**Allison's POV**
The silence between Yasmin and me feels suffocating, thick like the darkness outside. I can't remember the last time I've seen anything beyond the headlights of the car. It's late, way past midnight, and the world beyond those bright beams is pitch black, the kind of dark that swallows everything. The trees rise like jagged shadows on either side of the road—if you can even call this a road. It's more like a dirt path winding through the woods, and the headlights barely cut through the thick, inky blackness ahead.
I've lost track of how long we've been driving. Hours, maybe? Time feels stretched and warped out here in the wilderness. Yasmin is still dead silent beside me. It's weird, almost unsettling, because she always has something to say. But now, she's like me—frozen, on edge. Her fingers tap nervously against her leg, and I can see the way her eyes flicker toward the windows, trying to catch glimpses of anything beyond the reach of the headlights.
