The world was a blur, a hazy canvas of light and sound. I couldn’t feel my body, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe the way I used to. It was as if I were trapped in a glass box, invisible but unbreakable and the harder I struggled to reach the surface, the deeper I sank.
I could see everyone.
Samuel knelt beside me, his hands clutching mine so tightly I thought he might crush them. His face was streaked with tears, his lips trembling as he whispered broken pleas.
“Kimberly, please. Come back to me. I can’t do life without you.”
I wanted to respond, to reach out and hold him, to pull him into my arms and press my lips to his. I wanted to tell him I was still here, that I wasn’t gone yet. But I couldn’t. My body betrayed me, lying motionless on the floor, cold and seemingly lifeless.
My
