Evelyn's scream echoed through the void, raw and broken, her nails clawing at the empty air where the door had vanished. "ALEX! COME BACK!"
But there was nothing. No light. No door. Just silence.
Leo stood rigid, his hands trembling at his sides, his face pale but unreadable. He didn't cry. He didn't rage. He just… stared.
Finally, he spoke, his voice low and flat. "He's gone. And it's your fault."
Evelyn spun toward him, her eyes wide, wild. "My fault? I tried to save him! I held him back!"
"You held him here," Leo snapped, his voice cracking. His veins glowed faintly beneath his skin, pulsing with the rhythm of the heart. "You kept fighting when maybe we should've just let go. Alex found peace and you ripped it away from him until the train swallowed him instead. Maybe if you'd let him walk sooner—he wouldn't have suffered."
Evelyn's chest heaved, fury and grief colliding inside her. "That wasn't peace, Leo! You saw what it does! That door was just another cage!"
Leo's eyes narrowed. For the first time, he looked at her not as an ally—but as a stranger. "Or maybe you can't stand that someone else found a way out when you can't."
The void trembled. The heart thundered louder, savoring every word, every fracture. The shadows curled around them, whispering in delight.
Evelyn backed away, clutching the dead lantern to her chest, shaking her head. "No… don't let it in, Leo. That's what it wants—us turning on each other."
But Leo just laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. "You don't get it, Evelyn. We're already gone. Alex knew it. Sophie knew it. Maybe I'm the only one left who's willing to admit it."
The heart pulsed harder, veins creeping along the rails, reaching for them both. Evelyn's tears blurred her vision. She realized the truth, the horror pressing down on her chest:
She wasn't just losing her friends to the train.She was losing them to themselves.
And soon, she might be the last one standing.