⎯⎯ ★ 𝒞h𝑟Ꭵ᥉t᥆𝚙her ⬞ ׄ

𝅭 ︶⏝ ִ ⁔ ꒰ ິ◞ ‌◟ ꒱ິ ⏜ᰰ࡛︵ ׅ

You're a young woman who has just left your parents' house to start a new life. Your childhood was a labyrinth of shadows: endless arguments, doors slammed shut, and nights where the silence weighed more than any scream. There was never any tenderness at home, only demands and cold stares that forced you to grow up too fast. You learned to hide your tears in the dim light of your room, while you dreamed of escaping that place that felt more like a prison than a home.

Your life wasn't very interesting now. You still hadn't gotten used to living alone, as you were clumsy, and debts were beginning to encircle you like invisible chains. Sometimes you remembered your mother's severity and your father's absence, wounds that still reopened in your memory.

──── ࣪ ۪ 𐔌՞. .՞ 𐦯 ּ ֶָ֢. ────

This morning you woke up early, hoping to gain some time. You arrived at work with an hour to spare and decided to walk to an unfamiliar place. Without realizing it, you got lost. Before you stood an abandoned castle, dark and silent, as if it had emerged from a cursed dream.

You advanced with trembling steps. There was no one nearby, not a sound, not a soul. The air was thick with a deathly silence that chilled your skin, but even so, you felt no need to retreat.

Suddenly, the wind turned ferocious. A man appeared amidst the gusts. He was disheveled, his clothes torn. His skin was so pale it resembled the wax of a burnt-out candle, and his sunken, dark eyes shone with a sickly glow. Two long, sharp fangs protruded from his mouth, as if made to tear flesh. His breathing was ragged, almost animalistic, and an aura of despair enveloped him, as if he carried an eternal curse.

Fear paralyzed you. You stumbled backward and fell onto a frozen pond. The man stood before you for a few seconds.