At last, after moments of hesitation, Leila reached the top of the stairs and stood before her parents' bedroom door. Her heart pounded rapidly, each beat echoing through the empty house. Her eyes darted in every direction, searching for any sign of reassurance, but all she found was the oppressive silence that surrounded her. She stood there for what felt like an eternity, calling out with a trembling voice, but there was no reply. Nothing answered her, except for the eerie echo of her own voice that seemed to haunt her within the walls. The silence felt unnatural, as though everything around her had frozen in place.

Then, without warning, she moved. At first, she knocked gently on the door, as if afraid to disturb something immense, but the urgency in her strikes soon grew. The pounding became louder, more insistent. “Dad! Mom! Wake up!” she cried, her voice sounding more desperate than usual, but still, no answer came. No response, no movement. The world felt utterly still.

Her blood seemed to boil in her veins, and for a moment, she lost her composure. She could no longer stand the waiting, the uncertainty. She pushed the door open swiftly, walking in with rapid steps, her breath coming in shallow gasps, as though an invisible weight pressed against her chest. She stepped into the room and froze for a moment, her eyes scanning the dark, looking for any sign of movement. But what she saw was beyond anything she had expected. Her parents lay in their bed, just as she had left them the night before, yet in a way that was completely unnatural—as though time itself had frozen them.

She moved closer, fear mounting with every step. They lay deeply asleep, or so it seemed, trapped in an endless slumber, their stillness unnerving. Their breathing was steady, almost unnaturally so, without the irregularities or disturbances that would signal a restless sleep. Everything around her was eerily calm, but it was a calmness that felt wrong. Her heart began to race faster, as if fear was slowly creeping into her every fiber, consuming her strength. She reached out with trembling hands into the cold air, but found no warmth to reassure her.

With growing anxiety, she checked them over, desperately trying to confirm that they were still alive. She watched their chests closely, holding her breath until she finally exhaled in relief as she noticed the faint rise and fall, signaling they were indeed breathing. But despite all her frantic efforts to wake them, they remained motionless. No one responded to her presence, her calls, or even the sound of her breath. Their steady, unbroken breathing seemed like an impenetrable wall, leaving her in a deepening isolation.

A deeper sensation began to settle within her—something heavier, something more sinister. The fear tightened around her chest, suffocating her. Every second felt like an eternity, and with each passing moment, the silence grew thicker, more suffocating. The room felt impossibly small, trapped in an atmosphere that was both cold and foggy. Every inch of her body screamed for clarity, for answers, but nothing in her mind made sense.

“What’s happening here?” her thoughts swirled, a constant barrage of questions that couldn’t find any answers. “Are they in a coma? Could they be sick? Did the world shift? Has time stopped?” The questions tore at her, each one more desperate than the last. But the only answer that lingered in her mind was the terrifying realization that she couldn’t wake them. There was no way to rouse them from their deep, unyielding sleep.

Her heart slowed, each beat dragging with it an overwhelming sense of dread. She tried to steady her breathing, to regain control, but there was an undeniable urge to escape, to flee from this place, this prison of silence. She gathered her courage, forcing herself to move, to push through the paralyzing confusion. But her steps were slow, hesitant, as though the weight of the situation was too much to bear. She made her decision: she had to leave the house. She needed answers, and she would find them.

She left the room, heading toward the stairs, each step more laborious than the last, her mind fraying at the edges. The silence continued to consume the house, every corner of it pregnant with the same stillness. There was no indication that this nightmare would end any time soon.