When the heavy wooden door of the apartment clicked shut behind them, no one rushed to turn on the lights.

The flat was bathed in the dim, amber glow of the streetlamps filtering through the sheer living room curtains. The muted hum of distant city traffic felt miles away from the suffocating nightmare they had just escaped. For several agonizing seconds, none of them moved. They stood frozen in the semi-darkness, the silence heavy, thick, and suffocating.