Ella
The question echoed in my head as the night pressed in around me.
What would have happened…?
I didn’t want to finish the thought. I couldn’t afford to.
The answer terrified me enough that my hands began to shake as I clutched the edges of my half-open jacket, forcing the zipper up with stiff, uncooperative fingers. The fabric scraped against overheated skin, every brush of cloth sending another spike of sensation straight through my nerves.
I staggered forward, barefoot now, the rough ground biting into my soles. Rocks, gravel, broken glass—nothing registered the way it should have. Pain was distant, muffled beneath the roaring inferno inside my body.
The mountain loomed ahead of me, dark and solid against the moonlit sky. It wasn’t really a mountain—not by pack standards—but a
