Lying in a hospital bed, the only thing I seemed to hear was the endless hum of cicadas outside.
White window frames stretched endlessly.
A ceiling so clean that there was not a speck of dust in sight.
IV fluid dripped steadily from the bag above, while the catheter in my wrist pressed deep, like a thorn buried in bone.
I had lost track of how many days I had been here and had no idea how many people came and went.
Doctors, nurses, men, and women, hovering near the window.
At some point, it felt like I couldn’t hear them at all.
Memories shattered like waves crashing in a storm and kept playing on a loop in my dreams.
Ethan. His sister. Their cruelty.
I relived it again and again.
I had forgotten that I was already at the bottom of the abyss.
Yet I still foolishly hoped that a demon could set me free.
