CHAPTER 3

Aurora woke to agony.

Every inch of her body hurt.

The cuts on her arms burned, her feet throbbed violently from the rusted nails, and her throat felt raw from all the screaming she had done the night before. For a few terrifying seconds, she forgot where she was.

Then she felt someone sleeping against her chest.

Evie.

Aurora looked down instantly.

Her little sister was still in her arms, breathing softly despite the dried tears staining her cheeks. Relief hit Aurora so hard it almost made her collapse again.

Outside the room—

footsteps echoed.

Aurora froze.

The kidnappers.

Her eyes widened immediately as she shook Evie carefully.

“Evie,” she whispered urgently. “Wake up. Don’t make a sound, okay? Stay close to me.”

Evie woke up in panic instantly, but Aurora pressed a trembling finger against her lips.

The metal door creaked open.

Bright light flooded the dark room painfully.

“Well, well,” one of the kidnappers mocked with a twisted grin. “Sleeping beauties finally awake.”

Aurora instinctively moved in front of Evie.

The man walked closer slowly before suddenly grabbing Aurora brutally by the hair.

She cried out in pain.

“MOVE!”

Evie screamed as another kidnapper dragged her across the floor. The two sisters were thrown violently into the main lobby of the abandoned building.

Meanwhile—

outside the warehouse—

police cars silently surrounded the area.

Andrew and Isabel stood beside the officers, pale and terrified as they stared at the building where their daughters were trapped.

“We’ve confirmed the location,” one officer whispered. “But if they see us coming, they might run.”

Another officer nodded quickly. “Cut the electricity first. Total darkness. They won’t know where to escape.”

Andrew’s hands shook uncontrollably.

“Please,” he whispered brokenly. “Just bring my girls back.”

Inside the warehouse, Evie struggled desperately as one of the kidnappers yanked her upward by the arm.

Aurora’s breathing became uneven.

“No—leave her alone!”

The man raised his hand violently toward Evie—

And in that exact moment—

something inside Aurora snapped.

She pulled the hidden knife from her pocket and pointed it toward him with trembling hands.

“LET HER GO!” she screamed.

For a second, the room fell silent.

Then the kidnapper laughed.

Actually laughed.

“You think that little thing scares me?”

Slowly, he pulled out his own knife.

The dim light reflected off the blade.

Aurora’s heart pounded violently.

Outside—

the police cut the power.

Everything went black.

Screams erupted instantly inside the building.

Aurora moved without thinking.

She ran forward through the darkness and drove the knife into the kidnapper’s body with all the strength she had left.

A horrifying scream echoed through the room.

But at the exact same moment—

another scream followed.

Evie’s.

Aurora froze.

The kidnapper had stabbed blindly in the darkness before stumbling backward.

His knife had gone straight into Evie.

The sound that left Evie’s mouth didn’t even sound human.

Aurora’s own knife remained lodged deep inside the kidnapper as he staggered away in panic after hearing approaching police sirens.

“THE POLICE!” someone shouted.

The kidnappers fled immediately into the darkness.

And then—

the lights came back on.

Aurora turned around.

And her entire world ended.

Evie stood there trembling weakly before collapsing onto the floor.

The knife was buried in her back.

“No…”

Aurora rushed toward her instantly, falling to her knees beside her sister.

“No no no no—Evie—”

Her hands shook violently as she carefully pulled the knife out of Evie’s back.

Blood spread across her clothes immediately.

Too much blood.

Aurora broke completely.

“Please wake up—please—please I’m sorry—I’m sorry—”

The warehouse doors suddenly burst open.

Police officers stormed inside alongside Andrew and Isabel.

And then they saw it.

Evie lying motionless in Aurora’s arms.

Blood everywhere.

Aurora sobbing uncontrollably beside her.

For a second, nobody moved.

The parents immediately assumed the kidnappers had stabbed Evie before escaping.

“EVIE!” Isabel screamed.

Andrew rushed toward them, collapsing beside his daughters while officers spread through the building.

“She’s alive,” one officer shouted urgently. “Get an ambulance NOW!”

Aurora couldn’t even speak anymore.

Her hands were covered in her sister’s blood.

“I didn’t mean—” she choked out weakly. “I didn’t—”

But nobody heard her.

Everything became chaos.

Sirens.

Shouting.

Crying.

And then the hospital.

Bright white lights.

Doctors running.

Machines beeping rapidly.

Andrew and Isabel stood beside Evie’s hospital bed completely shattered as doctors tried desperately to stop the bleeding.

Aurora sat in the corner silently.

Covered in blood.

Broken beyond repair.

Evie’s breathing became weaker with every passing second.

Isabel held her daughter’s hand tightly. “Baby, stay with us, okay? Please stay with us.”

Andrew’s voice cracked completely. “Who did this to you?”

Evie’s eyes slowly searched the room.

Weakly.

Painfully.

Until they found Aurora.

Aurora immediately stood up, tears falling endlessly down her face.

Evie looked at her sister one last time.

And the final word that escaped her lips was—

“Aurora…”

Not fear.

Not blame.

Just her sister’s name.

The person she loved most.

Andrew and Isabel broke down instantly, thinking Evie was calling for Aurora in her final moments.

They held her desperately, begging her to stay alive a little longer.

But it was already too late.

The monitors went flat moments later.

And on the night that was supposed to celebrate Evie’s life—

Aurora accidentally became the reason it ended.

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