"There's nothing left in this world for me. But you... you can still keep going."

One day, two days, three days... maybe more had passed since she started following the train tracks. Pouring every ounce of hope she had into the idea that something might be waiting at the end. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to find, just something, anything, to prove not everything was lost. Anything would've been enough.

"You have to listen to me, alright? Not everything is gone. There has to be something... someone, somewhere."

Rocks scraped beneath the soles of her shoes. Her feet ached like hell, but she couldn't stop, not now. She couldn't afford to slow down. Even when her body screamed in protest, even when her knees buckled and her vision blurred so badly she feared she'd collapse right there on the asphalt.

She'd lost count of how long it had been since her last decent meal, or since she'd properly slept.

She was exhausted.

She wanted to give up.

To cry herself to sleep and never wake up again.

She was so tired of the pain she carried, of the thoughts that haunted her every second. So tired... of herself.

"You have to live. Every last second. Got it? You can't give up, not after everything we've been through. Promise me you'll keep going."

There was nothing left of the girl she used to be. Her memories. Her family. Herself. All of it was gone. She didn't recognize the girl beneath all the dust, the sweat, and the blood that wasn't even hers. She was scared. She had nothing. No one.

And she didn't know what to do, and that terrified her even more. Because she wasn't brave enough to die... But each breath she took felt like it dragged her deeper and deeper down. And that was its own kind of torture.

"Nothing will ever be strong enough to separate me from you."

A sudden rush of relief surged through her body, sending chills down her spine. She froze in place, eyes locked on the large sign in front of her, barely believing that what the posters promised might actually be real.

She had no idea what was waiting beyond those tall gates. She just hoped it would be okay. Maybe... just maybe, this place was what she'd been searching for all along. Maybe everything she'd survived... had been worth it.

She smiled softly to herself, hands clenching into fists as her feet crossed the threshold. Heart racing. Hope flickering. Terrified of the turn her life might take from this moment forward.