PAST
SELENE’S POV:
I shoved through the bodies, not caring who I elbowed along the way. My lungs burned like I’d just sprinted laps.
I wasn’t even sure where I wanted to go. My vision was blurry with tears I was holding back for weeks. My heart thumped like a war cry in my chest.
I kept running until I stumbled upon the heavy double doors at the far end of the hall. They loomed like a portal to some other world, somewhere distant and unreal, somewhere that might actually let me breathe.
No one ever used them, but there wasn’t a sign saying I couldn’t, so I shoved the left door open just wide enough to slip inside.
On the other side, there was nothing magical waiting. Just a shadowed staircase blanketed in dust, the air thick and stale. The banisters curled in elegant spirals, the w
