Part 1: The Midnight Betrayal

The digital clock glowed 5:30 a.m., a neon wound in the pitch-black bedroom. Outside, the world was dying. The wind didn’t just howl; it shrieked, tearing through the skeletal branches of the old maples. My weather app hissed a warning: -38°C. At that temperature, exposed skin freezes in minutes. Nature was a predator.

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