The alarm. It wasn’t even ringing, but the phantom, shrill echo of it detonated in Hazel’s skull, pulling her from the depths of a heavy, dreamless sleep. Consciousness didn’t return gently; it slammed into her like a physical blow. The alarm, the alarm, I missed the alarm.Before her eyes had even fully opened to process the light in the room, her body was already reacting to the spike of pure, unadulterated adrenaline. She bolted upright, her heart hammering a frantic, bruising rhythm against her ribs. Her legs kicked out, instantly becoming hopelessly tangled in the thick cotton sheets. She fought the bedding like a trapped animal, a breathless gasp tearing from her throat as she blindly reached out, her knuckles knocking against the wooden nightstand.“No, no, no—” she chanted, her voice thick and raspy with sleep. Her fingers, clumsy and trembling, finally closed around the cool metal casing of her phone. She yanked it toward her face, squinting against the sudden, blinding glare
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