The next morning, the weight of the nightmare still clung to me like a heavy fog. I felt like I hadn’t slept at all, my body achy and my mind clouded with the vivid memory of Faruk killing my father. The image of his claws tearing through my father’s throat haunted me, even though I tried desperately to push it out of my mind.
I needed to escape. I needed to do something, anything, to keep myself from spiraling back into that place of terror. As I lay in bed, the conversation with Amy from the night before floated back to me. She had mentioned the carnival starting today. Maybe that could be my distraction—a chance to get away from the suffocating tension that hung between me and Faruk, even if just for a few hours.
I threw on some comfortable clothes and made my way downstairs, hoping t
