Lily woke in a jolt, gasping for air as perspiration-sopped clothing clung to her body. The room around her was undecipherable: dimly lit and small. It took a moment for her to sit up and realize that she was still in her apartment, smack in the middle of the city. Sounds of cars honking and the murmur of the crowd afar reminded her that the world kept on spinning even as darkness gripped her mind but a moment before.
But the images were still fresh. Her mother. The shadows. The strange cult rituals. Lily's head kept racing, as she tried to make sense of the terrifying visions she had experienced. Was it just a nightmare? Had she dreamed it all? Or was it real?
The answer clawed at the back of her mind. She could not shake the feeling that the building, the cult, and the shadows were more than just figments of her imagination. They connected to her mother's disappearance, to the missing people who had been linked to the warehouse. And to her.
She had to go back. There was no other choice.
Lily stood, taking her coat and her phone. She had to know the truth, even if it meant confronting the darkness that had been hidden in her family's past. As she moved to the door, her phone buzzed with a message.
It was from her editor: "Lily, I found something. The warehouse—it's not just abandoned. There are files. Hidden documents. It's connected to a series of disappearances."
Then her heart skipped a beat. Was this the break she needed? She promptly replied, agreeing to a meeting over the files. But her mind already marched to the warehouse, and the shadows waiting for her there.