Sophia’s POV
ABANDONED HOUSE – 9:05am
“Where… am I?” I murmured as my eyelids fluttered open, assaulted by sharp sunlight slicing through a shattered window above me. My voice was dry, cracked, barely more than a whisper. The world around me spun as I struggled to make sense of the cold, damp room.
I blinked. Once. Twice. The outline of hulking figures at each corner of the decaying room slowly sharpened. The walls were peeling, smeared with grime. The air was stale with the stench of mold and old rust.
Panic clamped down on me. I was tied tightly to a wooden chair, thick ropes biting into my wrists and ankles. My body ached as though I'd been hit by a truck. That damned injection… Thelma. It all came flooding back like a tidal wave crashing through a brittle dam.
I glanced around, searching desperately.
“Water,” I croaked. “Please… I need water.”
The guards didn’t flinch. Statues. Cold and indifferent.
“Where are my parents?!” I shouted, voice cracking, panic rising like bile in my t
