CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: HOLLOW

Twenty.

The number of days it took Lia to regain complete control of her limbs and walk around the house, unaided and unsupervised. It was stressful, utterly draining and everything but pleasant. Lia never imagined that learning to walk again could be so hard. Several times, she thought of quitting, but her aunt was always by her side to cheer her up.

Twenty.

The number of times she has asked her beloved aunt questions about the void in her chest that hasn’t gone away. She feels so hollow, like an empty shell, a musk without substance. She feels like she is no longer whole anymore. And the fact that her aunt has done nothing but avoid the subject matter only worsens things. At first, she felt it was because she didn’t want to hamper her recovery process, but now, she does not know what to think anymore.

Twenty.

The number of days left before school starts. Her ‘sudden’ illness would have affected her education a lot, but she