After Alina was done with her breakfast, her stomach felt bloated, as if she were a pregnant woman. She even struggled to stand up before slowly making her way to her room.
Once inside, she grabbed her phone from the table. As expected, there were numerous messages from her parents and from Helen. She quickly replied to her parents’ messages before lying on the bed and starting a chat with Helen. After talking with her for a long time, she drifted off to sleep.
---
Alina stood in the middle of an empty road.
The sky was an eerie shade of blood-red, the air heavy and unmoving. Everything felt wrong, silent, except for the faint echo of her own heartbeat in her ears.
She had no idea where she was. She began walking forward, each step sounding unnaturally loud in the stillness. The road
