Chapter 3: Instinct
238 Words
Alice stumbled back, movements clumsy and untrained, barely avoiding grasping hands that clawed at empty air. Her heart pounded violently, each beat louder than the last, drowning out everything else. She turned blindly, boots scraping against stone as she struggled to keep her footing.
Then the dizziness hit.
It rolled through her without warning, sharp and disorienting. Heat followed—unnatural, searing, flooding her blood like fire. Her pulse spiraled out of control, too fast, too strong, as if something inside her had been unlocked without permission. Her breath turned shallow and erratic, chest burning with every inhale.
Whatever this body was, it was reacting to something she didn’t understand.
Fear sharpened her movements. She didn’t think—she moved.
She turned and ran.
The corridor blurred as she fled, vision tunneling, sounds stretching and warping around her. Each step felt heavier than the last, but stopping wasn’t an option. The heat inside her built higher, threatening to consume her from the inside out.
Then she heard it.
The sound of water reached her through the chaos—faint, distant, but real. It cut through the panic like a lifeline. Clutching at that fragile hope, Alice staggered toward it, forcing her legs to keep moving as her vision blurred once more.
She didn’t know where she was.
She didn’t know who she was anymore.
Only that if she didn’t reach the water—
She would lose herself completely.
- Writer
