Amelia lay back in the icy bathtub.
Her wet hair clung to her cheeks as her eyelids slowly slipped shut.
When she opened her eyes again, the bathroom was gone.
She was floating.
A vast river stretched endlessly around her, black water gliding quietly beneath her body.
She turned her head, slowly, cautiously.
"Where… am I?" she breathed.
There was no sky, no trees, no distant shore. Only water.
Something stirred below.
Then... a force coiled around her ankle and yanked.
Hard.
She plunged beneath the surface.
"Aah—!"
Icy water forced its way into her mouth, her nose, her lungs.
She thrashed, arms slicing through the darkness.
"Someone—help—!"
The words dissolved into bubbles.
Something cold slid around her neck.
Tight, tighter. Like unseen fingers closing in.
"Let… go…" she struggled, clawing at her throat.
Her fingers caught nothing.
She sank deeper, her body growing heavier with every second.
Her arms weakened, her legs slowed, her chest burned.
