The machine kept making that loud, steady sound. Beep-beep-beep. Honestly, it felt like someone was hammering Maya’s brain from the inside. Every beep sent a flash of sharp, silvery light right behind her eyes. She tried to sit up, but her body felt impossibly heavy, almost like her muscles were nothing but wet sand.
“Stay down, Maya! You're hurting yourself!” Julian’s voice was shaky, loaded with worry.
Maya didn’t care. She grabbed the hospital bed’s metal rail, squeezing so hard her fingers went white. She took a rough, noisy breath and forced herself upright. Everything seemed to bend and shift, like the world was melting around her. The white walls didn’t even look real.
“The nurse...” she whispered, her throat so dry it felt scraped raw. “Julian, look at her arm. The door. Did you
