Shadows of Desire

Seeing Things

I woke up gasping for air, my heart pounding in my chest, the sensation of being suffocated still clinging to me like a second skin. I bolted upright, my eyes darting around the room, but it was just my apartment—quiet, undisturbed. The nightmare clung to me, its shadow lingering in every corner of the room. Jack’s words, the twisted painting, the feeling of being swallowed by the dark—it all felt too real.

I pressed my palms against my face, trying to shake the fog from my mind. Was any of it real? Had I actually seen Jack, heard his voice in that decaying building, or had my mind simply conjured it all in some twisted dreamscape?

I wasn’t sure anymore. The lines between reality and whatever this was—whatever Jack was pulling me into—blurred with every passing day.

I moved to the bathr