GENEVIEVE
A sharp gasp tore from my throat as I bolted upright, my heart pounding so violently it felt like it would burst through my chest.
For a few frantic seconds, I couldn't tell where I was.
The nightmare still clung to me, its images lingering behind my eyes like ghosts that refused to disappear.
I drew in a shaky breath.
Then another.
My chest rose and fell rapidly as I pressed a trembling hand against it, trying to slow my racing heartbeat.
"...It was just a dream," I whispered to myself.
Even so, the fear refused to leave.
Beads of cold sweat trickled down my temples, soaking strands of hair that clung to my forehead. My fingers trembled as I rubbed my face, desperate to ground myself in reality.
I looked around the room.
The faint glow of moonlight spilled through the window, casting long shadows across the floor. The silence was almost unsettling, broken only by the sound of my uneven breathing.
Slowly, I pulled my knees toward my chest and buried my face in my hands.
The nightmare replayed itself anyway.
Fragments of crimson chains, Nicole's voice, the endless void, the core whispering inside my head.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Stop..." The word escaped as little more than a whisper.
After several long moments, I finally forced myself to take a deep breath.
My heartbeat gradually slowed, but the lingering dread remained, sitting heavily in the pit of my stomach.
I glanced at the clock on my bedside table.
There was no chance I was going back to sleep anytime soon.
A loud bang shattered the silence of my room.
Before I could even react, the door swung open with enough force to slam against the wall.
"Ivan—"
He stepped inside without saying a word.
There was something different about him.
His expression was rigid, his jaw clenched so tightly that the muscles twitched beneath his skin. His usually calm eyes carried a weight I'd never seen before.
He reached behind him and locked the door.
The sharp click echoed through the room.
A knot formed in my stomach.
"Ivan...?" He didn't answer.
Instead, he walked straight toward me with slow, deliberate steps until only a few feet separated us.
The room suddenly felt much smaller, like we were in a box.
"What are you doing?" He gave me no response while his eyes never left mine.
I tried to search for anything in his eyes, but it wasn't anger I saw; it was desperation.
The kind that came from someone who had run out of hope.
Finally, he spoke.
"...Where's Nicole?" His voice was low.
I blinked. I gripped the blanket sheet below me.
"What?"
"Where is she?"
My heartbeat quickened.
"I've already told everyone—I don't know."
Ivan took another step forward.
"No." His gaze hardened.
"I don't believe that anymore."
I stared at him, trying to keep my expression from cracking.
"What are you talking about?"
"You heard me."
He folded his arms across his chest.
"Where is Nicole?"
"I don't know."
"You do."
"I said I don't." The words came out sharper than I intended.
Frustration flared inside me, mixing with the guilt I'd been trying so hard to bury.
"I've answered this a hundred times already."
"And every answer sounds rehearsed."
I felt my jaw tighten.
"So now you're accusing me?"
"I'm asking you."
"By cornering me in my own room?"
"Because talking to you anywhere else gets interrupted."
I let out a bitter laugh.
"That's because you keep asking questions I can't answer."
Ivan didn't move.
"Then answer the one you can."
His voice was firmer now.
"What happened after you disappeared?"
"I told you."
"I don't remember everything."
He shook his head.
"No."
His eyes searched mine.
"You're hiding something."
A flicker of panic rose inside me.
"I'm not hiding anything."
"You can't even look me in the eye when you say that."
I immediately met his gaze.
"There."
"I'm looking at you."
"I don't know where Nicole is."
For several long seconds, neither of us spoke.
The silence between us became almost suffocating.
I folded my arms, refusing to look away.
"If you're done accusing me..."
I gestured toward the locked door.
"...then get out."
Ivan remained exactly where he was.
His expression didn't change.
And somehow...
That unsettled me more than if he'd started shouting.
The silence between us stretched until it became unbearable.
I tore my eyes away from Ivan for a moment, trying to steady my breathing.
Then...
Something moved in the corner of my room.
My eyes instinctively drifted toward it.
"..."
My entire body went rigid.
Someone was standing there.
Her silhouette was partially swallowed by the shadows, but I recognized her immediately.
Nicole.
She stood perfectly still with her hands folded behind her back, dressed in the same clothes I'd last seen her wearing.
For one impossible, irrational second...
Hope bloomed inside my chest.
"Nicole...?"
She didn't answer.
She only smiled.
A slow...
Gentle...
Unnaturally wide smile.
The warmth I associated with her was gone.
Instead, an overwhelming sense of dread crawled beneath my skin.
Something wasn't right.
My breathing hitched.
Her eyes.
They weren't brown anymore.
They were completely black.
No whites.
No pupils.
Only an endless darkness that seemed to swallow the light around them.
A chill raced down my spine.
"N... Nicole?"
She remained silent.
The smile never faltered.
Then, without warning, the edges of her body began to distort.
Like wet paint sliding down a canvas.
Dark, viscous liquid dripped from her face.
Her cheeks sagged.
Her shoulders slumped.
Her skin slowly dissolved into streams of black sludge that pooled silently across the floor.
I stumbled backward.
"No..."
The liquid continued to spread, consuming every part of her until there was nothing left but a featureless mass that rippled unnaturally.
The smile was the last thing to disappear.
It stretched wider...
And wider...
Before melting into the darkness.
The puddle trembled once.
Then...
It vanished.
As though it had never existed.
I stared at the empty corner, unable to move.
My heart hammered violently against my ribs.
Every breath came in short, uneven gasps.
"...Nicole?"
My voice was barely a whisper.
Nothing answered.
The corner was empty.
Just a bookshelf.
A chair.
Moonlight spilling through the window.
I blinked several times, rubbing at my eyes with trembling hands.
"...What..."
A cold sweat broke across my forehead.
I knew what I'd seen.
It had looked so real.
So painfully real.
"Genevieve?"
Ivan's voice cut through my thoughts.
I flinched.
He was staring at me with a deep frown.
"What are you looking at?"
I slowly turned back toward him, my face pale.
"...You..."
My voice shook.
"You didn't see her?"
Ivan's expression changed immediately.
"...See who?"
I looked back at the corner.
Still empty.
The realization settled over me like ice in my veins.
There had never been anyone there.
Only me.
And whatever my mind had just shown me.