I felt stuck, like time had frozen around me. The wail of the sirens faded into silence, leaving nothing but the cold rain dripping down my back—sharp, like icy fingers tracing my spine.

 It wasn’t washing away the weight in my chest; it only made it worse. My tears came harder, unstoppable. The ambulance lights were too bright, their flashes cutting against my face, relentless and unfeeling. 

My breaths were slow, shallow. I knew I was trapped in my head, but it didn’t matter. Time really had stopped—frozen in the exact moment my brother died. 

“It’s my fault,” I whispered, the words tearing at my throat. “All my fault. I pushed him. He’s dead because of me. Because of this damned diner.” 

I looked up, and that’s when I saw it. The only thing I can remember clearly from that moment,

 a massive shadow looming over me. Its horns curled like jagged tree branches, unnatural and gnarled. But its eyes—those pale, glowing white eyes—they pierced straight into me, cutting down to my very soul.  

“You shall do,” it said, It’s voice like a distant echo.