Chapter 7: Fear and anguish

Raelynn

When I pushed the door, I noticed it hung slightly ajar, an anomaly considering my habit of double-checking the lock.

I stepped into my room which was previously arranged and organized. Instead, the room resembled a battlefield.

Clothes, ripped from drawers, lay scattered across the floor like fallen soldiers. Books were ripped from spines, their pages forming a confetti blizzard.

Even my precious family photo, perched on its stand above my dresser that morning, lay face-down, the glass shattered around the frame.

A strangled gasp escaped my lips. My gaze darted around the room, searching for any sign of an intruder. But the only presence besides mine was the eerie stillness, broken only by the mournful wail of the wind outside.

A cold draft licked at my bare arms, sending goosebumps erupting on my skin. Panic bloomed in my chest, a suffocating tightness that made it hard to breathe.

I noticed the picture frame of my family I hung on my dresser was lying broken on the