bChapter /bb188 /b

bCaleb’s /bbody went rigid, his eyes locking on mine as if searching for something bin /bbmy /bbwords/bb. /bbHe /btook. ba /bstep forward, his voice tight.

“What happened in the dream, Aurora? Tell me everything.”

I hesitate, my throat tight, but I force myself to speak. “I don’t know… It felt like bI /bbwas /bsomehow back there, in that room, like I could touch everything, even smell the air. It was my bparent’s /bbroom/bb, /bCaleb. But something about it just felt wrong. I’ve never seen it like that before, as if all traces bof /bmy father had been removed. Only my mother’s belongings remained.”

He stared at me, eyes wide. Then, almost as if he’d lost his breath, he asked, “What belse/b? What else did you see?”

I shook my head slowly, not understanding what any of it meant. “Nothing else… nothing that bI /bbcan /bremember clearly.” The air felt colder now, and I gave an involuntary shiver as the weight of everything settled in.

“Caleb, what does this mean?” I asked, my voice shaking.

Caleb didn’t answer right away. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked away, lost in thought. When he met my gaze again, and I could see the worry in his eyes. “I don’t know, Aurora. But whatever it is, it’s not good. Something about this dream is off.”

“You feel it too, don’t you?” I urged. “Why Caleb? You told me that my parent’s house burned down, right? Then…why did I dream of it? Especially my parent’s room?b” /b

“Aurora,” Caleb said suddenly, a kind of hesitance in his voice that told me he had been hiding something from me. “When I went to your house that day, before the fire… There was one room that waspletely empty. I’m not talking about the mess, the broken stuff–no, this room… it waspletely empty. Like…everything in it was just… gone.”

I stared at him, unable to breathe for a moment. “What do you mean gone?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “Gone like it was cleared out? Or…?b” /b

He sighed deeply, rubbing his hand across his face, clearly struggling with the weight of what he was

saying.

“I think it was your parent’s room. The bed bwas /bstill there, but everything else, all their personal stuffb, /bwas just… gone. Like someone had taken it all.b” /b

My heart dropped. “But was there a burry? Did someone break in?b” /b

Caleb shook his head, his expression darkening. “No signs of forced entry. Nothingb. /bIt bwas /blike

bChapter /bb188 /b

whoever did it bhad /bba /bbkey/bb… /bbor /bjust knew exactly what bthey /bwere bdoing/b. bBut /bbbefore /bI bcould /bcheck bthe /bbrest /bbof /bthe houseb…/bb” /bHe paused, bhis /beyes shifting away from mineb. /bb“/bbThe /bbfire /bbstarted/bb./bb” /b

I felt a cold shiver crawl up my spine. Everything I thought I knew–the fire, my bfather’s /bbdeath/bb, /bbmy /bparents, my old life–was slipping through my fingers like sand. A thought gnawed bat /bmeb, /bbbut /bbI /bcouldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. I just knew something wasn’t right.

I couldn’t stop the tears that started to fall. It felt like the weight of it allb, /bthe loss, the bconfusion/bb, /band the fear, was too much to bear. I stood up quickly and, without thinking, wrapped bmy /bbarms /baround Caleb. The tears didn’t stop as I buried my face into Caleb’s soaked shirt as bI /bbclung /bbto /bbhim/bb, /bdesperate for some kind of reassurance that things would make sense, that everything would be okay. But I knew it wouldn’t. Not like this.

“I can’t take this anymore, Caleb,” I whispered, my voice breaking as I squeezed my eyes shut. “1 just… I want this to stop. I don’t want to keep going through this anymore. I can’t…”

He held me tight, his arms strong around me, but I could feel the tremor in his hands. I didn’t know if he had answers, if anyone had answers, but I couldn’t keep pretending that I was okay when everything around me was falling apart.

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