It started with the lights flickering at Paul’s warehouse. I didn’t think much of it—just faulty wiring, maybe. But then he died. Found him slumped over his desk, eyes wide, like something had reached out of the dark and taken him.

Now Martin’s seeing it too. He wakes up screaming, saying there’s a woman standing over him whenever the power cuts. I remember it now—Sophie talking to someone in the shadows when I was little. I thought I imagined it.

Tonight, the house went black. I heard something breathing in the hallway. Bret’s flashlight barely held it back. We can’t keep living like this—jumping at every shadow, taping switches down, sleeping with lamps on.

But when I looked in the mirror during a blackout, she was behind me—pale, hollow-eyed, lips curled. And she smiled.

I have to protect Martin. I have to end this. Do I confront Sophie while she’s still lucid? Do I lure Diana into a trap with timed lights? Or do I accept that the only way to kill a shadow… is to destroy the source?