Chapter 8

The lights didn’t just flicker on; they roared to life, banishing the velvet darkness of the planetarium dome with a harsh, clinical brilliance that felt like a physical slap. The illusion of the cosmos, that infinite, swirling tapestry of stars we had been lost in for the last hour, shattered into the mundane reality of the science museum after hours. I blinked, my eyes still adjusting to the sudden glare, trying to reconcile the memory of his rough hands sliding under my skirt with the sterile white tiles beneath my feet. My legs felt like jelly, unsteady and weak, a direct result of the way he had pinned me against the velvet rope, the low hum of the projector serving as our white noise while he whispered dirty promises against my neck. We moved quickly, not with the urgency of people fleeing a crime, but with the coordinated stealth of conspirators who knew they had only moments before the security guards’ shift change. The staff had given us a wide berth, charmed by his easy grin and the way I played the shy, wide-eyed student, but we both knew it was only a matter of time. My heart was still