Page 5 of Emylia

His breathing slowed. Shallowed. Stilled.

Became non-existent.

I watched, paralyzed, as a final shudder rolled through him. And then—he was gone.

The world collapsed with him.

Air ceased to exist.

Sound, air, meaning—gone.

And all that remained was the hollow wreckage of everything he had ever touched.

ChapterThree

Istumbled from their room—from the place that would forever remain tainted.

The first step I took outside was like stepping into a life already broken–a life split at the seams, spilling grief across a world that didn’t even notice.

The familiar scent of mud choked my lungs, thick and raw. The storm raged around me, the damp air swirling in vicious gusts that shook the trees down to their roots.

Blasts of icy wind stung my face, cutting tears free from my eyes that had nothing to do with the cold.

And for the first time—I realized the world could keep spinning even when everything you loved had already shattered to dust.

Fuck it.

Fuck all of it.

Rain berated my skin, the droplets feeling more like stones as they pelted my body. I didn’t care; I began to run, as if putting distance between me and my father’s corpse could do anything.

As though a few steps could undo the sight of his body–could undo any of it.

Lightning lit the sky, electricity humming through the air, prickling my skin with goosebumps. I pumped my legs, pushing them harder and faster until the only thing I felt was the burn in my thighs.

It was so better than the agony coiled around my heart, squeezing until it felt like it would shatter under the pressure.

“Em.”

I ignored the low timbre of my best friend's voice, pushing myself harder, sprinting faster.

But I couldn't outrun the sound of his footsteps thundering after me, just a heartbeat behind.

I couldn't face Sebastian.

I couldn't face anyone.

Not when the pain raging through me was a living, breathing entity—wild, ravenous, untamed—and ready to claim what little was left of me.

I pushed myself past breaking point, past reason, past anything that resembled survival.

My ragged breathing drowned out everything—the rain, the trees, the desperate way Sebastian called my name—muting the storm, muting the world, muting everything except the scream clawing to get out of my chest.

I didn’t stop.

Not until my legs finally betrayed me.

My knees hit the mud with a brutal, jarring thud.

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