bChapter /bb205 /b

    Mia stood up, her legs still a little shaky as she walked out of the room.

    She didn’t even bother slipping her slippers on. The cold tiles under her bare feet reminds her she was awake

    But the images won’t leave her head. Esther ckwell’s screams, the sight of Charles ckwell stepping out of the darkness, and then that sudden bfall- /bher lifeless body on the ground.

    Mia’s chest tightened as she stepped into the kitchen. Her throat was dry, so dry it felt like she had swallowed sand.

    All she wanted right now is water, something cool, something that could push down the lump of fear choking her.

    She paused when she saw Ethan already there, leaning against the counter, drinking from a ss of water. His eyes caught her the moment she walked in.

    “You look like a mess, you okay?” Ethan said, staring at her in that way only an older brother could–half worried, half teasing.

    Mia shook her head, not trusting her voice at first..

    Finally, her voice came out, low and weak. “Had another nightmare,” she said.

    Ethan tilted his head, and then, like he always did, tried to lighten the mood. “The vision kind of nightmare?” He asked with a small smile tugging at his lips.

    Mia rolled her eyes and sighed, even though her heart was still pounding. “It’s not funny,” she said, opening the fridge with trembling hands.

    She grabbed a bottle of water and twisted the cap with effort, her hands still shaking from what she had seen.

    Ethan chuckled softly and shrugged, as if this was normal. “No, I think it’s cool that my little sister has some vision power,” he said.

    Mia froze, staring at him. She felt anger and fear mix inside her, boiling. “I think it’s freaking weird, and unreal, and it shouldn’t be happening in real life, Ethan.” Her voice cracked a little as she spoke. She took a long gulp of water, trying to wash away the sour taste of dread from her mouth.

    Her brother’s words echoed in her head, but she couldn’t see what he saw. To her, it wasn’t cool. It wasn’t special. It was terrifying.

    It was a curse she never asked for. She leaned against the counter, her bottle of water still clutched tightly in her hand, and for a moment, she thought of the day it all started.

    She had been normal once.

    Something shifted in her the moment she gave birth.

    It started small. At first, she thought it was just the stress, maybe theck of sleep.

    But then those dreams starteding true.

    It’s unheard of, she shouldn’t be seeing the future in her fucking nightmare. She is not in a fucking movie.

    She rubbed her arms, trying to shake off the goosebumps crawling on her skin. “I don’t even know how I went from being normal to… abnormalb,/bb” /bbshe /bwhispered, her voice almost too low to hear.

    Ethan frowned, setting down his ss and crossing his arms as he leaned on the counter. He watched her, his eyes softening, but he didn’t binterrupt/bb. /bHe knew she needed to let it out.

    “What really happened to me?” Mia continued, staring at her reflection in the bottle of water she held. “What happened bwhen /bbI /bbgave /bbbirth/bb? /bbWhy /bbdid /bI wake up like this? Why am I seeing things that haven’t happened yet? Things thatb… /bthat are bawful/b?” Her bthroat /bbtightened /bas bthe /bimages bof /bbEsther /bckwell’s fall returned, making her grip the bottle tighter. “It’s like… I’m being dragged into things I bdon’t /bbeven /bbwant /bbto /bbknow/b.

    Her voice trembled, and she looked at Ethan, her eyes ssy. “Do you even understand how terrifying it is? To dream bof /bpeople’s bpain/bb, /bto see bthings /bbefore they happen? Someone’s death? To carry it around, knowing you have to do something about it?”

    on

    her shoulder, grounding her. “I don’t fully understandb,/bb” /bbhe /bbadmitted /b

    Ethan pushed himself off the counter and walked closer. His hand rested lightly. his voice calm, steady. “But I get that it scares you. And I get that you didn’t ask for this.”

    Mia swallowed hard, trying to keep herself from crying. She hated how weak she felt when she spoke about it.

    “But the worst part,” she whispered, “is knowing the dream I just had isn’t just some random dream. It’s something that will happen Ethanb./bb” /bHer voice cracks…“That’s what terrifies me more. Because if I saw it, then it means it’s real, Ethan. It’s real.”

    Ethan frowned deeply, searching her face for answers she didn’t have. “Who was it about?” he finally asked.

    The question made Mia’s chest tighten. Her breathing grew uneven as the name formed on her lips.

    She stared at her brother, almost afraid to say it out loud, as if speaking the name would make the nightmaree faster.

    Her fingers tightened around the bottle, her knuckles turning white.

    She opened her mouth, but the word stuck in her throat for a moment. Her heart was racing, pounding so loud she was sure Ethan could hear it.

    Finally, with a shaky breath, she whispered her name

    “Esther ckwell.”

    “What?”

    “Charles ckwell is going to kidnap her and she will fall off a building to death”