Just… quiet. Alone. Unseen.
Somewhere in the dark an owl called, the sound low and solitary, as though the world had narrowed to that single note and the faint pulse in my ears.
Then, slowly, light began to bloom at the far edge of my vision.
It was faint at first, wavering, so distant that I thought it might be something my mind had invented to fill the dark. But it grew stronger, cutting pale lines across the road, and the low hum of an engine reached me a second later, real and steady and close enough to matter.
Tires slowed. Gravel shifted.
A car door opened, and footsteps approached without hesitation.
A shadow fell across me, blotting out a portion of the sky.
“…Hey. Hey — can you hear me?”
The voice was low. Calm. Not panicked.
Not afraid.
Warm hands turned me gently onto my back.
And for the first time since the fall…
I felt safe.
Then the dark took me.
Chapter 19
Seph
I woke to a small child staring at me.
She couldn’t have been more than five. She sat at the end of my bed, wide brown eyes fixed on me, dark hair a wild tumble around her shoulders.
I stayed still for a moment, taking in my surroundings. The room was small, single-sized. Lemon-yellow curtains stirred faintly at the window. The walls were a soft cream, the kind meant to be comforting. Beyond the glass, green fields stretched under open sky.
None of it felt familiar.
I pushed myself upright, keeping my eyes on the girl.
“Um. Hi?”
She made a small, startled sound—more breath than voice—then slipped off the bed and bolted for the door. It banged shut behind her.
I pulled myself upright, wincing as pain flared through my skull. My head was wrapped in thick bandages. I lifted a hand and touched them carefully, feeling the tender ache of the wound beneath.
A glass of water sat beside the bed. I grabbed it and drank greedily.
Then I froze.
My hands were bare.
I set the glass down too hard and scanned the room. I’d been dressed in a baggy nightgown—thin, shapeless. My own clothes were nowhere in sight.
My pulse kicked up.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood—then immediately swayed as dizziness crashed over me. I grabbed the mattress, breathing through it until the room steadied.
