Chapter 35

• AUBREY
• The nightmares are killing me.
• Every time I close my eyes, I'm thirteen again, watching my family die in an endless loop of blood and screaming. The memories play with brutal clarity—my mother's head rolling across the grass, my brother's defiant cry cutting off mid-breath, the metallic taste of terror coating my tongue. Night after night, I jolt awake gasping and drenched in sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs like it's trying to escape.