A Call in the Dark

The night stretched out endlessly, a suffocating silence pressing down on me. It had been twenty-four hours since Vesper took our mother from the hospital, and we were still in the dark. Every minute dragged on, a cruel reminder that we had no direction, no leads—just a sickening void. I sat by the window, staring into the dark forest beyond, its shadows swirling like ghosts, feeding the fear in m