Chapter 23: Gone
Lyra’s heart felt like it was crumbling into dust. The weight of everything that had just transpired pressed down on her chest, making it hard to breathe, hard to think. Each step she took through the dense forest seemed to carry her further from the one person she thought she could always rely on, the one who had been her world, her rock. Now, he was just another broken promise, another shadow of something she’d once believed in. The wind howled through the trees, but all Lyra could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat—a rhythmic thud in her ears that felt too loud, too painful. Every step she took, every branch she pushed through, every breath she tried to catch, felt like an effort to outrun the ache that had settled deep within her. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe Ro
- Writer
