The moment consciousness returned, I knew something was wrong. A suffocating darkness swallowed my vision, thick and absolute, and for one horrifying second I thought I had lost my sight. My chest rose sharply as panic punched through me, but when I tried to blink the darkness away, all I felt was rough fabric scraping against my eyelids. A blindfold. Someone had tightly wrapped a cloth around my eyes, pressing painfully against my temples until sweat began trickling from my forehead down to my cheeks. My breathing turned uneven. I stayed motionless, forcing myself to listen. There were sounds everywhere. Loud music pounded from somewhere beyond the walls, so heavy that the vibrations seemed to crawl beneath my skin. Between the beats came bursts of laughter, the clinking of glasses, muffled voices, and occasional whistles that sounded as if some kind of celebration was happening nearby. Yet despite the lively noise, the room around me felt nothing but hostile. The air smelled foul
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