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Cloves.

The phone nearly slipped from my hand.

Smoke followed.

Then something damp.

Heavy.

Rain soaked into wool.

My body reacted before I could stop it. My leg shook violently. My fingers spasmed. The light jumped across concrete. My breathing fractured.

“No.”

I shook my head. I hated him for that. Hated that my body still remembered before my mind allowed it. Hated that some primitive part of me had never really fucking left this place. I pressed my palm against my chest. Found my heartbeat. Fast. Too fast.

I closed my eyes and waited. One beat. Then another. Then another. Mine. Still mine.

“You don’t get this.”

My voice travelled into the darkness.

Nothing answered.

I opened my eyes and lowered my hand. The trembling didn’t stop. Fine. Let it tremble. I moved anyway. One step, then—a breath.

I froze.

Wet.

Uneven.

A thin whistle slipped through the darkness.

Every scar on my body came alive.

No…

Another inhale.

That awful fucking whistle.

Closer now.

My light swung toward the sound.

Nothing.

Steel glinted somewhere ahead.

My heart slammed.

For a second I saw the wrench.

Raised above me.

Ready to fall.