Elisabeth's POV
Death terrified me more than anything else in this world.
The thought that someone could exist one second, breathing and alive and real, then simply vanish the next moment made my stomach twist into knots. Their laughter, their warmth, the familiar way they moved through space, all of it just wiped away like they had never mattered at all. Working in hospitals had shown me this harsh reality too many times, and each instance carved another piece from my soul. It was like peering into an endless void that swallowed everything without caring.
Seeing Elana's terror earlier had broken something inside me. She had come so close to losing Kelly permanently. Even though her mother had pulled through the crisis, I could see how the possibility still haunted Elana's every breath. Death had brushed past us today, leaving its cold fingerprints on our skin as a reminder that none of us were safe from its reach. The randomness of it all made me furious.
