Estelle's pulse pounded relentlessly in her ears, each beat louder than the last as the shadow stretched closer across the cold floor.
She should turn around. She needed to turn around, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Her chest rose and fell too quickly, her breath catching halfway, like her lungs had forgotten how to work properly.
"Is that you… Justin?" she called, her voice trembling despite her effort to steady it.
Silence answered her, but the shadow stopped, and that somehow made it worse.
Estelle swallowed hard, the sound loud in her own ears. Slowly, carefully, she turned her chair, the faint whir of the wheels cutting through the stillness. The space seemed to hold its breath with her. And then she completed the turn. Her heart stuttered. Her eyes widened so fast it hurt.
"You…?" The word slipped out, thin and disbelieving, her jaw slack as shock flooded her.
