Chapter 2 - The Breath from the Dark
The sound was small compared to the chaos that had just filled the room, yet it paralyzed every single person in the hall.
THUD. THUD.
Ethan’s furious scowl melted away, replaced instantly by a look of sheer confusion and rising alarm. He slowly turned his head over his shoulder, his knuckles whitening on the handle of the sledgehammer.
On the floor, Emma’s sobs caught in her throat. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees among the scattered oranges, her wide green eyes fixed on the long split across the coffin lid.
“Sophia…?” Emma whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the air conditioner.
The split wooden lid jolted violently upward from the inside. Wood fibers snapped and groaned as a pair of pale, trembling hands shoved through the fracture, pushing the heavy panels aside. Broken sections of white wood splintered and fell to the floor with dull clatters.
A woman rose into view.
It was Sophia. Her long golden hair was matted with sweat, her white burial dress torn at the collar. Loose white medical bandaging covered her lower face, though her nose remained clear, her chest heaving in wild, frantic gasps for air. Her eyes—wide with utter terror—scanned the shocked crowd of mourners who were already screaming and retreating down the center aisle in a wave of panic.
Ethan dropped the sledgehammer. It struck the marble with a deafening clang, but he barely noticed as he stumbled backward, his knees buckling until he hit the floor beside Emma.
“SOPHIA?!” Ethan shouted, his voice cracking with a terrifying mixture of horror and disbelief.
Sophia clawed frantically at the white bandages around her mouth, tearing the gauze away with shaking fingers. She coughed violently, clutching the edge of the broken coffin as she fixed her panicked eyes directly on Ethan.
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“DON’T TRUST—” Sophia choked out, her voice raspy and raw from lack of oxygen.
She extended a single, trembling arm, her finger pointing past Ethan, directing her gaze toward a figure standing calmly at the back of the hall, half-hidden by the shadows of the arched entryway.
