KAIREN
The lights vanished.
Not a fade. A guillotine drop. The blackness was a solid thing, a suffocating blanket that stole the oxygen from the room and filled my ears with a roaring silence.
I stopped breathing. My heart wasn't just pounding—it was a frantic, caged thing slamming against my ribs, a wild drumbeat of pure adrenaline. I stared into the void, waiting for my eyes to find a shape, a sliver of light. They found nothing. This was a darkness that felt alive, predatory.
Around me, the world broke. A gasp cut short. A scream, raw and shredded. Voices clambered over each other, sharp with a confusion that was curdling into real, tasting fear.
They were noise. Static.
This was my moment.
I slid one foot back. The heel grated on the floor. Another. I was peeling away from the heat of Aisha's shoulder, from the press of the crowd. My hands shook so badly I had to clench them, the nails biting deep into my own palms. Three steps.
No shout. No grabbing hand.
