The darkness had become all-encompassing, wrapping itself around Elise like a suffocating cloak. She could no longer distinguish between the nightmares and the waking world. Everything felt unreal, as though she had fallen into a trap that had been set for her from the beginning.
She sat in her small, dimly lit apartment, the walls closing in on her as she tried to make sense of the chaos in her mind. Harris's words played on a loop in her head, his voice echoing with every question, every implication.
"You've been drawn into this... something that's been happening for a long time."
What did he mean? What was happening to her?
Elise closed her eyes, trying to quiet the storm inside her mind. But it was no use. The images kept flooding her thoughts—faces, names, places—all connected by a thread she couldn't see. Her fingers trembled as she reached for her phone, desperately searching for answers. She opened her notes app, the list of names she had compiled over the past few weeks staring back at her. Mia. Greg. Harris. All of them had pieces of the puzzle, but they were just fragments—scattered, incomplete.
The doorbell rang, pulling her from her thoughts. She stood up, every nerve on edge. Who could it be now? Another piece of the puzzle? Or a new twist in this nightmarish game she had been pulled into?
She opened the door to find herself face-to-face with a figure she hadn't expected to see. It was Greg. But something was different. His eyes were hollow, his face gaunt, as though he had been living in the same darkness that had consumed her.
"Elise," he said, his voice hoarse. "I need to show you something."
Her heart raced as she stepped aside, allowing him in. Whatever this was, she had to know. She had to understand. Greg had always been a mystery, but now, more than ever, she realized he might be the only one who held the key to everything.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Greg hesitated for a moment before speaking. "It's time you learned the truth, Elise. The whole truth."