Chapter 11

Celine’s brain could not prioritize what problem to solve first. The impending darkness, or the strange man who was walking toward her. So, her brain froze; like she was a video game that could not load because two decisions in the code were competing for importance.

While she stood there paralyzed, Celine felt like she couldn’t breathe and no matter how large a breath she took, it was not enough to keep her alive. She began gasping big gulps of air, which inevitably led to an ache in her chest. Like someone was pressing a blade to her heart and agony radiated outward like a flower was blossoming under her ribs, unfolding its large petals of pain in her chest. And she feared when it was at the peak of its bloom she would die.

Was it possible? To die of fright?

When she saw it was Sebastian who approached her and not an apparition, sent by the twilight to speed her toward death, Celine felt relieved. Sebastian could help her. He had done it once before though it was years ago during the