A voice echoed, cold and distant like the breeze shaking the autumn leaves off the trees.
"Liana, would you like to go back? Back to the moments you lost? You could change everything, dear. You could save them. Save yourself even. Would you take that chance?"
She hesitated, unsure and held back by the weight of all she'd seen. The blood that coated her skin, the screams of those terrified, and the faces of those she loved slipping away. Yet, beneath it all, something fragile and bright sparked in her heart: hope. Hope that she really could change everything this time around, but as she answered, her voice didn't hold a single note of hesitation.
"Yes."
As the word slipped from her lips, like a desperate plea, she felt something else beneath it. A shadow stirred, curling beneath her skin and giving way to a quiet whisper of doubt that this wasn't right, but she pushed it further down and everything went dark.
___________
Liana woke to the distant sound of voices—Amber and Anthony arguing over something trivial. She recognized the bickering immediately with the way Amber's quiet insistence met Anthony's stubborn, louder protests. Beyond her bedroom door, her mother's tired but firm voice tried to restore order as she often did on mornings like this.
The sunlight slipped through the cracked curtains, soft and golden in an almost too perfect way, like a perfectly made painting made to be observed but not truly acknowledged. It lit up the room in a way that made shadows reluctant to stay. The air smelled sweet, like her mother was making something. The relaxed motions of the morning filled her senses and for a moment, Liana felt as though she'd somehow stepped into a memory carefully preserved in time.
She opened her eyes, heart fluttering with a joy she hadn't felt in years. She was back. Back to her house and life and a world that hadn't yet splintered into chaos and fear. The walls were lined with posters of her favorite kpop groups and famous Hunters she loved and the clutter of hooks and notebooks on her desk felt like old friends she never thought she would miss. To think she once hated seeing them but now she wanted nothing more than to curl up and read them.
Yet beneath the warmth, the faintest whisper brushed at the edges of her mind. Something she could almost ignore but she probably shouldn't. The feeling that something wasn't quite right.