The night was still for the first time in days. No whispers behind walls. No flickering lights. Just the low hum of the wind outside the cabin where Clara and Emmanuel had taken shelter.
Emmanuel sat on the cold wooden floor, back against the wall, knees pulled close. He hadn't spoken since they ran. Since the screams stopped. Since Elora was… gone.
Clara didn't speak either. She just sat beside him, her shoulder brushing his, eyes fixed on the shadows that didn't move. She had cried already. Not loud tears but the kind that silently carve lines down your cheeks. The kind you don't realize are falling until your lips taste the salt.
"I should've saved her," Emmanuel whispered finally.
Clara turned her face toward him. "You did everything you could."
"No," he said, shaking his head, voice thick. "I hesitated. I was scared."
She reached out, fingers brushing his hand. He didn't pull away. His hand closed over hers slowly, like it was foreign at first, then familiar. He looked at her for the first time that night really looked at her.
"You stayed," he said. "You never left me."
"I couldn't," she said softly. "Even if I wanted to."
He studied her eyes the way they didn't flinch, the way they held his gaze like she'd been waiting for years.
"Clara…" he said, his voice trembling for a different reason now. "I don't know what this is. Or if I even deserve it. But I see you. Finally. I see you, I've always wanted to say this but Elora... She... I don't know what to say,just know that i will always be here for you as you did"
Her breath caught. She leaned in, forehead against his. For a second, there was just warmth. Just human.
Then...
"You moved on quick, didn't you?"
The voice sent ice down Emmanuel's spine.
He turned slowly. Clara froze.
At the doorway stood Elora.
Only… it wasn't quite her.
She looked the same same tattered clothes, same wide eyes but there was something in her expression. Something too still. Something that didn't blink.
Clara stood up first. "Elora?"
Elora tilted her head. "Do I look dead to you?"
No one answered.
Her smile stretched a little too wide. "Because something sure died back there. And it wasn't just me."
Emmanuel stood slowly. "What… what are you?"
Elora's eyes flashed black for just a second.
"I'm what followed us home."