Axel

I didn't know exactly what was chasing me. Only that I couldn't let it catch me. I ran until my legs refused to obey. The mud swallowed my feet, the trees closed in behind me, as if they wanted to protect me… or bury me. Then it appeared: a solitary house, warm from afar. Foreign. Human. But open. I had no choice. My lungs were knives, my body only trembled. I climbed a trellis, clumsy, desperate, and slipped through a window without thinking of the consequences. Inside, the world was different. Silence. Sweet aromas. Everything clean, tidy… as if life here made sense. I went up to the attic. I locked myself in without looking too much. I just needed to disappear. The air was thick. Old. I settled among some boxes, wrapped in dusty sheets, feeling my body stop hurting only to start burning from the inside. I didn't understand anything. I didn't know where I was. Nor why it hurt so much to be alive. I gritted my teeth. I wanted control. Firmness. But not even my hands obeyed me. My chest rose and fell as if my heart were trying to escape. I'm tired. More than I can explain. Tired of running, of getting lost, of searching for a place that doesn't exist. I closed my eyes. I told myself it would only be a second. Just a breath… CLACK. The front door sounded. Abrupt. Real. Terrifyingly close. My body shrank reflexively. The sound of a bag falling. A voice, soft. Feminine. My mind screamed for me to run. But I couldn't move. I only listened. Tense. Frozen. She's here. And so am I. I don't speak her language well. I don't even know if I can look her in the eyes without breaking down. But if she finds me… If she asks me to leave… I don't know where else to run.