Ava’s POVThe medical room has a chemical and cold stone smell.The light of lanterns glimmers softly on the walls, barely illuminating the dark corners of the compound. I hear movement in the distant parts of the building, it must be the network wolves securing the lower levels.Bootsteps.Doors opening.Voices kept low.There's a very quiet feeling in this room, though.The world was condensed to just one bed.One breath.One person.My mother is lying still under a thin grey blanket, smaller than I remember.Older too.Not from time.From damage.Slowly, years of suppression treatments marked her body over the years. I can view it now in ways that I couldn't see before.Her skin is whitish, almost see-through, under the light of the lantern. Black patches are under her eyes. She is breathing through her cracked lips, in short, shallow breaths.The bed is surrounded by the hum of machines.Suppression lines on both arms.I pause for a second, my body is so overpowered by the sight o
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