Ch:24 The Boy I Buried

"Ahh…"

A fragile voice echoed in the darkness.

"Where… am I again?"

Dila blinked slowly. Her body felt weightless, suspended in the void—an empty dome of infinite black. She floated, trembling slightly. Her breath shivered as it escaped her lips.

"Why am I back here?" she whispered. "Why… this dream again?"

Her heart pounded. A cold ache pressed against her chest. Tears began to sting her eyes as the silence folded in on her like a blanket of dread.

Suddenly, in the dark distance, a dim spotlight bloomed—a pale light illuminating a single figure.

A man stood beneath it.

Dila turned her head toward him, slowly, uncertainly—only for her lips to part in wordless horror.

She recognized him. Herself.

Her past self.

A boy.

The man under the light stared down with empty eyes. He was quiet… until the sound of an angry voice cracked through the void like thunder.