Running with His Child

The chill of the night docks clung to Robyn like a shroud, a familiar cold that mirrored the emptiness in her stomach and the sting in her heart. She traced the rough steel of a cargo container, the metal a testament to the unforgiving world outside the gilded cage she’d called home for two months.

Her father’s harsh words echoed, a worn-out refrain, but the memory of Kyle’s cold dismissal, after a moment of unexpected intimacy, was a fresh wound. She was running, not just from the city lights fading behind her, but from a life she couldn't bear to live any longer.

Suddenly, a collision. The shipping container vibrated with the impact, and Robyn found herself sprawled on the cold pavement, dazed. Voices, low and menacing, jogged closer. A glint of metal. The nightmare she thought she’d escaped was rushing back.