𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚

We ran like our lives depended on it—because they did.

The forest clawed at us, branches ripping at our skin, roots trying to trip our feet, shadows whispering things we didn't have time to hear. My breath was ragged, throat raw, vision smeared with tears and blood and terror. Every pounding heartbeat in my chest screamed keep going—but it wasn't my chest. Not anymore.

I didn't have one.

Because I was dead.

And yet—I ran beside them. I ran with the girls I loved like family. With Lela. With Reina. With Sage. Even in this half-existence, I couldn't leave them. Not when he was still chasing us.

Charles.

He had become more than just a man. He was something else now. A nightmare. A god of ruin wearing a twisted grin and a blood-soaked shirt.

"Lela, push through the burn! We're almost clear. Don't give in to fear!" Reina's voice cracked through the night like thunder, anchoring us to this desperate moment.

My spirit hovered close, racing beside Lela as if I could still catch her when she fell. I couldn't. Not really. But I needed her to believe I could.

Ahead, a house broke through the veil of the trees—secluded, silent, weathered like it had been waiting for us.

We didn't knock.

Lela slammed the door behind us, and the room exploded with tension. Strangers. Shocked faces. A broken conversation dying in their throats.

"HELP! THIS MAN IS TRYING TO MURDER US!" Lela screamed, her voice shaking the very walls.

And then—he followed.

He stepped inside the threshold with blood painted across his chest, a sickening smile twisting his lips like he was proud of it. Crimson dripped from the edge of his ax. His shoes left prints—not wet, not recent—old, dried, stained from things long past.

He looked like a demon dragged out of someone's worst memory.

And yet...

A woman stepped forward—calm, steady, terrifying in her stillness.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said, like this wasn't a nightmare. "I'm Juliana. And this little warrior is my daughter, Whitney."

Juliana.
Me.

Except I wasn't her anymore. Not exactly.
Not flesh. Not warm. Not real.

I stood there as a projection of who I had been—an echo. My voice still carried, my thoughts still cut through the veil, but my body no longer belonged to the living.

And yet... I could still protect them.

"Hello," Whitney said with a brave smile, clutching a glowing orb in one hand. Too young for this. Too powerful for this.

"Great, nice to meet you. Now, could you PLEASE HELP US?!" Sage's voice cracked like something shattering.

And then—

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

The door behind them jolted with the sound of death knocking. The wood splintered beneath the weight of Charles's fury.

"LELA! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! OPEN THE DOOR—NOW!"

His voice was an explosion. A promise of violence. The sound alone felt like it bruised your bones.