Sanctuary

Click!

The sound tore through the dark silence as I unlocked the door to my apartment and lazily stepped inside. I dropped the keys to my car on the table to the left and flipped one shoe at a time with the least conviction to properly put it in its place.

A deep sigh escaped by lips as I sauntered through the dark foyer and entered my bedroom. With only the moonlight entering through the ceiling high glass door to my balcony, I made my way to the bathroom, dropping one item of clothing at a time.

The warm water from the shower embraced me like a comforting cocoon, its rhythmic cadence echoing through the bathroom. Stepping onto the cool tiles, I wrapped myself in a plush towel, feeling its warmth against my skin. I wanted to stay in its warm embrace for a little longer, but my stomach growled with hunger. So I moved to my walk-in closet and searched through my pajamas. I finally settled for a short, but not crop, waist length mickey t-shirt with full-length pajamas. The cool silk contrasted with the warmth I craved, and I hissed with dissatisfaction.

Not letting any more reason to disappoint me today, I shook my head and stepped out to my room with the towel wrapped around my head.

I looked towards the balcony, the moonlight drawing me in. It beckoned a nightly ritual to savour solitude and serenity. I thought of sitting out for a while with warm hot chocolate but lazily decided otherwise. I stepped out and let the view engulf and mesmerize me. I had been seeing this view for three years now, but it never fails to amaze me each day.

As I wiped my wet hair, the chill of the night air greeted me. I walked over to the corner with the drying hanger and tiptoed to hang the towel I had just used. With the towel now neatly hanging on the drying hanger, I took a deep breath and stretched my arms up in the air, inhaling the crisp ambiance. After the day I had at work and the traffic I had to endure on my commute back, the warm relaxing shower and this little stretch felt like a good way to wrap my day.

Little did I know, tranquillity was about to yield to the unexpected.

Turning around with a faint smile forming along the corners of my lips, I collided with an enigma. The armoured figure stood, an imposing silhouette in the dimly lit space. His all-black attire exuded a stoic strength, and the obsidian glasses shielded his eyes, rendering them impenetrable.

My mind was screaming at me to move, to shove him and run, to look down and calculate my escape from the 14^th floor balcony, or to just breathe. I realised that my breath got caught in my throat and I couldn’t move.

The silence between us lingered, pregnant with unspoken tension. Slowly and methodically, he put down his gun and nestled it in his belt. Only then did I realise that he was pointing it at me in the first place. I wanted panic to kick in, but it did not.

Next, he removed his gloves, the metallic clinks echoing like a foreboding drumbeat. There was a pause of a second that felt like an eternity. I attempted to walk past him, but he took two long strides, and before I knew it, he had me subtly cornered. Like a pawn in an elaborate game.

His movements were soft and deliberate, choreographed in a language devoid of words.

How did he move so stealthily? Did I go deaf or did he really make no sound?

Through the dark lenses, I sensed his gaze, an intense scrutiny that made my skin prickle. I tried to catch a hint of his features, mainly his eyes, to gauge his intentions, but he was completely enamored and armoured, from head to toe.

I felt courage rising my stomach and making its way to my throat in the form of a much needed scream. Before I could make a sound, he took a step towards me narrowing the gap between us. He raised his left index finger to his lips, emitting a low “shhh” that reverberated through the silence. My voice, ensnared by fear, betrayed me, reduced to a mere whisper.

The air In my lungs seemed to constrict as I felt him lift his right hand, fingers extended in a silent command. He had held my gaze captive and I couldn’t move my head or my eyes. His fingers reached near my diaphragm, a feather-light touch against the fabric that now I realised had risen in my hasty movements. The realization struck with brutal clarity- my stomach, my vulnerability laid bare, exposed by my own inadvertence while trying to tiptoe a few moments ago.

Silence hung like a heavy shroud, broken only by the erratic cadence of my breath. His eyes, hidden behind the darkened glasses, bore into mine with a chilling intensity. The unspoken threat lingered, a palpable force that seized the air. I could feel all senses had become alert now. I could now hear sounds around me. The faint noise of traffic below seemed like the only dose of reality I needed.

Did he touch me? Have I gone numb? Did I feel his fingers tracing the ends of my risen t-shirt or was I imagining things?

Abruptly, his touch vanished, leaving me suspended in a breathless moment. As I dared to look down, the modesty I had unknowingly sacrificed was restored. My eyes, wide with surprise, lifted to his obscured face. Without uttering a word, he turned, retreating from the balcony and disappearing into the room’s shadows.

Wait a minute! This is my house! How could a guy I definitely didn’t know turn up on my balcony with a god forsaken gun!!

What. The fuck. Is. Happening!

I remained on the balcony, a tableau of silence and shock, before summoning the courage to follow him inside. The mystery of the man with the veiled countenance lingered, and I couldn’t shake the unnerving sense that our unspoken encounter was only the beginning of a narrative that defied understanding.