The silence that followed my whispered curse felt like a suffocating shroud, pressing down on me from all sides. My breath was shallow, my chest tight with the realization of what I had just done or rather, what I had nearly done.
The men were still standing, their eyes wide with a mixture of fear and hate, but they didn't move. They watched me like I was some kind of rabid animal, unpredictable and dangerous.
And maybe I was.
For a moment, everything was still. The world seemed to hold its breath, waiting for what would happen next. My heart pounded in my ears, loud and insistent, as if urging me to make a choice. To fight or to flee. To be the monster they believed me to be or to prove them wrong.
But the truth was, I didn't know who I was anymore. The memories that had resurfaced the darkness I had once embraced had shaken me to my core.
