Finding Life

Chapter Eleven: Soph

Soph's POV

Daniel was speeding up, faster than I was ready for. I tried to keep my focus, but it slipped away from me. I could feel myself sinking through the seat, and before I knew it, I was falling right out of the car.

Panic surged through me as I hit the ground, the cold road scraping against my skin. "Daniel! Stop!" I wanted to scream, but no sound escaped my lips. And then I saw it—something dark, a shadow moving faster than I could react.

No. It wasn't just a shadow. It was the shadow figure.

It was close now, closer than ever. I tried to scramble to my feet, but before I could even think of running, the shadow figure's cold, inky tendrils wrapped around me. The grip was suffocating, pulling me away from the road and into the darkness.

I struggled, kicking and thrashing, but nothing worked. Its hold was too strong. The darkness swallowed me whole, and the last thing I saw was the taillights of the car fading in the distance.

I don't know where it was taking me, but I knew it wasn't anywhere good. There was something cold, sinister in the air. I couldn't move, couldn't scream—just the cold emptiness and the shadow figure dragging me through the void.

Time felt strange, like minutes stretched into hours. And then, suddenly, the grip loosened, and I was dropped onto a cold, hard floor. The shadow retreated, but I knew it wasn't gone. I could feel it watching me, lurking just out of sight.

I blinked, trying to make out my surroundings. Everything was dim, like an abandoned room with no doors or windows. But I wasn't alone.

There were others—shadowy figures moving in the distance, too far to make out clearly. Were they like me? Trapped? Or were they something else entirely?

"Hello?" I called out, my voice shaking.

No response. Only silence.

I swallowed hard, fear tightening around my chest. I had to stay calm, had to focus. But with every passing second, it felt like the shadows were closing in, their whispers just out of reach.

Where was I? What did they want from me? And—most terrifying of all—was there any way out?

I tried to reach out with my hand, to touch something solid, to find any sense of grounding. The floor felt cold, slick, and endless.

I couldn't help but wonder if this is where the others would end up if we didn't figure out what these shadows were. Or worse—what I would become if I stayed here too long.

As I stood there in the cold, quiet darkness, one thought looped in my mind: Please, find me before it's too late.