Jason sank to his knees as smoke swallowed the sky, the color of it an angry crimson, like the world itself was bleeding. The house before him, her house, collapsed in slow motion, boards shrieking and crumbling as if mourning their own destruction.

His chest caved with a ragged sob, the kind that seemed to come from somewhere deeper than his lungs, deeper even than his body. Everything around him blurred—faces, sirens, flames—until all that remained was the ash.

He should have looked away. Should have closed his eyes.

But he didn't. He couldn't.
The paramedics moved solemnly through the smoke, their silhouettes stark against the firelit haze. The stretchers were draped in white sheets—too still, too final. He counted them without meaning to.
One... two... three.
Jason didn't flinch. His heart was hollowed out, like something had been carved from within him with a hot blade.
It should've been him.
Not Selena.
"No," he whispered hoarsely, his voice splintering. "No, it can't be."
He stumbled backward, eyes wide, brain refusing to bridge the gap between what he saw and what he believed. Reality came in slow waves, each one more unbearable than the last. And then he was moving, sprinting toward the stretchers with a desperate, raw urgency. A rescuer with no one left to save.
"Selena," he choked, reaching trembling hands toward the nearest form.
The heat of the fire still lingered in the air, as if the world itself was scorched. He lifted the sheet with shaking fingers. What stared back at him was no longer her face—just blackened skin, unrecognizable. His mind rejected it. It can't be her. It isn't.

One second, I was at the edge of the crowd, trying to breathe, trying to escape the pressure in my chest. I thought maybe it was just the music, the crowd, or the chaos. I just needed some air, some space to think. But that feeling in my gut—that slow, creeping dread—it wasn't in my head.


I saw him. That man. Just standing there, watching me.


I turned away. Ignore it, I told myself. People are weird at concerts.


But then he was there again. Closer. I picked up my pace, heart hammering. I wasn't just imagining it; he was following me. I made a sharp turn and headed straight for the woods.


My legs were moving before my mind could catch up. All I knew was that I had to run.


Branches slapped at my arms. My shoes dug into the uneven ground. The music behind me faded, swallowed by the trees and the sound of my own panicked breathing. I didn't dare look back.


Chapter 59 - The Enemy