Hidden Emotions

"Don't..." She reached out, trying to grasp Mark's retreating figure, desperate to call him back, but no sound escaped her lips. Each of his steps felt like a knife slicing through Ethan Montgomery and his associates. The pain was excruciating, her heart twisting, cold sweat dotting her forehead, yet she couldn't make him stop.

The world before her was a sea of swirling sand. The sky, though tinged with blue, seemed smothered by a dirty yellow haze, an overwhelming sense of suffocation and despair.

The earth spun silently, leaving her dizzy and disoriented. She couldn't tell if she was standing on solid ground or floating in the dusty air.

"Hey!"

A faint shout echoed from the distance, its source unknown.

Avery Miller's dark eyes fluttered shut; she had no strength or will left to see who it was. Whoever it was, it didn't matter anymore. She was ready to die alongside Ethan Montgomery.