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Chapter 8 - shadows that once hunted

Yuna:(past)

I stand there, where i don't want too 'at my dad's house'. "Father I'm back", he replied"ohh".

I was apart from him for 3 years but he never once called me nor he came to see me at 'Tuscany' where i was living with Ethan.

Dad and Ethan never meet each other before. But they both are same, they both kill people. Ethan killed my friend and dad killed my mom.

When she was six years old, home had never felt safe. Nights were filled with raised voices and the sound of arguments she was too young to understand but old enough to fear.

She used to hide quietly, clutching her small hands together, wishing the noise would stop.

Her father's anger had filled the house like a storm that never passed. She remembered her mother's tired eyes, the forced smiles meant to comfort her even when everything was falling apart.

Then one day, her mother was gone.

No explanations ever felt big enough for a child's heart to understand. The house had turned painfully silent, a silence heavier than the shouting that once lived there.

The warmth disappeared, replaced by emptiness and questions no one answered.

That was when her nightmares began.

Sleep no longer brought rest. Shadows felt closer in the dark, and memories she couldn't fully grasp followed her into every night.

She often woke up frightened, unsure whether she was remembering the past or reliving it. The feeling of loss stayed with her, growing quietly alongside her as the years passed.

From that moment on, childhood had ended too soon, and fear became something she carried long after the lights came back on.

One day I run away without telling my father and that day I meet Ethan, who cared for me and desire me. He was the only one who I truly loved, he protected me from every nightmares.

Whenever i had slept beside him, the nightmares had disappeared.

The darkness that usually waited for me behind closed eyes had stayed away, as if it couldn't reach me while he was there.

For the first time in years, sleep had come easily — quiet and deep, without sudden fear pulling my awake.

His presence had felt steady, grounding.

The warmth beside me had chased away the cold memories that once followed her every night. Even in sleep, i had been aware of him — the slow rhythm of his breathing, the calm strength that made me feel protected without a single word spoken.

The shadows that once haunted my dreams had faded, replaced by a rare sense of peace she had never known before.

It had felt as though he stood between me and every fear i carried, guarding her from nightmares i could never escape alone.

And each morning i woke beside him, i had realized that the safest place i had ever known wasn't a home or a memory… it was simply being next to him.

But we both are now apart because of his crime.

I blamed him everyday for commiting crime because if he hadn't done that, i would have been there sleeping beside him in his bed.

I would have loved him and he would have desired on me more.

He never loved me but I loved him.

I was ready to fullfill his desire for me.

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