Chapter 87. Hallucination or Reality?

Aurora’s POV

I woke up gasping, my chest heaving as if I’d been running for miles. Cold sweat trickled down my face, and my hands instinctively clutched at my head, pain searing through it like a jagged knife.

For a moment, the world was a blur, the echoes of voices and the distant hum of machines melding into one cacophony. My breath came in shallow bursts, and I was too disoriented to distinguish reality from the vivid nightmare clawing at my mind.

“Aurora!” Caleb’s voice cut through the fog like a lifeline. His hands were on my shoulders, firm yet gentle, shaking me just enough to ground me.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re safe. Look at me. Aurora, look at me!”

I blinked, my vision sharpening as I met his concerned eyes. The fear in them mirrored the turmoil I felt inside, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure if I was still in that school parking lot, trapped in suffocating grip of that shadow. My hands trembled as I reached out to touch Caleb’s arm,