Aurora’s P.O.V

    I wasn’t able to sleep at allst night. It was like every time I closed my eyes, Ashton’s words would haunt me, creeping into my thoughts with a suffocating grip.

    “Abandon all hope, Aurora. It’s your worst enemy here,” he had told me. His voice echoed in my mind, relentless, pulling me deeper into a pit of uncertainty. But deep down, I knew that wasn’t something I could do. I couldn’t just give up. Not when Caleb and Caroline–hell, all the people who cared about me- were still out there somewhere. I had to fight, I had to find a way out.

    The skeleton of my mother, sitting before me in its cold, lifeless state, was the only thing that seemed real in the chaos. Strangely, I no longer felt the weight of fear pressing against my chest as I stared at it. The fear had faded, reced by something else, something eerily calm. It was as if her presence still lingered in the air, in the stillness of the room.

    I reached out, my fingers brushing against the pendant she had given me. It felt like a lifeline, its cool surface grounding me in the moment. I sped it tightly in my hand, clutching it to my chest like it could somehow give me the answers I so desperately needed.

    “Mom,” I whispered, the sound of my voice feeling foreign in the silence. “How do I get out of here? What should I do?”

    For a long moment, there was nothing but the echo of my words hanging in the air.

    I sat there, in the quiet, my hands trembling slightly as I gripped the pendant in my palm as I stared at her skeleton. The weight of it was so familiar, and yet, so strange. I never truly understanding its significance, never realizing the depth of the connection it might hold to my mother.

    1

    When I was younger, I had always been so angry with her, so full of resentment. It wasn’t just for her abandoning me so early in my life and leaving me to care for my little brother all on my own. No…it was also for the way she had let him hurt her. The way she had let everything fall apart while I was too blinded by my own pain to see hers. I wanted to scream at her, to me her for the wreckage that had been our lives. But now, sitting in this empty, cold space, I couldn’t help but wonder–what had she truly felt?

    What had she been going through all those years? She wasn’t just a victim of his cruelty; she had been a victim of betrayal, from the one person she should have been able to rely on the most–her husband. My father. The man who should have loved her, protected her, stood by her no matter what. But he hadn’t. He had turned his back on her, just like everyone else.

    And in that moment, I realized that my mother had been alone for so much of her life. Alone in a world where everyone had failed her, even the one person she had trusted with her heart. She had to have been brokenb, /bshattered in ways I couldn’t even imagine, and I had been too blind to see it. Too caught up in my own anger, my own pain to see the woman behind the mother. I swallowed hard, a lump forming in my throat as I let the tears fall, feeling the weight of all those years of misunderstanding, of ming her for

    3:24 pm

    everything that had gone wrong. I never knew what she went through. I never understood the depth of her

    lonelinessb. /b

    “I’m so sorry, Mom,” I whispered, my voice barely a breath. “I never understood. Not truly. I never understood the pain you were in, not just because of him, but because of the one person you should’ve been able to trust… the one person who should have been there for you.”

    I choked on the words, feeling a wave of guilt rush over me. “I never saw it. I never saw how much you were hurting. I was too selfish, too wrapped up in my own misery. I wish I could go back. I wish I could make things right. But I can’t. All I can do is… I can’t let you have gone through all of that alone. Not anymore. Not while I’m here, with your memory, with this.”

    The pendant in my hand began to warm, and I blinked, startled as a faint green light flickered from within it. The glow was soft at first, almost imperceptible, but then it grew, pulsing gently like a heartbeat. I froze, my breath catching in my throat. There was something about it. Something that didn’t make me feel afraid but… empowered, like a quiet strength was being infused into my very bones.

    It was like my mother was with me again, her presence filling the room with warmth, with love, with something I couldn’t describe. It wasn’t fear, it wasn’t dread–it was as if she were telling me that I wasn’t alone. Even now, after everything, she was still here, still watching over me. And in that moment, I felt her essence. Her spirit. Her love. It was as if she had never left.

    A sudden surge of determination rose in my chest, and I clenched my fist around the pendant. I wouldn’t let this be the end. I wouldn’t let myself give up. I had to get out of here. I had to.

    “I swear I’ll find a way out of here, Mom,” I muttered, the words almosting naturally, as if the pendant had given me the strength to speak them. “No matter what, I’ll do it. I’ll survive. I’ll make sure this ends. And I’ll find him. I’ll find Caleb. I know he’s out there, and I know he’s doing everything he can to reach

    me.”

    I paused, feeling the weight of my promise settle into my bones, solid and unwavering. Caleb. The thought of him, of the love we had shared, was enough to reignite the fire in my soul. I knew he wouldn’t stop. He would keep fighting for me, no matter what.

    J

    And now, I would fight too. For both of us. For my mother. For everything we had lost.

    The pendant’s glow seemed to pulse onest time, as if in agreement, before it dimmed once more, leaving only the echo of my vow hanging in the air.

    bChapter /bComments

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