June stood barefoot in the kitchen.
The stove was off.
But heat poured from it — waves of it. Dry. Ancient. Wrong.
Daniel stepped toward her. "June?"
She turned, slowly.
One eye hers.
One… not.
"You let them seal me in a box," Eleanor's voice rasped from June's mouth."You moved on. You married again. But I never stopped waiting."
The doll lay on the counter.Its cracked mouth wide open.
Breathing.
Lorraine burst through the door.
"Daniel—don't touch her! She's pulling you into the relink!"
He didn't hear her. He couldn't.
June stepped toward him, reaching for his hand.
"One kiss," she whispered. "Like before.And I'll stop burning."
Daniel's chest tightened. "June… if you're still in there—fight her. Please."
But she smiled.
And in that moment, it wasn't June looking at him at all.
The lights blew out.
The windows slammed shut.
And the fire began.
It started in the corners. Crawling, creeping. Not flames—but memories made of heat. The apartment warped and cracked, wallpaper peeling away like scorched skin.
The walls bled smoke.
"She's reconstructing the moment of death," Lorraine screamed."She's trying to relive it!"
Daniel turned. "What happens if she succeeds?"
"Then June dies. And Eleanor lives. Forever."
June lifted her arms like a bride waiting to be carried.
"I waited once," she said, voice trembling with fury and love. "I won't wait again."
The doll cracked down the middle — and inside, ashes fell out.
Still warm.
Still breathing.
Daniel lunged through the fire, reaching for June—But it was Eleanor who grabbed him.
"You said you'd never leave me."
The room exploded in light—And the screen went black.