Aria’s POV
The first thing I felt was pain. Not sharp, not sudden...just there. Everywhere. My body ached as if it had been run over by a truck, my throat dry, my lips cracked. The steady beeping sound near my head made my heart jump, and I slowly opened my eyes.
White walls. A thin blanket tucked around me. The cold weight of a drip in my arm.
It wasn’t a dream.
I wanted it to be, so badly. I wanted to wake up and find myself back in my tiny room, with Madison pounding on the door calling me “maid” and Jordan laughing behind her. That would’ve been better than this. That would’ve been safer.
But my eyes shifted to the left, and the IV line was there. Real. My body was sore. My skin burned. It was all real.
I swallowed, my throat raw, and slowly lifted my left hand, clumsy and heavy,
