*****************************POV: Claire************************ --- The first thing I felt was wrongness. It crawled beneath my skin before I could name it—thick, heavy, suffocating. My eyelids dragged open like they’d been glued shut, my lashes clumped from sleep I didn’t remember falling into. The air smelled different. Damp. Too clean. Sterile, almost. I tried to sit up, but the world spun hard and fast, flipping sideways. My stomach lurched. I closed my eyes again. My hand traced the bed, the sheets were warm, and smelled of faint scent of lavender, there was a distant echo of birdsong. For a moment, I could almost believe I was back in my bed. Safe. Home. Then came the stillness. And I knew. This wasn’t my room. Where am I? That was the first question. The only one that mattered as the ache behind my eyes pulsed in time with my heartbeat, slow and angry. My mouth was dry. My tongue felt thick. There was a bitter taste in the back of my throat, like metal and
Last Updated : 2025-07-09 Read more