Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Evelyn

I was fumbling my way through the dense forest in what I thought was the right direction. On this airless, still dark morning, the trees seemed to be a hundred stories tall, and looming in the darkness, they seemed to whisper secrets and stories that I did not understand. Although I felt like someone or something was watching me, no matter how hard I tried, I could never quite catch sight of it. My steps were heavy and unsure, but somehow I kept going, propelled by an unknown force that guided me.

As I trudged onwards, the presence became more and more palpable, and I should have been scared, but inexplicably, I wasn’t. I had just escaped from a kidnapping, and all the long days and nights filled with adrenaline had finally taken its toll on me. But, strangely, instead of feeling exhausted, I felt recharged and alive, in more ways than one. I uplifted my fatigue, replaced it with a new aliveness that came from within me. It was as if some part of me had awoken from a