Prologue
MOMMM!"
I tried to scream.
But nothing came out.
My throat burned — dry, strangled — as if the air itself had turned to sand. I couldn't move.
Couldn't even blink. My body was frozen, paralyzed by something I couldn't see but could feel — thick in the air, crawling on my skin.
They walked toward me. It was here again. Just like every night. They were here again.
"YOU KILLED ME!
YOU ARE TO BE BLAMED!
RUN, AMY! RUN!" I tried screaming, but my mouth was shut. I couldn't move, my body felt heavy.
I wanted to run, run till the world came to end, till all road shut but ….But I couldn't.
They were there, I heard my mom's screams, my sister's wails pierced through my ears.
AHHHHHHH!
I jolted awake, breathless. My body was drenched in sweat, hair stuck to my face. Chest heaving. It was night outside — still, cold, and silent. But silence was never peace, not when the real monsters walked freely in the dark, not the kind from nightmares. Not animals. Humans....
Humans with no humanity.
Predators who wore polite faces in the daylight and hunted behind shadows.
Greedy. Ruthless. Empty.
RING... RING...
4:00 AM.
One hour, that's all the sleep I got that's all I ever got these days.
I stepped out onto the balcony. The world was still drowning in darkness, as if the sun was afraid to rise. From the kitchen, I could hear the vessel on the stove — water boiling, hissing like an impatient whisper. I made my coffee, my hands steady despite the storm inside me.
Today was not just another day, today was the day. The day I had bled, fought, and waited ten years for.
And I was ready.......