The world went quiet the second it happened.
*GUSH.*
Alaric's huge green-black hand punched straight through Afa's back and burst out the front of her stomach in a spray of bright red. Blood splattered across the wet sand and into the shallow waves, turning the moonlight crimson where it landed.
Afa's eyes dropped slowly, like she couldn't understand what she was seeing. Her own blood poured over Alaric's wrist, running down his arm in thick rivers. A thin stream trickled from the corner of her mouth, dripping off her chin and landing on his knuckles with soft, wet taps.
The entire beach froze.
Every cheer, every laugh; everything stopped. Phones hung in the air, forgotten. Someone's drink slipped from their fingers and shattered on the sand, but nobody even blinked.
"AFA!!!"
Lyra's scream ripped across the silence, raw and panicked. She took two stumbling steps forward, hands out like she wanted to run to her, then stopped, face pale with horror.
