The veins holding her wrists and ankles pulsed, hot and alive, tightening with each beat of the train's heart. Evelyn's sobs echoed into the endless dark, swallowed whole by silence.
She was shaking. Not just from grief. Not just from exhaustion. From emptiness.There was no Sophie's laughter.No Alex's stubborn courage.No Leo's steady strength.Just her.
And the train.
The whispers circled, slipping into her ears, her veins, her very breath:"One left. Alone. Weak. Break. Break. BREAK."
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shut it out, clutching the dead lantern to her chest like it was her last fragment of hope. But the whispers bled into her mind anyway, reshaping thoughts into doubts, doubts into truths.
"You failed them," the voice hissed. "Sophie trusted you. Alex followed you. Leo believed in you. All gone. All your fault."
Her chest tightened. Tears streamed down her face. "Stop… stop it…"
"No one is left to save. No one left to save you. You belong to us."
The veins tightened, pulling her closer to the floor that rippled like black water. Her reflection stared back at her in the liquid dark—except it wasn't her. It was a hollow-eyed, broken Evelyn, her mouth curled in a cruel smile.
"You'll never leave," her reflection whispered. "The only way to end it is to stop fighting. Just… give in."
For a moment, she almost did. The weight of despair crushed her chest, and she wanted nothing more than to stop hurting. To stop fighting.
But then—she felt it. Warmth. Faint, almost gone, but real. The lantern in her arms flickered. A tiny, defiant spark.
Evelyn's breath hitched. "No…" she whispered. Her voice was weak, but it was hers. "You don't get to have me. Not yet."
The veins hissed, tightening, trying to silence her. But she forced the lantern higher, her tears falling onto its glass. With each tear, the spark grew.
"I'm not finished!" she screamed, her voice cracking but fierce. "You took Sophie. You took Alex. You twisted Leo. But you don't get me!"
The lantern burst into flame—white, searing, defiant. The veins shrieked, recoiling, snapping away from her limbs. The void shuddered, the heart's rhythm faltering.
Evelyn staggered to her feet, holding the blazing lantern like a weapon. Her eyes burned with fury, her grief twisting into something sharper: resolve.
"Come for me, train," she growled through gritted teeth. "Let's see which of us breaks first."
The darkness screamed. And the rails ahead began to shift, forming the next carriage.