Elvira – First Person POV

My knees scraped the concrete as I fell, gasping. The cold air hit my lungs as though I’d been underwater for too long. The pain in my head pulsed like war drums, each beat reminding me I was still alive… and somehow trapped.

But then I heard it, footsteps. Not the heavy boots of the guards who usually came with leering smiles and syringes. These were lighter, faster, anxious.

“Hey,” a familiar voice hissed, just as the steel door groaned open.

My heart stopped.

“Callan?” I blinked, stunned. My hands flew up as if to shield myself from the memory of his betrayal, of being...