The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 258

No one knew how much time had passed.

No one checked their watches. No one cared.

The Polar Night swallowed every metric of time, stretching a single moment into an eternity. Garrison's lips were blue from the cold. The wound on his stomach had started bleeding through the gauze again, but he remained perfectly still. His eyes never left the surface of the water, his gaze practically piercing through to the deep ocean floor.

Suddenly, an excited shout tore through the silence. It was Cassandra.

"Look! A light!"

Everyone snapped their heads up, following her pointing finger toward the horizon.

Far off in the distance, where the frozen earth met the sky, something was fracturing. The darkness was no longer an endless, unified void. A sliver had appeared, as if someone had taken a razor blade to a black velvet curtain.

A blinding ray of gold pierced through the tear.

It was intensely bright, stinging their eyes and making them water. The light spilled across the ice like a river of liquid fire, surging from the horizon all the way to their feet. It painted the snowdrifts gold, turned the frozen lake gold, and illuminated every single face with a brilliant, golden warmth.

It was the first dawn after The Polar Night.

"Is the long night finally over?" Wyatt stared at the light, his eyes welling with unbidden tears.

"The sun is rising," Josh murmured, utterly mesmerized by the glowing horizon.

Garrison was the only one whose gaze remained locked on the dark water.

Right at that moment—*crack, crack!*

The faint sound of breaking ice echoed from the lake. Ripples surged across the water, and simultaneously, a violent yank jerked the safety tether in Garrison's hands.

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