Lena's eyes fluttered.
Darkness.
Cold wood pressed against her back, tight and unyielding. Her chest burned as she struggled for air, every breath shallow, every heartbeat a whispered warning.
Outside, the room hummed with sorrow.
Voices murmured softly, broken by occasional sobs. Steps on polished floors echoed like drums in her ears. The scent of flowers, sharp and sweet, filled her nose.
Candles flickered somewhere above, their presence felt only in the faint warmth that vibrated through the coffin walls.
They thought she was dead.
Every single one of them.
And yet, somehow… she was still here.
Alive.
Her heart thumped faster as the crowd murmured above.
Then she heard it.
A voice she knew very well.
Raw. Broken. Crying without control.
"Lena… please… you can't leave me like this…"
Victoria.
Even through the coffin, Lena could recognize her best friend's voice anywhere. The pain in it was real. Unfiltered. It shook Lena more than anything else she had heard.
Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
Every movement above made her flinch.
A shuffle of shoes.
A whispered prayer.
A sniffle.
If I move now, they'll know…
She forced herself to steady her breathing, willing her body to remain still.
Her mind raced — questions spilling faster than she could answer them.
What happened to me?
Why am I here?
How did this happen?
The coffin felt tighter with each passing second, as if the walls themselves were pressing against her.
Yet she had to know.
She had to hear everything. Understand every sound before she risked doing anything.
The pastor's voice floated down, calm and monotone, reciting the final rites. Lena could barely make out the words, but she noted every pause, every change in tone.
Someone near the front gasped.
Another sob broke.
And then…
She heard it.
A voice.
Male. Low. Steady.
Different from the others.
It didn't shake. It didn't cry. It didn't sound confused.
It passed through the room calmly, and without knowing why, Lena felt her heart skip.
She didn't know who it was.
She couldn't place it.
But something about that voice settled inside her chest in a strange, unsettling way.
She had died to them.
But alive, inside the coffin, she held the only advantage she had left.
She could listen.
She could wait.
And Lena knew one thing with certainty:
She would not be powerless for long.