CATRIONA

The world around me was wrong.

I stood frozen, my breath caught in my chest as the ground pulsed beneath my bare feet, white fog swirling thick as if the air itself wanted to smother me. My heart thudded when I heard it—my mother’s voice, soft but urgent, threading through the mist.

“Catriona…”

I spun, my eyes burning with sudden tears, searching, reaching—yet there was nothing. Just fog, endless and choking.

“Mom?” My voice cracked, desperate.

Again, her voice called, firmer now. “Run.”

Confusion split through me like lightning. “Where are you?” I whispered, the tears spilling free as I turned in frantic circles. That was when I saw...