Sophia used to be the brightest girl in her class — always smiling, always dreaming, always writing her name at the edge of every schoolbook with tiny hearts around it. She believed life loved her, because she had the two people who mattered most: her mother, who prayed for her every night, and her father, who never failed to call her “my little sunshine.”

But sunshine disappears too… especially when the clouds come without warning.

It happened on a Thursday morning.

Sophia was sent out of class because she forgot her homework at home. She was crying as she walked out of the school gate, hoping to catch her parents at the shop so she could collect the book and return quickly.

But when she reached the main road, she saw a crowd.

A crowd gathered around a crushed motorcycle.

And beside it… two bodies covered with nylon sheets. Her heart stopped.

Her throat dried.

Her legs turned to water.

Someone whispered, “It’s the husband and wife that sell provisions near the junction… a trailer lost control.”

She didn’t scream.

She didn’t faint.

She just stood there, staring, until a police officer gently pulled her away, saying, “My child… don’t look.”

But she had already seen.

She had seen enough to destroy a lifetime.

That day, Sophia lost more than her parents.

She lost her home.

Her relatives claimed they were too busy for “another responsibility.”

Her aunt took her in, but not as a child — as a house girl.

No more school.

No more dreams.

No more smiles.

Every day she woke up at 4am to fetch water.

Every night she washed dishes until her fingers wrinkled.

She was beaten for mistakes she didn’t make.

She was starved for sins she didn’t commit.

Sometimes she ate leftover bread with sand mixed inside because she was too hungry to care.

At 14, Sophia learned the true meaning of suffering — the kind that crushes the bones, breaks the heart, and silences the soul.

One evening, after her aunt beat her again for dropping a plate she was too tired to hold, Sophia ran outside and hid behind the dustbins behind their compound. Her tears were hot, bitter, and endless.

She hugged her knees and whispered, “Mama… Papa… if you can hear me, please take me too.”

But the sky gave no answer.

That was when she heard footsteps approaching.

She wiped her tears, thinking it was her aunt again.

But instead, a boy appeared — thin, dusty, wearing torn slippers with one strap missing. His eyes were soft, curious, and full of a sadness that looked exactly like hers.

He wasn’t holding food… yet his stomach rumbled like someone who had gone hungry for days.

He stared at her for a moment and then said softly,

“Don’t cry… it makes the pain worse.”

Sophia sniffed. “Leave me alone.”

He shook his head.

“No. I know that kind of crying. I know what it feels like when your chest hurts more than your body.”

She looked at him properly.

He couldn’t be more than fifteen.

His shirt was too big.

His shorts were too small.

His face was too handsome to be this sad.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

“My name is Elijah,” he replied. “My parents died too. Life scatter me everywhere since then.”

Her breath caught.

He sat beside her, not too close, but close enough to make her feel less alone.

She asked, “Where do you live?”

He pointed at an abandoned kiosk across the street.

“Anywhere night meet me.”

They were two broken children sitting beside a dustbin, sharing the same silence — but somehow, for the first time in a long time, Sophia felt like someone understood her.

Minutes later, Elijah reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of bread — dry, rough, and already bitten.

“Take,” he said gently. “I stole it… but today is not the day to judge me.”

Sophia hesitated.

“I don’t want.”

He smiled — a slow, painfully soft smile.

“I know. But you need.”

She looked at him, at the boy who had nothing yet offered her something.

And her heart cracked a little more, but in a different way.

She took the bread.

And that was the first time Sophia ate without fear since her parents died.

They talked until the sun set.

Two poor, forgotten children.

Two wounded souls.

Two strangers connected by the same kind of pain.

And without knowing it, without understanding it, something started that night.

Not love.

Not yet.

Just hope — that small, fragile thing that grows in darkness when you least expect it.

But neither of them knew…

That hope would one day turn into love.

And that love would both save them…

…and destroy everything.

---

The next morning, Sophia woke up with something strange inside her chest.

Not happiness.
Not joy.
Just… warmth.

A feeling she hadn’t known since the day the nylon sheets covered her parents’ faces.

She spent the whole day washing clothes, scrubbing floors, pounding peppers under the sun — but every time she paused to catch her breath, a face flashed in her mind.

Elijah.

The boy with sad eyes and broken slippers.
The boy who had nothing… yet shared the only piece of bread he had.

That night, she sneaked out again and found him sitting beside the dustbins, kicking small stones like they were memories he wanted to forget.

He looked up the moment he heard her footsteps.

“You came,” he said.

“You knew I would,” she answered quietly.

And that was how their routine began.

Every night, these two abandoned souls met behind the compound — not because they planned it, but because the world had nowhere else for them to go.

Sometimes they talked.
Sometimes they didn’t.
Sometimes they just sat beside each other, breathing the same broken air. 🌙 One night, Elijah arrived with something in his hand.
A dirty notebook.

The edges eaten by rats.
The cover torn.
The pages brown.

He placed it in Sophia’s lap.

“I found it near the dump,” he said. “Your handwriting won’t be there… but maybe your dreams can go inside.”

Sophia touched the notebook like it was glass.

No one had given her anything in months.
No one had even thought she needed something.

She flipped to the first page.

Blank… empty… waiting.

Just like her life.

“What should I write?” she whispered.

“Write your pain,” Elijah said, his voice low. “Pain is safer on paper than inside your chest.”

So she wrote.

Every night.
Every sorrow.
Every wound.

Her tears dropped onto the pages, but instead of blurring the ink, it made the words stronger.

Elijah watched her write, always sitting beside her, always silent when she needed silence, always talking when she needed distraction.

He became the only person she trusted.

But something else started growing between them — something bigger, stronger, more dangerous than hope.

Dependency.

🌑 Then came the night everything changed.
Sophia arrived behind the compound… but Elijah wasn’t there.

For the first time.

Her heart panicked.

She waited ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
An hour.

Nothing.

The sky turned darker.
Her fear turned sharper.

She went searching — behind shops, near gutters, around the abandoned kiosk he called home.

Then she saw him.

Lying behind the kiosk wall.
Beaten.
Bruised.
Barely breathing.

Sophia froze.

“Elijah… Elijah!” she whispered, dropping to her knees.

His lips were bleeding.
One eye swollen shut.
His shirt torn open.
And his hands shaking.

“Who did this to you?” she choked out.

He coughed, swallowing pain.

“Boys… the big boys at the junction… they said I was stealing ‘their territory’… they wanted my things… my bread… my slippers…”

Sophia felt something inside her snap.

“Elijah, why didn’t you run?!”

He looked at her — one eye bruised, but still soft.

“Because I was waiting for you.”

Her breath stopped.

Those five words stabbed deeper than any insult ever had.

She placed his head on her lap, wiping his face with her scarf.

That was the moment she realized something terrifying.

She wasn’t just attached to him.

She needed him.

And needing someone in a world where everything can be taken from you… was dangerous.

Very dangerous.

🌩️ The danger arrived sooner than she expected.
The next evening, Sophia’s aunt found the notebook.

The notebook Elijah gave her.
The notebook that held her pain.

She slapped Sophia so hard the walls shook.

“You are meeting boys behind my house?! You shameless girl! You prostitute in the making!”

Sophia fell, clutching the notebook.

“No auntie, it’s not like that—”

Another slap.

Another insult.

Another kick to her ribs.

By the time her aunt was done, Sophia couldn’t even breathe properly.

That night, she crawled out behind the compound, holding her stomach, tears burning her eyes.

Elijah gasped when he saw her.

“Sophia! Who did this?”

“My aunt… she said I’m useless… that I should die… that meeting you makes me dirty…”

Elijah’s jaw clenched.

“If meeting me hurts you… I will stop coming.”

Sophia grabbed his hand, shaking.

“No! If you leave… I’ll have nothing left…”

He froze.

Their eyes met.

Two broken souls holding onto each other because the world had tried to crush them.

But when two desperate hearts cling too tightly… they bleed.

Elijah whispered,

“Sophia… if we stay here… this place will kill us.”

Sophia looked up.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…”
He exhaled shakily.
“We run away.”

Sophia’s heart slammed against her ribs.

“Sophia… we’re just kids.”

“With old pain,” he said. “Old pain makes you older.”

She trembled.

Running away meant freedom…
But also danger.

Life on the streets.
Starvation.
Fear.

But staying meant slow death.

“Sophia… where will we go?”

He forced a tiny, sad smile.

“Anywhere night meet us.”

Her eyes filled.

Hope.
Fear.
Love.
Everything mixed together.

The stars above them were silent.

Only their hearts answered.

“Sophia,” he whispered, taking her hand gently, “choose me… and I’ll never leave you.”

Her breath trembled.

She didn’t know…

That this choice —
this promise —
this moment —

would save her life…
but destroy Elijah’s.

Sophia didn’t sleep that night.

She lay on the cold floor mat, hugging the notebook Elijah gave her, replaying his words:

“Choose me… and I’ll never leave you.”

By dawn, she had made her choice.

When everyone in the house slept, she packed a nylon bag with the only things she owned:
— 2 old dresses
— a broken hairbrush
— the notebook
— and the tiny pencil Elijah often sharpened for her

She slipped outside like a shadow.

Elijah was already waiting behind the compound.

But something felt… off.

His shirt was cleaner than usual.
His hair neater.
His slippers new — not the torn ones she knew.
And his eyes… they weren’t soft tonight.
They were sharp.
Alert.
Strange.

Sophia’s heart skipped.

“Elijah…?” she whispered.

He smiled, but it wasn’t the Elijah smile she knew.

“Are you ready?”

She hesitated but nodded.

They walked in silence through the dusty early-morning streets.
Dogs barked.
A generator hummed in the distance.
The world was half-asleep, half-awake.

When they reached the junction, Elijah suddenly grabbed her hand.

“We need to hurry.”

His tone was urgent, unfamiliar.

“Elijah, why are you—?”

But before she could finish, a black Toyota Camry slowly approached them, tinted windows, engine humming like a threat.

Sophia froze.

The back window slid down.

Inside the car… was a man.

A polished man.
Well-dressed.
Cold eyes.
Expensive wristwatch.
A face she had never seen.

But Elijah had.

Because Elijah stepped forward and bowed his head slightly.

Sophia’s blood turned to ice.

“Elijah…” she whispered.
“What is happening?”

The man’s voice came smooth and deadly:

“So this is the girl?”

Elijah nodded.

“Yes. The one you wanted.”

Sophia’s world stopped.

The one you wanted?

Her breath shattered.

“Elijah… what are you talking about?”

He didn’t look at her.

Not once.

The man opened the car door.

“Bring her.”

Sophia stumbled back, shaking.

“Elijah—! Elijah please tell me this is a joke. Elijah!”

But Elijah grabbed her wrist.

Hard.

Too hard.

“Stop fighting,” he muttered. “It’ll be worse if you run.”

Her voice cracked.

“Elijah… why? Why are you doing this?! We’re the same. You said you understood my pain—”

His jaw tightened.

“Pain doesn’t feed you. Pain doesn’t give you shelter. Pain doesn’t keep you alive.”

He finally looked at her.

And the look wasn’t soft.

It was empty.

Cold.

Tired.

“You were never my friend, Sophia.”

Her heart ripped.

“I only needed someone… desperate enough to sell.”

Sophia screamed.

But no one was awake.
No one heard.
No one came.

Elijah pushed her toward the car.

But then—

A horn blared.
Lights flashed.
A motorcycle skidded to a stop.

Sophia’s aunt jumped off, barefoot, wrapper twisted around her waist, hair flying.

She was the last person Sophia expected to come.

But she came.

“Let her GO!” the aunt screamed, grabbing Sophia’s arm and yanking her back with surprising strength.

The man in the car cursed.

“Take the girl, Elijah!”

Elijah lunged forward.

Sophia’s aunt used her bucket — the same bucket Sophia used to fetch water — and smashed it on Elijah’s head.

“Run!” she shouted.

Sophia ran.

Her aunt ran.

The man in the car shouted orders.
Elijah staggered but followed.
Dogs barked.
Gates slammed.
The world blurred.

Somehow — somehow — Sophia and her aunt reached home, locked the door, and collapsed on the floor.

For the first time since her parents died, Sophia saw tears in her aunt’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” her aunt whispered, voice trembling.
“I’m sorry for everything. I didn’t know… they were watching you. I didn’t know… he was one of them.”

Sophia shivered.

“One of what?”

Her aunt’s voice cracked.

“Child traffickers.”

Sophia’s heart stopped.

Everything Elijah ever said suddenly felt poisoned.

“His parents… they didn’t die,” her aunt said.
“He ran away from home. He was trained. Used. He brings children for them.”

Sophia felt her soul collapse.

Her first friend.
Her first hope.
Her first comfort.

A lie.

Every night he sat beside her…
Every word he spoke…
Every smile he gave…

All part of a plan.

Sophia curled up and cried without sound.

Her aunt pulled her close gently — the first time she ever held her like a niece instead of a burden.

“Elijah may come back,” her aunt whispered.
“But next time… I will be ready.”

Sophia closed her eyes…

And saw Elijah’s face.

The sad boy who wasn’t sad.
The orphan who wasn’t an orphan.
The broken soul who wasn’t broken.

The boy who said:

“I know what it feels like when your chest hurts more than your body.”

Now she knew why.

Because he had been trained to break chests.
Break minds.
Break hope.

And she was supposed to be his next delivery.

That night, Sophia lay on the thin mat, eyes wide open in the darkness.
Her chest was tight.
Her thoughts were loud.
And every drop of rain hitting the old tin roof felt like a countdown to something she didn’t understand yet.

Outside, the world seemed to be holding its breath.

She whispered one single question — a question she feared more than the truth itself:

“Will Elijah ever come back?”

Her aunt placed a trembling hand on her shoulder:

“I don’t know… but this isn’t the end, Sophia. Not even close.”

Thunder rolled across the sky.
A flash of lightning lit up the narrow alley outside.

And for the briefest second…

Sophia saw a shadow standing at the end of the lane.

Thin.
Hunched.
Wearing torn slippers with a broken strap.
His eyes — dark, intense — staring right at her window.

Her heart dropped.

“Elijah…” she breathed silently.

But the next second, the shadow was gone.
Vanished.
As if it had never been there.

Sophia didn’t know:

– Did he come to apologize… or to finish what he started?
– Was he a victim… or a ticking bomb waiting to explode?
– Was he protecting her… or endangering her without meaning to?

And Elijah…

Standing in the darkness, hidden from everyone, watched the dimly lit house.

Inside him, two worlds collided — painfully:

The order forcing him to bring Sophia back.
and
The strange, aching warmth he felt the moment he heard her cry.

Wind howled through the alley, carrying a cold warning.

Sophia curled up on the mat, trying to breathe normally, trying to sleep.

But Elijah didn’t move.

He didn’t leave.

He simply stood there, unseen, unheard…
torn between the life he knew and the one he had tasted for the first time with her.

One thing was certain:

Neither of them would ever be the same again —
and the story between them had only just begun.

Somewhere between darkness and dawn…

A new battle was waiting for both of them.