Chapter 318: Who?
Melanie woke up with a snap, her eyes flying open from complete darkness to blinding white in less than a second. She stared up at the ceiling, breath shallow, body rigid. Her eyes darted left, then right, trying to make sense of where she was. But everything around her looked pale, plain and sterile.
Then she shut her eyes again, the harsh light above her too much to bear. Her heart thudded unevenly as the confusion set in. What was happening? Had she woken up in a hospital? Again?
With her eyes closed, she tried to recall if she’d had another panic attack or something but she could hardly concentrate on that... There was something cold beneath her back. Her fingers twitched slightly against starched sheets. She took another breath and winced. Her chest felt tight. Her ribs ached. Her nose... her nose felt like it had collided with a brick wall.
"Did she really have another panic attack?" That thought came uninvited, floating up from old memories. But no, this wasn’t like before. This feeling was different...The sinking feeling, the trembling limbs, the sensation of drowning without water.
But this time... she remembered nothing. Until she did.
Her heart skipped a beat.
It hit her all at once—the image of the road rushing past the window, the car in front of them slamming its brakes, the world jerking forward in violent motion. The deafening sound of impact. The airbag exploding in her face like a punch from nowhere. That blinding flash of white, the sting in her eyes, the way her head had snapped back. Melody screaming. Hands grabbing as she was dragged out of the car by passers by.. The taste of blood in her mouth.
Her breathing hitched, and her fingers curled into the sheets.
She breathed in slowly, deliberately, grounding herself in the present moment. She was alive. That much was certain. And the beeping in the distance—the faint hum of machines—confirmed what she suspected.
She was in a hospital. Again.