Heather's POV
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It was quiet.
Not peaceful.
Not warm.
Just... quiet.
A stillness so thick it pressed against my chest like ice. I didn't know where I was-or who I was-for a long time. Maybe hours. Maybe days. Maybe eternity. Time didn't work here. Not the way it did when I was alive.
Alive...
The word echoed through the void. I wasn't. Not anymore.
I remembered the machines. The cold, sterile beeping. Darrian's voice-low, trembling. And then that last moment. That final breath I couldn't catch.
And now...
I was floating.
Or falling.
It didn't matter.
There was no pain anymore, just numbness that went down to my bones. I couldn't even cry. Couldn't speak. Couldn't feel.
But then, something shifted.
A thread, thin as silk and brighter than moonlight, pulled at me. A feeli
