41

~Aspen

Everything hurts. Everything.

Groaning, I lift my head up, blinking my wary eyes open.

I’m in a room, dimly lit with not a window in sight. When I go to move, I realise quickly that my hands are tied behind me.

And even more grimly, it comes to my attention that I have no feeling in my legs. I stare down at them, willing them to move, but it’s as if I can’t remember what it was like to ever control them.

I’ve been stabbed in the back. By my own mother. Literally and figuratively.

I’m going to die…I can’t feel my legs or even where I’ve been stabbed. Clearly it’s damaged me forever, that there is no coming back from this.

I want to scream, but like my legs, my mind is entirely numb.

The door in front of me opens, a bright light assaulting my vision.

Someone steps into the room, the door closing behind them.

“Mother?” I ask, my voice croaky and raw.

“Ah. You’re awake. Good.” She clasps her hands together, pulling a chair from the shadows so she can sit in front of her.

I haven’t