?" His voice was lower now, controlled, but he could still hear the tension in it.

Ava didn't answer right away. She pressed her back against the cold brick wall, eyes flickering towards the street, as if she expected something—or someone—to reappear.

After a long pause, she finally spoke.

"I shouldn't have stopped," she murmured.

Cliff frowned. "Stopped for what?"

Ava turned to face him, and for the first time, Cliff caught a glimpse of something behind those evergreen eyes.

Regret.

She looked at him like she had just made a mistake.

Like he was the mistake.

Cliff's stomach twisted.

"I was running," she continued, voice quieter. "I wasn't supposed to stop. Not for anything. But then I…" She hesitated. "I ran into you."

A strange, cold feeling crept up Cliff's spine.

"You say that like it wasn't an accident," he said carefully.

Ava's lips parted slightly, but no words came out. Instead, she reached up and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, something oddly human in the midst of all this tension.

"I don't believe in accidents," she finally muttered.

Cliff let the words sink in.

Neither did he. Not anymore.

After everything that had happened—the whispers in the dark, the nightmare, the shifting words in the Bible—nothing felt coincidental.

His eyes flicked back to Ava, watching the way her shoulders were still rigid, the way her jaw remained tight, as if she were preparing for something worse.

And then it hit him.

"You think I'm part of this," he realized.

Ava didn't confirm or deny it.

She just stared.

Cliff ran a hand down his face, feeling the exhaustion creeping in. "I don't even know what this is," he muttered. "You show up out of nowhere, running from something I can't even see, and now you're acting like I'm—what?—involved?"

Ava shifted slightly, crossing her arms.

"Tell me," she said, her voice steady, "when did the nightmares start?"

Cliff's blood ran cold.

Ava must have noticed the slight shift in his expression because her gaze sharpened.

"It wasn't just tonight, was it?" she pressed. "You've been seeing things. Feeling things. Like something is watching you."

Cliff swallowed hard.

He didn't want to answer.

Because if he did, that meant admitting that something was wrong—not just with Ava, not just with tonight—but with him.

His silence was enough of an answer.

Ava exhaled through her nose, almost like she had expected it.

"I knew it," she whispered.

Cliff's hands curled into fists. "What does that mean?"

Ava hesitated for just a second before she pushed herself off the wall, stepping closer to him. The movement was subtle, but Cliff felt it like a shift in gravity.

"Listen to me," she said, quieter now. "I don't know who you are. I don't know why you're caught up in this. But whatever is happening to you? It's real. And if you don't start paying attention, it's going to destroy you."

Cliff's chest tightened.

Destroy him.

The words hung heavy in the cold air, wrapping around him like unseen chains.

Ava took a step back, the tension between them still thick. "I have to go," she said.

Cliff blinked. "What?"

"I can't stay in one place too long." She turned her head slightly, like she was listening for something. "And you shouldn't either."

"Hold on," Cliff said quickly, stepping toward her. "You can't just drop all of this on me and walk away. I need answers."

Ava's gaze flickered, and for a brief moment, Cliff thought she might actually tell him something real.

But then, she exhaled.

"You don't want the answers I have," she murmured.

Cliff clenched his jaw. "Try me."

Ava studied him.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, she spoke.

"Have you ever heard the sound of something that isn't supposed to exist?"

Cliff froze.

Because he had.

The whisper in his room. The sound that made his skin crawl. The thing that had watched him from the darkness.

Ava saw the realization dawn on his face, and for the first time, something in her expression softened.

"That's what's after me," she admitted. "And now? It's after you, too."

The words sent a sharp, icy spike down Cliff's spine.

Ava turned on her heel and started walking toward the mouth of the alley.

"Wait," Cliff called.

She didn't stop.

Panic flared in his chest. He wasn't sure why—maybe because for the first time, someone else understood what was happening to him. Maybe because he had no one else to turn to.

Or maybe because some part of him knew that if Ava left, he might never see her again.

So he did the only thing he could think of.

He followed.

The night swallowed them whole, and Cliff realized—

There was no turning back.