Jia couldn't move, couldn't think— her mind turned into a mess of images and memories, each one a fresh dagger in her heart, the time they spent together played in her mind again and again. The space itself seemed to spin around her, the colours blurring into a sickening wave of pain.
A sob, raw and piercing, burst from Eleanor's throat, tearing through the heavy silence. It was a sound of pure anguish, a cry sounding from the very depths of her soul. She fell back, her hands clutching at her stomach as if trying to hold herself together, to keep from shattering into a million irreparable pieces.
Xiao moved slowly, but it was a mechanical action, her body responding on autopilot. She reached for Alice, her body shivering while her mind remained unsure.
