"Nyra had died once already. What walked into the city wasn't her-it was the afterimage."
The train screeched to a stop, it's brakes wailing like they too wanted to get away from this place. She stepped out onto the platform without even looking back once. There was no point to look back as what the city has done to her; she could never forget that. The city didn't even notice her-as it never did before like she never existed. Her boots hammered the fractured concrete, each strike synced to the beat of her pulse. But beneath? Her head was a mess. A maelstrom of razors and thunder, barely caged behind clenched teeth and steady hands-a silent scream in a storm.
Nothing had changed. Not really. The same lights, the same streets, the same old path she used to walk on and the same old buildings with that ugly look of past. Places once she loved to visit and laughed in? Now just........emptiness. She walked past the cafe on 9th.It wasn't the same one-no, it had a new name, a new vibe and a new ambience. But her eyes were still at the corner table. While looking at the table she got flashbacks of past-when she kissed some one just to feel loved. But now she couldn't even remember his name. The memories weren't the problem. It was what came after.
"You never come out from the pain they gave you, from what they did to you. You just learn to live with it."
Nyra was supposed to be the person who fixed things. She was a brilliant girl-the one who played with codes, who can fix things with her mind. She was the one who built THE ARCHIEVE. The genius, the prodigy. Everyone thought she was invincible.
They promised her the world. She believed them, of course. But in the end? They didn't wanted to fix the world. They wanted to control it.
They had destroyed her life and they didn't cared about it. For them she was only like a puppet. They wiped her from their records. Like she was nothing but a glitch in their system. Her name, her mind, her face, her existence-everything was gone. They said it was for her own good. They told she would lost her mind. Made her believe it. She almost did.
"At fifteen, everyone you know and trust become a lie.You either fight back or you get swallowed."
She didn't fight. She ran away and hid in the places she thought could keep her safe. From them. From herself. Her mind split into pieces-until Kaira was born. Not a real twin, just a part of her. The loud part. The part that never cared about systems and rules. Kaira had been a shield- someone who could speak when Nyra couldn't. Someone who didn't feel the weight of all the things Nyra had done. Someone who could carry the darkness.
But now?
Now Kaira was silent . And Nyra......was back.
Nyra's breath caught in her throat and the world seemed to split for a second. She froze.The street in front of her became blurry for a second. The people around her blurred like wet paint, a mess of faces that weren't real . Then it snapped back. As if nothing has changed.But her head.....her head was still spinning.She blinked once, twice, thrice to steady herself. She looked around. The cafe-no it wasn't the same cafe anymore. Was it even the same street? A car passed and its lights flickering, distorting the view. A woman in a yellow coat waved from across the road , and Nyra's pulse quickened.She didn't know that woman.
She didn't know anyone here.
Her feet moved before she could even stop them turning her towards a path that wasn't there even a second before. She was breathing too fast now, like something was chasing her from years. She could feel it. She could feel her mind cracking open again. Pieces she thought were buried , forgotten, crawling ti the surface.
"Kaira...." she whispered.
"She's gone. She's gone. She is not real. She was never real."
But the voice in her head never listened. Kaira was real. She was always there a split personality of her who didn't gave a damn, who knew how to live in this twisted world. It wasn't just Kaira, though. It was everything. Her past. Her mind. The archive.
And then she heard it.
A sound, like a tap against the glass off her mind. A faint knock.
Nyra jerked back, breath caught mid-throat. The alley twisted, like the bricks themselves were breathing-closing in. A knock echoed. Once. Then again. Louder. Closer. Real.She spun.
Nothing.
No footsteps. No voice. No one.
But the air felt felt full and familiar - like someone had been there.
Her gaze landed on a shattered window . Her reflection stared back....but the eyes weren't hers.
They were Kaira's.
Darker. Wilder. Wrong.
"You have always been here" Nyra whispered.
The reflection smiled.
"Shut up" she snapped, her voice cracking.
"It's not your fault, it never was", Kaira's voice purred in her head. Too soft. Too kind. It made her want to scream.
"You are not real."
"I am more real than what's left of you."
Nyra stumbled back ,dizzy. Her knees gave , palms scaping the brick beside her elbow.
Kaira's gone. She is gone.
But the voice remained.
Then-movement.
A shadow tall, dark, handsome. Standing at the mouth of the alley.
Allen.
Still as a statue. Eye's locked on hers.
"Allen?", Her voice was barely a breath.
He didn't answer.
Didn't blink.
Just watched.
Like he'd been watching all along.
Her pulse roared in her ears.
"Say something."
Nothing
Was he real?
Or was she finally breaking?
If you've ever felt invisible, forgotten, or like you were never meant to survive either... drop a 🌒 in the comments.
Tell me—what line hit you the hardest?
⭐ Tap that star if Nyra deserves to be remembered.