Chapter 9

I wake up with my book over my face haphazardly, where it’s fallen when I drifted off, jumping in alarm at god knows what and blinking in the darkness of my room as I open my eyes to pitch black. My heart’s pounding crazily, and the sweats hit me fast as I come to, in disorientation. Groggy from the effects of the meds I took hours ago as I slide it off and try to get my bearings.

I am unsure why I woke, as I was not even dreaming, and I feel odd in a disconnected, almost drunk way, which I presume is cough med related rather than sickness. Pushing it onto my bedside table as I fumble around with shaking hands. I roll to my side to try and drift back off, but a little noise in the next room pricks my attention. Like a tiny warning bell sending me into immediate high alert, it brings me to my senses in a breath-pausing way.

I pause, holding painfully still and listening, not moving. My heartbeat rises as I try to focus on what I thought I heard and strain so hard to liste