The world around Vivian blurred into a chaotic swirl of voices and frantic movements, yet she couldn’t piece it together.
It felt distant, as if she were trapped beneath the surface of a deep, murky lake while life continued above. The shouts reached her in fragments, sharp and panicked, but the words didn’t register.
“Vivian! Oh my god! Someone do something!”
“Vivian, please! Wake up!”
A familiar voice cut through the noise, raw and desperate. Rita.
Vivian tried to focus, but her vision swam, a kaleidoscope of white hospital walls and the horrified faces of patients and interns gathering around her crumpled form.
The sterile scent of antiseptic mixed with the metallic tang of blood in the air. Her blood. She blinked slowly, her lashes sticky with tears she didn’t know she had shed.
