The footsteps began faint, soft thuds swallowed by the dark corridor until they grew heavier, louder, pounding like a heartbeat outside her body. Each step rattled through the floor and crawled up Evelyn’s spine. She stood frozen, breath thin and shaking, as the shadows behind her stretched unnaturally across the walls.
Suddenly, a chill swept past her ear.
“Evelyn.”
The voice was low, and it echoed in her ear that made her gasp and turn.
There, Maximilian stepped into view with his figure half-lit by a flickering light above them. His expression was the same one that had shattered her. That look of disgust, betrayal, and hatred carved deep enough to make her shrink where she stood. His eyes locked onto hers like he was looking at something poisonous.
“Why do you keep surviving?” he w
