Chapter 255

Lily slowly opened her weak eyelashes. The light above her felt too bright, and it took her a few seconds to adjust. Her vision kept blurring in and out. She had no idea how long she had been out, but her body felt heavy, like she had been asleep for days. For one awful moment she thought she was dead. Everything was white, too quiet, too clean. The first thing she truly heard was her own shaky breathing. Then the soft, steady beep of the monitor beside her. She wasn’t dead. She was in a hospital room. The ceiling came into focus. Then the walls. Then the cold weight of something clipped to her finger. She felt a tight pull on her arm and saw an IV line taped to her skin. Her chest rose and fell in slow, shallow breaths. Every inhale stung. Her throat was dry like sand. Her lips were cracked. Her whole body ached. She tried to move her fingers, and they trembled like they didn’t belong to her. She blinked again, trying to sit up a little, but a burning pain shot through her ribs. She s