Page 81 of Overdose

Not falling. Not flying. Just… suspended. Drifting through something too soft to be water and too heavy to be air. Everything feels slow. Quiet. Like the world hit pause.

The ocean glows beneath me, silver-blue and endless, licking at my toes like a whisper. I’m bare. Skin salt-kissed, hair tangled and damp, heart beating in the hollow of my throat like it’s trying to remember how to live.

Moonlight coats everything in milk-glass light. I don’t feel cold. Don’t feel pain.

I just feel… nothing.

Until I hear it.

My name.

First, a growl. Deep. Rough. Broken.

“Blair.”

Dagger.

Then, softer. Like static playing under a vinyl track, slow and scratched and strange.

“Blair.”

Noir.

They say my name like it’s the only word they’ve ever learned. Like it’s a prayer and a threat all at once.

I turn, barefoot on the shimmer of the sea, and everything around me ripples. Stars drip from the sky like dying embers.

And then I see her.

Brynn.

She’s standing a few feet away, glowing like something not meant for this world. Her eyes are a deep, familiar brown—warm and hollow all at once. Her smile is soft and sad, but it doesn’t quite reach the corners.

“Brynn,” I whisper, my throat catching like a splinter.

She doesn’t speak.

Just reaches out.

Her hand is cold when it touches mine, like she’s already halfway gone. Like she never made it back from whatever hell they dragged her to. But she’s here now, and I don’t want to let go.

“I’m sorry,” I say, voice shattering. “I should’ve saved you. I should’ve found you sooner.”

She shakes her head, the waves trembling around us.

“This isn’t your fault.”

My chest caves. “Then why do I feel like I’ve been dying ever since you left?”

She squeezes my fingers.

“You’ve still got time,” she says. “But not much.”

A single tear slips down her cheek.

“It’s not your time, Blair. Not yet.” Her voice is soft, but steady. “You need to go back.”

She gives a crooked little smile—sad, knowing. “This was always going to be me. I was the reckless one. The lost cause. No matter how many people tried to pull me out, I was already sinking. But you… you’re different.”