Elise's breath caught in her throat as she stepped forward, her mind struggling to grasp what she was seeing. Mia—no, it wasn't Mia, was it?—stood there in the shadows, her face a mask of both familiarity and grotesque transformation. It was as if the girl she had once known had been hollowed out and replaced with something dark, something wrong.
"Mia?" Elise whispered, her voice trembling.
The figure in front of her smiled, but there was nothing warm or comforting in the gesture. It was a smile that sent shivers down Elise's spine.
"You're still looking for the truth," the figure said, its voice eerily similar to Mia's. "But the truth isn't what you think."
Elise took a step back, her instincts screaming at her to run, but her feet felt glued to the floor. "What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
The figure tilted its head, as if considering the question. "What do you think I want, Elise? I want you to understand. I want you to see what's right in front of you."
"Who are you?" Elise asked, her pulse racing.
The figure stepped closer, its smile widening. "I'm the one who's been guiding you, Elise. The one who's been pulling the strings all along. You just didn't know it."
Elise's world tilted on its axis. Her heart thundered in her chest as the words sank in. The figure wasn't just a witness to the madness—it was the mastermind behind it all.
And now, Elise was trapped in the web.