[A/N: The most beautiful character art ever by the very talented @JaxCreation ! Make sure to go check them out for sure!!]

Izalia sat idly by underneath the clear, plastic roof of the shoddy bus station on the corner of the shadiest street in her town. Her wavy blonde hair frizzled around her face and swept behind her shoulders as the cold wind blew against her. She shoved her mittened-hands in her coat pockets hoping to preserve whatever warmth she had left in her body. 

The man next to her was fast asleep, a black fedora sitting gently on his face, muffling his snores. She pursed her lips as she inched away from him, sceptical that he was actually sleeping and not just waiting for his next victim. Before, when she had just sat down, he was awake and alert, his eyes connecting with hers for a split second. He smiled and nodded then held his hand out to her. She had reluctantly shaken it, his clammy hand sticking to hers and giving her a sick feeling in her stomach. Izalia shivered. 

As each minute past, she felt the cold seeping into her veins and imagined herself becoming a block of solid ice. Soon, the bus driver would pull up, open the door, and think odd of the large ice block but would, ultimately, continue with their day since it probably wouldn't be the weirdest thing they've seen in their life. 

Izalia looked down at her wet boots, a mixture of clumpy, brown snow and water pooling around her feet. Wet socks clung to her feet, sending a shiver down her spine. Glancing outside, she noticed the piles of snow shoved alongside the road, pushed by cars and machines and mixed with the wet dirt beneath, creating an ugly brown colour that made her frown. She quite liked when there was fresh snow on the ground, and she especially loved when the snow seemed to sparkle under the new morning light. 

But the ugly brown stuff messing up the beauty of the city didn't sit well with her. Why couldn't it all just melt already and go away? 

Just down the road, her ears picked up the faint squeal of large, old tires skidding over the snow and water and ice as they made their way down the street. The sun was just dipping behind the tallest skyscraper she could see as the bus finally came into view. A whole ten minutes in the cold winter air, and she couldn't wait to curl up in her heated blanket with a cup of hot chocolate watching some cute, cliche Christmas movie. 

Izalia slowly stood up. The little warmth she had desperately grasped onto left as she did so. 

The bus seemed to roll lazily down the street, taking its sweet time, the bright silver annoying her more and more the longer it took. 

Occasionally, she glanced over her shoulder at the snoring man just to make sure he wasn't sneaking up from behind or anything. 

The bus came to a screeching stop, kicking up dirty snow and letting out an irritated puff of air. Those she could see through the window scowled and shook their head. 

Izalia gently wiped away the snow from her glasses as she stepped into the warmer bus, immediately noticing the lack of people in it as well as the almost asleep driver. For a second, she debated if she should just walk home rather than risk it. 

"C'mon, are you sitting down or not?"

Izalia's head whipped up to the driver who was staring at her with an exasperated look, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyelids already drooping again.

Frowning, she stepped further into the bus and took a seat near the front, gazing out the window. As the bus doors squealed shut and the tires started rolling against the snow, she zoned out and entered her own world where she began to fantasize about being a heroic sword fighter saving her entire city and becoming the greatest legacy to ever walk the planet. 

Her daydreams were abruptly interrupted by a divot in the road that sent her up and off her seat then slamming back down just as the bus hit the road again. Placing a hand over her heavily beating heart, she peeked out into the aisle at the bus driver in the front whose head kept dipping and jerking back up after almost smacking into the steering wheel. 

Shaking her head, Izalia sat back into her seat, resting her head against the tall backrest and placing her feet against the seat in front of her. As she was looking out the window, for a split second, everything seemed to go dark. She felt something push her backwards. Desperately, she swung her arms around, trying to grasp onto something, anything. But, just as soon as it appeared, it all disappeared and the second had passed. Eyes wide, she looked wildly around, her neck snapping to the left and right and behind her to see if anyone else had experienced what she had. However, the few on the bus were either sleeping or their fingers were moving hastily across their phone screens.

Pursing her lips to the side, Izalia looked out the window at the passing skyscrapers that seemed to reach out into the sky then glanced down at the shorter shops that squatted beside the taller buildings—a dwarf next to a giant. 

Her eyes suddenly snapped onto an odd figure that stood out like a sore thumb among the crowd of colourfully woven clothing. It had on a black sweater, it's hood pulled tight around its face, its features covered by a shadow. But it felt like they were looking directly at her as if they could only see her through the massive crowd. Shivering, Izalia averted her gaze and sunk into her seat. She definitely needed something strong when she got home.

Her apartment was just a few streets further. The older buildings it sat alongside stuck out like a sore thumb next to the sleek, modern ones. She paid extra for a room at the top of the building accompanied by a large balcony that overlooked the city and didn't even seem to reach the halfway mark of the skyscrapers. 

For a fleeting second, she imagined herself in her own cosy house somewhere on the edge of the city, snuggled in amongst a street of cute shops and friendly passerbyers who didn't mind waving and smiling to strangers who, eventually, would become good friends she'd be able to gossip with later.

If only.

Izalia could finally see the outline of her apartment come into view and as the bus got closer and closer to the bus station. As the building filled in, she could see the individual windows, some lit up and some dark. That was always one of the things that intrigued her about the city. She remembered when she was just a teenager growing up in the small subdivisions that made up a town and wishing that she'd someday live in the city. She used to love looking at the pictures of cities where she could see all of the skyscrapers and the small lit-up squares on each building. She loved the way they were different and the way the city never seemed to go to sleep; it was always active and alive and full of adventure, something she's always looked for. 

The bus rolled to a stop and jerked back a bit before the doors opened with a creak. The driver rolled his head on his shoulders and looked at her with a bored expression, waiting for her to get off the bus. Sighing, Izalia stood up and side-stepped out of the bus and onto the pavement, snow immediately catching in her hair and blotching her glasses. She moved her eyes up the building then trudged forward, the snow feeling more like weights on her feet rather than the soft blankets people describe it as in books. 

Izalia instinctively dug in her pockets, her fingers curling around the cold key. She skipped up the front steps and into the warmth of the lobby, her eyes immediately connecting with the man behind the front desk. With a simple nod, she passed right by him and walked over to the elevator. It seemed to take forever for the doors to finally open and let her into the smooth, sleek elevator. Glancing down, she clicked on the 13th-floor button and took a step back as the doors closed. 

Her eyes scanned over the tall walls and doors and at the mirrors on either side of her as she clasped her hands in front of her, rocking back and forth on her heels. 

All of a sudden, her vision went black again, and she felt herself stumble backwards, bumping into what she presumed was the wall behind her. She felt everything turn upside down then right side up then sideways until she didn't know which way she was. 

And then, just as before, her vision was restored and she found herself on the ground of the elevator just as the doors opened, revealing a short hallway of doors and two people standing just outside the elevator doors. Her heart was pounding ferociously in her chest, and she could feel little beads of sweat crawling down her face. Izalia's breath lodged in her throat for a second as she looked up at the strangers. 

They looked at her, confused. 

"Um, do you need help?" one of them said, extending out a hand towards her. 

"Uh..." Izalia shook her head and scrunched her face; nevertheless, she took his hand, and he pulled her up. She shakily stood up and thanked him then shuffled past, stepping around them then hurrying to her room where she shoved in her key and burst into her room.

She stumbled through the doorway, catching onto the island in her kitchen, her hands clammy and her heart racing. Something was wrong. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, pounding against her rib cage almost as if it were going to burst out of her and topple onto the ground. 

Suddenly, Izalia couldn't find the air she needed; as each second past, it became increasingly harder to take in a gasp of air. It was as if something was constricting her lungs, preventing her from taking any kind of deep breath. She became light-headed and the room around her spun into a whirling vortex until she collapsed onto the ground, barely able to hold herself up. Her mouth was dry and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she crumpled fully to the ground, her cheek smushed against the cold tiles of her apartment floor. 

Izalia blinked rapidly as her throat tightened and closed up until she couldn't get any air at all. Pressure built up behind her ears, exploding into her head until she felt something snap and a burst of light erupted in her eyes. 

—

Hiiii. So here's chapter 1! :D

Let me know what you think and any constructive criticism you may have. :) Also, I don't know if "passerbyers" is even a word... but I put it in and it seems to work lol 

Please consider giving this chapter a vote if you liked it!

Thanks!! Hopefully, I'll see you next chapter! ❤️️

xx