Read the first page.
“Alice!”
The cry tore through the silence like a blade. Sharp. Echoing. Unmistakable.
Ananya jolted upright, breathless, her skin damp with sweat. Her hair curled across her face, sticky and warm. The name still rang in her ears.
Not hers. Not even close. And yet… it felt meant for her.
“What?!” she gasped into the stillness.
Her eyes darted around the room. Familiar outlines greeted her—the desk piled with drafts, the reading lamp still on, the sheer lace curtain catching faint pre-dawn light. Her apartment. Her refuge.
And yet… something was off.
The window was sealed. No fan whirred above. The air conditioner hummed on the far wall—too far to stir the curtain.
Still, the fabric moved—gently, rhythmically. As if someone had just passed through.
She blinked. Once. Twice.
A dream. It had to be. Just a dream.
“Silly,” she whispered, though the sound barely left her lips.
She slipped back beneath the blanket, the fabric suddenly too rough. Her fingers brushed curls away from her neck. A strand clung stubbornly to her collarbone. She blew upward—a shallow puff—trying to cool the heat or dispel the strange weight pressing against the air.
But the heaviness wasn’t just physical. It clung to her chest like an invisible hand—firm, not choking, just… present.
She rolled to one side. The shadows on the wall had shifted.
The ceiling fan was still off. The curtain no longer moved. But the air felt stirred, as if something had slipped past time and touched the edge of her reality.
Her heart thudded … what…
…..
Want to read more? You can request a free chapter or pre-order by clicking the book cover here.
