The Enforcement Of Rules

Evie jerked awake, gasping as if invisible hands had just yanked her from underwater. Her heart slammed against her ribs, a frantic rhythm that made her stomach pitch. The dread from Silas’s phone call last night hadn't faded. It had festered in the dark, morphing into a suffocating weight pressing down on her chest.

She stared at the water-stained ceiling for a long moment, forcing her breathin