Chapter 2

Elijah took a right into a dark alleyway. Aliyah hesitated for a moment but still decided to follow him.
‘where are you taking me?’ The alley got so narrow, Aliyah had some trouble squeesing through.
‘Just take my hand and please don’t freak out.’
‘Why would I want to hold your hand. Is this some sort of joke?’
Elijah stopped walking and turned around.
‘We’ll be quicker. Just trust me on this one.’
Aliyah didn’t really feel comfortable but the calm eyes that rested on her convinced her that there was nothing to worry about. She grabbed his hand and immediately felt his strong fingers wrap around her’s.
The next moment she was standing in front of a large, detailed building. It happened so fast, Aliyah almost fell to the ground. Elijah caught her right on time and set her back on her own feet.
Aliyah mumbled a few thanking word but then she realized what had just happened.
‘Did we just… uhm.. what… can you…’
‘I’ll tell you ones we’re inside.’
Elijah walked towards the large door. But Aliyah wasn’t so sure she wanted to figure it out in the first place.
‘you know, you showed me enough and I don’t know what is going on but I don’t like it in any way. You tell me how to get home right now!’ Aliyah crossed her arms. She tried to look confident but she wasn’t sure what to do. Aliyah began to doubt Elijah’s trust worthiness. After all, he took her somewhere in no time. She couldn’t think of a logical explanation for what just happened.
Unfortunately, Aliyah had become afraid of Elijah. It seemed he wanted something of her. Maybe he wanted to keep her as a hostage for money. Aliyah wanted to get out of there right this instant.
‘Fine, I’ll take you back home but you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. Alright? This is something I have kept all my life and I don’t want it out in the open because of you.’
Aliyah was thinking. Could she trust him? But Aliyah couldn’t think straight. She still had the feeling she was dreaming.
‘Wake me up,’ where the only word coming out of her mouth, ‘Wake me up so I can go home.’
‘What do you… Ah, I see.’
Elijah put out his hand. Aliyah already suspected what would happen if she reached out and held it. And she also knew that it took her into this dream so probably also out of it.
Without saying anything she reached out and yet again felt the strong fingers latching around her hand. To be honest it wasn’t the worst feeling in the world. The strong hand also calmed Aliyah down. She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she was yet again standing in the middle of the dark alleyway. Again, confused but this time she was sure she had been dreaming.
‘I can take it from here. Just go.’
Aliyah turned around and started walking back to the exit of the alley. Even though it was dark, cold and it was still raining, Aliyah was relieved. She’d gotten out of the hands of Elijah, who she was curtain of, wanted something from her. But something wasn’t right.
If Elijah wanted something from her, he could have easily threatened or even hurt her, but he did no such thing. Instead he was calm and still pretty kind.
Aliyah turned around to see if Elijah was following her, but he was gone. It was strange because there was no way he could have exited the alley before Aliyah turned to see. But it didn’t really matter to her. She started running to finally be freed from the darkness around her.

‘He followed you?’
After the incident, Aliyah immediately called Claire to come over. She didn’t tell her everything because she had made a promise to Elijah. The only reason Claire was here, was because she was scared.
‘Yes, I saw him sitting across the street, but I didn’t actually think he was going to follow me.’
‘What did you do? Did you confront him?’
This was a question Aliyah would rather not answer. She knew Claire would find out one way or another, but she felt like she owed Elijah. Not that she knew why. Aliyah just felt obligated to trust Elijah a little bit.
‘I just turned around and looked at him. I think it scared him of because he went into an alleyway after.’
‘Okay good. I don’t trust him. He is always so solitary. It’s like he’s always hiding something. He really gives me the creeps when I see him. Like he’s watching me. Like he’s planning to kill me or something.’
Claire went on and on about how creepy Elijah was and how scared she would have been if he had followed her. Great, thought Aliyah, I can’t even say his name anymore or he’ll be known as my stalker.
Aliyah walked over to the window and watched several cars driving by.
‘I just don’t know why he did it in the first place.’
Aliyah was more talking to herself than to Claire.
‘I think he wants something from you.’
Claire also stood up but instead of walking towards Aliyah and the window, she walked towards the door.
‘Well anyways, I hope he doesn’t bother you from now on. If he does, just call me. I think I can handle him. He doesn’t seem too strong.’
Aliyah remembered his hand and almost wanted to prove Claire wrong but knew it would only make Claire distrust Aliyah’s story and probably would figure out what happened. For now, Claire was satisfied and that was the only thing that mattered.
‘Do you know where Elijah lives?’
The words came out of Aliyah mouth before she even noticed. A frown started forming on Claire’s forehead. Aliyah knew she had made a mistake.
‘Why?’
Claire’s hand was still resting on the doorknob. Her eyes where full of suspicion and Aliyah could see it. She had to think of a good excuse.
‘Well, I thought maybe I could tell him to stay away from me. After all, I didn’t say anything to him on the street.’
Aliyah saw the suspicion slowly leaving Claire’s eyes.
‘the house next to Winston,’ Claire answered, ‘Good luck.’

Aliyah regretted her decision immediately after ringing the doorbell. A scream of pain joined together with the howling of a wolf. Aliyah
jumped up and had already turned around to run off. But the door opened. And a familiar, strong hand stopped her. Aliyah turned around and met the different colored eyes of Elijah. Aliyah was scared and the worried eyes that were usually so calm didn’t seem to comfort her.
Aliyah couldn’t say a word. It was frightening. Elijah dragged her into the ramshackle building and let her go when the door fell in the lock.
‘You shouldn’t have come here.’
Elijah walked to the table and hit his fists on the oak wood. He turned to Aliyah, suddenly angry.
‘There is nothing I can say to you. You’ve gotten yourself here and the only thing I can do is show you why.’
Elijah sat down, his head leaning on his arms. Obviously, he was in deep thought and it would take a while. Aliyah took use of this time and looked around the room.
It was dark and it smelled like sweat and burned wood. There wasn’t much furniture, only a dresser, a table with a few chairs and a large couch which looked like it had been attacked by a pack of wolves. Several of the chairs were knocked over and two of the three drawers had been opened in a hurry.
Suddenly Elijah stood up. He turned to Aliyah and pointed at the candle on the dresser. Aliyah looked at it and just as she did that, a huge flame started burning from it. It dimmed almost instantly to a normal flame.
Aliyah looked at Elijah. What was this sorcery? His face showed no emotion just pure concentration. A flame started forming in his hand. Aliyah jumped back. The candle could have been a simple trick but this. This was just magic. The flame slowly burned out and Elijah

stared at his hand. Only a small, black dot was visible on the area where the flame had just been. He looked up and met the eyes of Aliyah. He almost dissolved in a thick smoke and suddenly, instead of a human, there was now a large wolf standing in front of Aliyah.
Aliyah was still in shock from the fire so this was something she couldn’t handle anymore. Aliyah ran out in to the bright light. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her until she tripped on a loose laying stone on the road. She hit the ground and as soon as it happened, she was back in her bed. It was confusing. Everything happened so fast. Was it just a dream?
Aliyah didn’t know. She was exhausted and could barely move her limbs. Aliyah closed her eyes and fell asleep right away. Could it have just been a dream?