In the car, Archie noticed M''s face was pinched in difort, her brows drawn tight. He could tell she was battling a headache again. Leaning over, he murmured softly, “M, if you''re not feeling well, try to get some sleep. I''ll keep an eye out."


    M nodded faintly.


    After a moment''s hesitation, she took a deep breath of oxygen, but the pain lingered. Giving in, she closed her eyes and slipped into restless dreams.


    A vague sense of dread crept in.


    Somewhere in the dark, the faint clink of chains echoed, along with a girl''s barely audible murmur.


    "It''s so dark... didn''t anyone turn on the lights?"


    M groped blindly through the ckness. The chain around her ankle rattled with every hesitant step. She felt disoriented, still not fully awake.


    Ever since she''d moved into the manor, Lysander''s relentless demands-at all hours, in any ce—had destroyed her sleep cycle. Day and night blurred together until she could barely tell them apart.


    She assumed it was night now.


    But after a bit of fumbling for a light switch, M noticed something felt off. The room''syout didn''t make sense. Gradually, she came to her senses.


    This darkness wasn''t normal.


    It was absolute-so deep she couldn''t even see her own hand in front of her face.


    She''d been walking for ages and hadn''t bumped into anything. The ce felt empty. Nothing but her-no furniture, no walls, just a void.


    What''s going on?


    Am I blind?


    Or is this something else?


    A wave of terror washed over her, her breathing quickening. She began stumbling around, the chain rattling loudly in the silence.


    "Is anyone there? Why aren''t the lights on? I can''t see anything!"


    "Hello? Is anyone here?"


    "Lysander! What are you trying to do?!"


    By the end, her voice had risen to a furious scream.


    No one answered.


    She explored every inch of the space-nothing but emptiness. Not even a door. It was as if she was trapped in a box, walled in on every side.


    Locked away in darkness.


    She couldn''t see a thing.


    Except for the echo of her own voice and the relentless jangle of the chain, even her heartbeat sounded thunderous in the silence.


    Nothing else.


    She didn''t know how long she screamed. Eventually, her throat was raw and hoarse. Hunger gnawed at her, but no one came. The silence was suffocating- she was utterly alone.


    Time lost all meaning.


    Weak with hunger, her mind drifting, she suddenly heard the faintest of sounds- someone approaching, silent as a shadow. A sharp prick in her arm, a needle sliding in. She felt a rush of liquid entering her veins.


    Atst, another person. Summoning herst reserves, she forced herself upright, ignoring the needle still stuck in her arm, and lunged to grab the stranger. Her voice was raspy, barely more than a whisper.


    "Who... are... you?"


    The stranger jumped, clearly startled to find her awake, and jerked free, fleeing into the darkness.


    M tried to chase after them, but she was too weak. She copsed, watching helplessly as a faint sliver of light in the distance was swallowed up, plunging her back into pitch ckness.


    Gradually, whatever was in that injection began to work. Her hunger faded, and a bit of strength returned.


    Until the next wave of hunger hit.


    After that incident, she never saw anyone while awake. Only when she woke up and realized she was no longer hungry did she know someone hade while she was unconscious.


    Her mind grew more and more clouded.


    She began to hallucinate, memories and nightmares looping endlessly through her mind, fear and anxiety threatening to drown her.


    She woke from nightmares, shaking uncontrobly, teeth chattering so hard her jaw ached. Sometimes she wanted to bash her head against the wall, just to confirm the world was still real. Her mind was unraveling.


    Stop. I have to stop thinking. Don''t let yourself spiral.


    Don''t think about anything bad.


    She''d heard about this kind of thing before-from a friend who studied


    psychology. Sensory deprivation experiments: take away a person''s sight, sound, touch—cut them off from the world. It could warp your mind, alter your behavior.


    People called it "the ck box." It was an extreme experiment-if you didn''t know what you were doing, it could shatter someone''s sanity.


    Lysander really had gone mad, using this on her.


    Curled on the floor, arms wrapped tight around her head, M shivered uncontrobly. Over and over, she whispered to herself, "Don''t think about it. Don''t think about anything bad. Don''t..."


    Think about something happy. Anything happy.