Kathrine blinked—and the house was gone.
The familiar walls, the chandelier, the polished floors that had once felt like a cage all dissolved into darkness. Not the gentle kind. This darkness was thick, heavy, pressing against her skin like cold fog.
"Kathrine?" she called, her own voice echoing back at her.
No answer.
The ground beneath her feet felt uneven, damp. She took a step forward, then another, her heels clicking too loudly in the silence. It felt like a tunnel, but there were no walls she could properly see—just shadows folding into more shadows.
She turned around. Something moved behind her.
"Who's there?" her breath hitched.
The shadow shifted again, stretching unnaturally, as if it didn't belong to any real body. Every time she tried to focus on it, her vision blurred, her head throbbing.
Kathrine started walking faster. Then running.
