CHAPTER ONE.

Silence. Cold. Emptiness.

Such were the emotions that filled Alijah up like waves of the sea, flaming out their shame. Like wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever, as she opened her car door.

She stared at the sky, lost in worries. The moon was hanging full and hazy beneath a cap of dark clouds, and the distant stars magnified the silence. Alijah wouldn't have minded, but it seemed to her like even the heavens were mocking her unfortunate situation.

She got into the car and sat down. When she inserted the car key into the keyhole and she turned on the ignition but the car refused to start, she cursed inwardly. She tried it again, and thankfully, the engine coughed to life. Without eating any more time than was necessary, she drove away from her working place.

Her boss had moved up his game tonight. He had blatantly stared at her butts today, while telling her he wouldn't mind having a good time. If she hadn't really needed the job, she would have snapped his head into two and be done with it, consequences be damned. But, she had barely refrained herself. She couldn't add murder to her current situation; being broke was enough to keep her in check.

“Goddammit.” She muttered as she looked ahead. There seemed to be traffic up ahead, and other cars were trying to weave out the traffic. She didn't need this type of trouble now, she just wanted to get home. For the next fifteen minutes, she and her car crawled after the cars that were before her.

As she got closer, she realized that a car had broken down in the middle of the road and a young lady stood by its side, lost in tears. No matter how hard the drivers of the other cars honked and shouted at the young lady, Alijah could see that none of them penetrated the ears of the young lady at all.

At first, she wanted to just ignore the girl and go, but she realized she couldn't. The young girl looked too terrified to be ignored. Alijah drove her car to the side of the road, parked it, and she approached the girl.

“Is there a problem?” Alijah asked the girl.

“My brother. He collapsed. I was bringing him to the hospital, but the car broke down.” The girl explained, looking at Alijah amidst sobs.

And for a moment, Alijah was taken aback by the girl's eyes. The left eye was a diamond blue, while the right eye was golden. Her hair was black with white streak at the front left. Alijah thought that the girl truly was a sight to behold.

Little wonder no one had stopped to help them. The girl's eyes and hair color was enough to scare them away with her features. While the hair could have been some sort of dye she had used in making a fashion statement, the eyes were truly unique and as much as Alijah doesn't want to admit, scary.

She knew that there was a name people with those kinds of eyes were referred to but she couldn't remember at the moment, given the mental stress she had been through for that day. And the one she would still be going through if she eventually chose to help the girl, which she would since she couldn't just leave the girl alone at such an odd hour.

Her conscience wouldn't let her do such a cruel thing even if she wanted to.

By now, they were beginning to attract people, and some of these people were looking at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was, but her conscience wouldn't let her leave someone who needed her help alone like she had thought earlier. And she didn't think the girl was dangerous since she couldn't be more than eighteen years old. What harm could an eighteen years old do to her anyway?

Alijah peeked at the brother in the car, and true to the girl's word, a man lay unconscious in the car. That too, in an awkward manner.

“Don't worry. We can take him to the hospital in my car,” Alijah told the little girl who smiled her thanks. “Let's get him in the car.” She told her.

Between the two of them, they were able to move him as gently as they could into Alijah's back seat, while the girl sat in the passenger seat. Alijah got into the driver's seat, all the while praying that her battered car would pick up at once. As Alijah was trying to start the car, she felt a short irritation on her arm, and realized she had been cut. She looked at the arm and saw it bleeding.

“Sorry. I was trying to fasten my seat belt.” The young girl who had inflicted the pain said as a way of apology.

Alijah accepted the apology and drove straight to the nearest hospital she could find. While driving, though, she noticed the girl would look at her brother's crumpled form, then look at her arm. But she didn't dwell much on it. She just wanted to make sure they got to the hospital, and then she could go home to get some rest.

Speaking of the brother, Alijah sneaked a look at the man unconscious through the mirror and saw that his entire hair was white. He also seemed to have the body build associated with those who worked out daily, like a bouncer or a gym master. Every other thing about him though was unclear in the state he was.

Alijah let her mind go off the thought just as she drove into the hospital. She screamed at the security men by the door of the hospital that they were there because of an emergency. And just like that, the medical staff took over the care of the man.

"Please, take care of him." The young girl told one of the nurses who had surrounded the unconscious white hair man.

For almost three hours after that, there were lots of activities ranging from signing the paperwork to the nurses asking about any medical conditioner the man might have to getting the man into the emergency ward. At a point, Alijah became tired and bored of everything.

While she would have loved to carry out little conversation with the two colored eyes girl, Alijah knew that she was not in any condition to chit-chat since she was worried about jer brother. Exactly three hours later, the doctor came to tell them he was stabilized.

"He's out of danger now but we still need to monitor him, so he's been transferred to the ICU. If he improved, he would move him into a normal room." The doctor explained to them.

Alijah breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much, doc." She told the doctor with a warm smile.

Now, she can go home and get the much-needed rest, and also figure out how to deal with her boss tomorrow. She looked at her watch, it said 3:30 AM. Damn, it looks like she won't be getting her beauty sleep after all.

“Look. I'm sorry, but, what's your name?” Alijah asked the girl, who wouldn't stop pacing about even after the doctor said her brother was stabled. They must really love each other so much if the sister was worrying like that. Alijah felt a little jealous of that tiny fact.

“Renee.” The girl replied to her in a small voice.

“Okay, Renee. I'm Alijah." She said as a way of introduction and the girl nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go now, okay?” Alijah told the girl, who simply nodded again.

She gave Renee her number and made the girl promise to call her if there was any change in her brother's condition. Whether it was good or it was bad. When the young lady nodded her head like an agama lizard, Alijah smiled a little at her to reassure her.

"Don't worry, Renee. My friend is a doctor in this hospital. Once he is on duty tomorrow, I'll ask him to check up on your brother." She said to her to ease her worry.

"Thank you," Renee answered in her small voice again.

"Are you okay noe?" Alijah asked and she flipped the licks of strsy gair away from her face.

"Yes, thank you." The young lady answered with a smuke.

Alijah pulled the young lady into a brisk tight hug, ignoring sign of discomfort the girl showed. When she finally released hrbfrom the hug, she helped the girl moved her hair behind her ears.

"Thanks," Renee said to her.

"You're welcome." She answered.

"I feel so much better now. So, you can go." The girl assured her.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes," Renee answered.

"Okay. I'll check on you guys after work tomorrow, okay?" Alijah assured her. She smiled at the girl before she turned on her heels and left the hospital.

As soon as she got home, she crashed on her bed and slept off immediately. She was exhausted after all.