Anna felt her breathing turn erratic as she watched Leo and Margaret being dragged away, as if reality itself were choking her.
Her body froze, her legs unable to move as part of her wavered between acting or staying put, paralyzed by fear.
She knew what she had to do.
She knew she had the power to change everything.
But she also understood the consequences.
Images from the past hit her like a storm: the pain, the exhaustion, that terrible sense of loneliness as she woke up alone in bed, sick from using her ability over and over.
She felt the cold in her bones, and the echo of that fear kept her rooted in place, doubting.
'What if I end up the same way as last time?' Anna thought anxiously, as the shadows of her past failure engulfed her.
But then, she saw those men, blending into the unsuspecting crowd, taking Leo and Margaret away so discreetly.