POV: Clara

I didn’t remember falling asleep.

One minute I was kneeling on the floor with the burn on my stomach still aching. The next, darkness had swallowed everything. Not the gentle dark of a dream—this was heavy, oppressive, full of sound. Whispering.

When I opened my eyes, the apartment was gone.

I stood in a field of ash.

The air before me quivered with heat though no fire burned. The ground stretched in every direction, black and cracked, breathing ...