Aila Coraline
At first, I thought I was still dreaming.
Because no waking world should begin with veins glowing violet beneath your skin.
I lifted my hands slowly in front of me, my breath hitching. The color pulsed, faint at first, then stronger with every beat of my heart. It didn’t look like blood anymore. It looked like something alive, crawling, claiming me.
“What is this…” My voice cracked, too fragile against the storm building inside me.
Then the noise came.
Not outside. Not from the cracked ceiling or the heavy air pressing down on me. No, it was inside my skull, a voice that didn’t sound like mine but used my thoughts as its vessel.
Revenge.
The word echoed, loud, raw, scraping against every corner of me.
I gasped and clutched my head, digging my nails into my scalp unti
