The Unseen Bridge

Before the rabbit hole, there was a world of muted greys. Emily's life was defined by the quiet hum of a radiator in her small EU apartment, where the air carried the scent of stale coffee. Her evenings were spent in the sterile blue glow of her phone, the soft, rhythmic tapping of her thumb as she scrolled being the only punctuation in the silence. It was from this colourless, soundless world that she chased curiosities, seeking whispers of forbidden adventures in the digital ether.
Restless and unmoored, she felt a constant pull toward a world of consequence, a place starkly different from the safe, palatable life her European passport afforded her. Each night was a search for a story, a portal to a life of higher contrast, which she pursued from the comfort of her fleece blanket