It was colder tonight.
Night had fallen heavier than usual, cloaking the world in a deeper shade of darkness.
And the wind… it blew harder, howling with sharp teeth, cutting through the trees like a warning hiss of a snake, setting the leaves into a furious rustle that mimicked whispers too frantic to understand. But it wasn't only the chill that unsettled.
Around them, there were no hoots, no chirps, no scuttling of creatures in the underbrush.
Everything was eerily quiet as if the world was too afraid to disturb someone tonight.
Andrea led the group cautiously.
She looked around at the unsettling surroundings as a hollow weight settled over her senses.
Colors were still there, she could see them, but if her focus wavered, they drained into bleak shades of gray. Sounds still reached her ears—she could hear the others behind, their footsteps, their breaths, but without effort, they blurred into a distant, muffled haze.
