Chapter 1
...Screams...
That was the first thing I heard while it was deathly silent outside. It was such a scream that it felt as if something tearing away from the sky had merged with the voices of people being ripped from their very spots. For a moment, I thought my heart would leap out of my chest. I looked around; people were rushing back and forth, scrambling to find a safe corner, bewildered by what had hit them. The sound of footsteps, the frantic breaths of the crowd, the crying of children... it all bled into one. The strange thing was, besides the screams, there wasn't a single other sound to be heard.
Sometimes, people are afraid without screaming. Something inside me whispered that this silence wasn’t normal—as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Dozens of questions were spinning in my head. Why is everyone in such a panic? What is happening? I kept wondering. What could possibly terrify this many people at once?
Until... I turned around and witnessed it. In that moment, my breath hitched in my throat. I was speechless. I had never seen anything like that in my life, not even in the most horrific movies...
I couldn't believe my eyes. It was as if a slow-moving film had suddenly jolted to life. The sky had turned pitch black. The clouds... they looked so dense, so heavy. Like harbingers of the apocalypse, they swirled slowly, accompanied by occasional, deafening thunders. The lightning bolts darting from within them were bright enough to blind me. Thick layers of dust shifted rapidly, swallowing the sky entirely.
And when I looked up, I saw them. Three massive tornadoes... moving side by side, only a few meters apart.
With their colossal bodies, they looked like three giants dressed in black garments made of clouds, walking in unison. They grew as they spun, and as they grew, they became even more terrifying. They weren’t human, yet it felt as if they were looking straight at me — choosing me. My heart felt like it would burst through my ribs at the sight.
For a heartbeat, I stopped breathing. My knees trembled. As the roar of the tornadoes drew closer, it wasn't just a hum anymore; it was turning into a howl. Everything was shaking: the windows, the roofs, even my heart.
There was a strange smell in the air. It wasn't exactly foul, nor was it familiar. But as it filled my lungs, fear seeped into my soul. It had a chilling quality. One could sense the approaching disaster just by the scent alone.
"No," I thought. "This can't be real!" But my feet were rooted to the ground; I couldn't move. There was nowhere to run.
Then, one of the tornadoes changed direction. It was coming straight for me. As it continued to advance, I began to scream, just like the others. As the sound left my throat, I couldn't even believe it was my own voice. It was a tremulous, muffled scream, as if it didn't belong to me. I couldn't even hear it myself.
Just as the tornadoes were about to sweep over me...
---
Suddenly, I snapped my eyes open. I was drenched in sweat, gasping for air. My hands were shaking. A nightmare...
I let out a deep sigh of relief. Seeing that I was in my bed, that everything was safe, gave me a brief moment of peace.
I got up quickly and put on my daily clothes. When I stepped outside, the beautiful morning air, the cool breeze, and the warm rays of the sun hitting my face slowly dissipated the fear inside me. "It was just a nightmare," I told myself.
But some of the things I called nightmares didn’t fade when I woke up. I needed to tell myself that.
No matter what I did, I couldn't shake the effect of the dream all day; it was as if the weight of it had settled upon me.
I was very young when this all first started. Sometimes I think these events might have stemmed from a childhood trauma. Who knows...
•••
Before I continue, perhaps it’s time you knew who I am.
I am Sahra. If you were to ask me who I am, my answer would probably be: actually, I don't even fully know myself...
There has always been a distance between the person I see in the mirror and the one I carry inside. They used to say my eyes danced with light when I was a child. My brown eyes were truly brown back then; now... it's as if darkness has bled into them...
I was small, and my smiles were huge. I would laugh even if my knees were covered in scrapes, because those wounds... they didn't hurt. The things that hurt me were always in the invisible places. Everyone loved me as the "cheerful child," but no one knew how that cheer would one day turn into silence.
Then something happened, and it was as if I grew up overnight. On that winter night, in the middle of the snow... And there, for the first time, I heard a voice from within: "Don't believe anyone anymore..."
Since that day, I have always been two Sahras; one who smiles, and one who remains silent.
People say, "You've become such a strong girl"... whereas I only learned how to survive.
Strength is sometimes just another word for not dying...
Now... I still hear those terrible things in my dreams sometimes. Actually, I shouldn't have remembered this. But I had realized it now: things had already begun to go wrong...
•••
Around four o'clock in the afternoon...
The sky suddenly began to darken. I paused. Was it supposed to be like this at this hour? It was summer, after all... I thought. Such an early darkness in the summer months was not normal. At first, I found it strange. But then, I felt that scent hit my nose...
Some fears are never forgotten. They only fall asleep.
First, my nose stung, then my lungs. A shiver ran through me. I froze.
Because I remembered that scent all too well...
.
.
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