Her heart slammed violently against her ribs, pounding so hard it felt as if it might burst straight out of her chest. Cold sweat drenched her body, soaking through her pajamas, yet she was shivering as if she had been dragged out of ice water. Her teeth chattered uncontrollably.
For a few long seconds, she couldn't move.
Her eyes darted around the familiar darkness of her bedroom, grasping at shadows and shapes, desperately trying to anchor herself to reality. The bed. The curtains. The faint glow of the night lamp. The soft, rhythmic trickle of water from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain.
This was real.
She was awake.
Only then did the memory of the nightmare surge back.
Her breath hitched, her chest tightening painfully. It had felt too real. Too vivid. Not like a dream, but like being stripped bare and erased.
Forgetting herself… losing her name… losing her existence.
That was the most terrifying thing she had ever experienced across both her lives.
