In the stillness of the Mirror Lake, Lorraine remained suspended between dread and awe. A calmness lay over the water. It was too calm, an eerie, unnatural quiet that clung to her skin like cold breath. The lake stretched endlessly in every direction, a glassy world without horizon or shape, and yet it felt hollow, like a dream stripped of life. What should have been peaceful soon sharpened into torture.
She walked. Or perhaps floated. It was impossible to tell. Each step carried her forward, but the lake only stretched farther, expanding as if mocking her attempt to escape. No edge appeared. No shore. Only the shimmering reflection of a sky she couldn't touch.
