The silence stretched, thick and unnatural, wrapping around Jane like a suffocating veil.
She sat curled in the darkness, her back pressed against the cold wall, the only sound her own breathing - shallow, uneven, barely there. The knocking had stopped.
Maybe they were leaving.
Her pulse pounded in her ears, the silence almost worse than the sound. She strained to listen - footsteps. Slow. Hesitant. Moving away down the corridor. A whisper of relief curled in her chest, fragile, trembling.
Then -
The phone rang.
A shrill, jarring scream in the dead silence. The vibration sent it skittering against the wooden floor.
Jane's breath caught in her throat. No. No. No.
The footsteps outside stopped.
Then - the knocking returned.
Louder. Harder. No longer a question, but a demand. The walls trembled with each impact.
They knew she was inside.
With shaking hands, she fumbled for the phone, the screen glowing like an open wound in the darkness. A message blinked up at her, simple, sharp, inescapable.
"LOVE, I will always catch you."
Her breath hitched. Her skin turned ice.
She didn't move.
But it didn't matter.
He knew.
And this time, he would make her regret it.