Isabel’s POV
My heart races, pounding against my ribs like a desperate drumbeat as I strain to make sense of the suffocating dark. My fingers claw at the air, searching for something, anything, but it’s too dark to see. Too dark to breathe. And then I hear it—or think I do—a steady, deliberate breath. It’s close. Too close. A man’s breath, growing louder with every second, each sound a knife against my sanity.
Panic grips me like a vice, my throat tightening as I suppress the urge to scream. Who could feel sane in a moment like this?
The imagined sound grows heavier, impossibly near, and my mind spirals into chaos. Is he standing in front of me? Watch me? Waiting?
My heart slams against my chest as if it’s trying to break free. The darkness feels alive, pressing in, trapping me.
The
