Evalina shivered—not just from the cold, but from the fear that crept relentlessly through her veins.

But she couldn’t give up. Not now. Not when her life was hanging by a thread so fragile, it could snap at any moment.

Her eyes lifted upward—to a small ventilation opening high on the wall.

With trembling legs, she forced herself to stand, dragging a small table beneath the vent.

Her hands shook as she reached up, pulling out a piece of broken plastic spoon she had secretly kept from her last meal. She wedged it into the edge of the vent cover and pushed.

A faint crack echoed in the silence—the vent...