Imagine if: I tried to steady my breathing. “Panic will kill you faster than the air running out,” I whispered to myself, though my voice trembled in the suffocating dark. The wood above me felt impossibly close, pressing down like the weight of the earth itself. Splinters brushed against my.

mimi: Imagine if: I tried to steady my breathing. “Panic will kill you faster than the air running out,” I whispered to myself, though my voice trembled in the suffocating dark. The wood above me felt impossibly close, pressing down like the weight of the earth itself. Splinters brushed against my.

mimi: against my fingertips as I raised my hands, confirming the nightmare was real. Then his voice returned—calm, distant, distorted, as if carried through a thin pipe. “Good. You’re awake.” I froze. “W-why are you doing this?” I croaked, my throat already dry. A pause.