I prayed desperately that I could slip away unnoticed or, at the very least, that the chaos of their fight would keep them distracted long enough for me to escape. I didn’t know where I was going—only that I needed to find a vantage point where I could see something, anything. My feet moved instinctively, carrying me toward the backstage area where a faint light glimmered in the distance. The source turned out to be a small, battery-operated LED lamp, its weak glow far better than the suffocating darkness surrounding me.
The backstage area was empty, to my immense relief. I exhaled shakily, my eyes darting around for an escape route. I needed to get to the basement—the girls were trapped somewhere behind a thick metal door. Every second counted. My gaze landed on a narrow, wooden staircas
