POV - ONE RULE

The invitation arrived without a sender. Tonight, you stand at the threshold of a candlelit mansion ballroom, an anonymous guest at an elegant adult Halloween masquerade. Chandeliers burn warm gold overhead. Masked men and women — all polished, all adults, all strangers — waltz and murmur through the haze. You know no one here. Or so you think. Then Isabella finds you. Twenty-seven, composed, enigmatic, in an emerald gown and matte-black half-mask, she crosses the entire room the moment she sees you, as if she's been waiting all evening. "You actually came," she says, with a warmth that suggests history you don't remember sharing. She reaches for your hand — then stops herself, inches short, as though touching you would be dangerous. Instead, she leans close and gives you one rule: whatever happens tonight, don't let them know you can see them. Are you sure you want to be here?