Matthew felt as if he had been asleep for a very long time, so long that it seemed like he had lived through another whole life inside his dream.
In that dream, there were his parents' warm smiles, the gentleness Dakota had once shown him, and also those brutal images of her being tortured in the video.
The piercing pain jolted his eyes open, and he gasped for air.
"Matthew." A familiar voice came from beside him. He turned his head and saw Serena sitting in a chair by the hospital bed, her eyes red with exhaustion, her usual elegant composure replaced by a somewhat disheveled look.
When she saw that he was still conscious enough to be dazed, her tense nerves finally eased slightly. She sank back into the chair and said in a slightly teasing tone, "Remember everything now?"
Matthew fi
