When Elena finally opened her eyes, the world around her was white — sterile, blinding white. The sharp smell of disinfectant burned her nostrils, and the faint beeping of a monitor echoed faintly somewhere near her bed. For a brief moment, she didn’t know where she was. The ceiling above her swam in and out of focus, and her throat felt like sandpaper.
She tried to move, but pain seized her body. Her abdomen burned, her wrists were bruised, and when she glanced down, she saw the faint trace of a needle taped to her arm. Tubes snaked into her vein, feeding her fluids and painkillers. The sterile environment told her she was in the prison hospital.
She blinked weakly, trying to remember. The storm… the pain… the cries of her baby. And then the darkness that swallowed everything.
My baby.
