Echoes of the Dark
Selena Stepped into the lift without thinking twice. Her phone was in one hand, a folder in the other, her mind preoccupied with the upcoming editorial meeting. She pressed the button for the twelfth floor. The doors slid shut with their usual sterile efficiency, sealing her in a steel box she had used a hundred times before.
The elevator shuddered, then froze.
Selena paused. The soft mechanical hum had vanished. Her thumb hovered over the emergency button when the lights flickered once, twice—and then went out.
Selena hart
"It just a lift. Just a power outage. Stay calm. Stay calm, "
The silence pressed in around her, thick and intimate, like it knew her secrets. Like it knew exactly what this darkness meant to her.
Her heart began to pound.
This wasn’t just a power cut. This wasn’t just a technical error.
This was then. This was him.
The cupboard door slamming shut. The drum lid sealing her in. The walls too close, the air too thin. That same utter blackness, like the world had vanished and left her behind. Her stepfather’s cruel voice outside the door, laughing as she cried for hours in silence.
She slid down the wall, curling into herself as her body shook.
No one could see her now. She didn’t have to pretend. Her mask of control, polished and powerful, shattered in the dark. Her breath came in sharp gasps as memories she’d buried clawed their way to the surface.
She hated this. Hated the fear, the helplessness. She wasn’t a child anymore. She wasn’t that little girl, crying in a locked cupboard. She was Selena Hart . Head of hart Publishing. In control. Always.
Then, suddenly, the lift jolted.
someone
Over the speaker: “We’re working to resolve the issue. Please remain calm.”
The lift shuddered again—then moved. It descended slowly, floor by floor, until with a soft chime, the doors parted.
she Slowly, unsteadily, pulled herself to her feet. She hated the tremble in her knees, the way her hands shook. She hated that someone saw it.
julian
“Selena,” he said gently. “Are you—?”
julian
“wait, You don’t look fine.”
Selena hart
“Don’t make a scene.”
Not once did she thank him. Not once did she meet his eyes.
Because if she did, he’d see too much.
And she couldn’t afford that.
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