The scream cut through the quiet like a blade.

The star's light flickered, stretched, elongated like taffy. It spiraled toward something you couldn't see. A darkness. An absence of light.

The star screamed again. Once. Then—

A shape emerged from the void. Not a shape—a mouth. An event horizon, shimmering with stolen light, curved in what could only be described as a grin.

Her voice was sweet. Childlike. Terrifying.

You felt it. The pull. Gentle at first. A tug at your core.