*Hi, everyone; this is my first story. DDefinitely give me some tips on how to improve. :)*
Chapter 1: The meeting
Layla woke with a start from a sleepless night, feeling nervous and on edge. She lay there for a moment, trying to shake off the strange feeling that was weighing heavy on her heart.
As she looked at the clock and saw it read 1:01 am, a feeling of unease washed over her. Why couldn't she sleep? Why was she so anxious? Her body felt heavy with sleep, but for nights now, she kept waking at the same time, no matter how early or how late she slept. "This is going to ruin my sleep schedule", she said out to the dark room, running her hand through her thick, kinky coils. She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling that was illuminated dimly by the streetlights, and considered the oddity of her sleeplessness. Why did the numbers 1111 and 0101 appear around her, especially when she woke? For a second, she began to wonder if something was going to happen, she wondered if it was a message from her ancestors and these numbers held some sort of significance?
Layla centred herself in her body, breathing in and out slowly as she tried to calm herself and comfort herself into believing that even if her ancestors were speaking to her, she would be safe and looked after. It was better to be prepared than to be caught completely off guard, she thought to herself. Layla was no witch, nothing inherently special, but her belief in the protection of her ancestors had guided her, to the extent that ex-boyfriends had disliked her adherence to prayer and meditation, teasing that she was some sort of "tree hugger" but nature and connection was the only that made sense to her in this world. They always left her; she was too odd and always seemed to be seeing through and past them rather than at them directly or rather what they wanted her to see.
At nighttime she always ruminated on the past and their words, she was starting to think maybe she did live in a fantasy world. Layla eventually got up and tried to do something to distract herself, but the uneasy feeling continued to gnaw at her stomach, and the thoughts of her past threatened to creep in for added measure.
She tried to read, watch some TV, and do some work for her studies, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something strange was going on. She looked at the clock. It was now 2 am, but she still found herself feeling restless and unable to focus on anything, and her anxiety only seemed to be increasing as the night went on.
Layla was normally a very rational person even with her beliefs, she opted to the sensible before the supernatural but now found herself feeling like there was something important that she was missing. Eventually, sleep came as she listened to a video on her phone and woke up early to prepare for her lecture. She could hear her housemates moving through the house and getting ready for work themselves, the bubbling of the kettle and the front door opening and closing.
She left her hair down, her tight curls and coils skimming her shoulders, and her dark brown eyes checked over her appearance. Her softly rounded features, and youthful face stared back, her small nose and almond almost watery eyes looked back. Her two-toned lips were moisturised, and the natural outline of melanin gained from maturity gave them a naturally lined appearance, making them look full and pouted. In her mind, she looked tired after the week of sleeplessness, but she smiled at herself. Regardless, she would get up and sike herself up.
Lately, she had begun to feel lost in the routine of her life, but her dreams kept her determined to see the process of her education through, if not for her, but for her family. She decided to look forward to whatever the day might bring.
Layla took the underground, the crush of rush hour meant that she and other could not move as everyone rushed to their allocated destinations. She listens to music, her attention drifting in and out as she avoids meeting others' gazes while on their commute. She could feel a gaze on her at this point, but it was only natural in this crowded space; she shrugged this off. She caught signs on the train that warned perpetrators of sexual harassment and doubted anyone would be stupid enough to try anything, even if they were staring.
As she approached her destination, she exited the station and began the cold walk to class. Her mind drifted to worrying thoughts of her thesis and what methods she would need to use to collect data when her attention was pulled in a direction. Her breath came out in clouds when she noticed a man watching her across the street. The air seemed to still be around him as her vision distorted and the people who walked around him blurred unnaturally. The figure was tall, seeming to stretch as she stared more closely, the end they wore a dark cloak and hood, "Is there a cosplay convention going on or something" she thought to herself, but deep down as she studied the details of the cloak it didn't look like something hand made. It looked heavy and designed to hide a form that would be otherwise intimidating. The edges of the cloak appeared to whip and sway with a wind that otherwise could not be explained by natural phenomena. As she gazed at the figure, she assumed it was a man. Some sort of creature? As his eyes were about to pull away from the figure, green orbs appeared in the space of the hood where its eyes should be. A chill began to bubble. Before the chill could turn to terror, she was brought back by the honking of cars around her. She finally found herself able to look away from it. She was only then aware that her legs had begun walking towards the figure, stopping only in the middle of the road where drivers honked and shouted angrily.
She looked around, confused, and ran away from the street and away from whatever was that way just now.
As she met his gaze, she couldn't help but wonder what his intentions were. Who was this man, and why was he so interested in her?