Chapter 3
DESPITE ALL I’VE LIVED through, I’d never been more terrified than I felt in that moment.
“Gran, what are they saying?” I asked. “What does this mean?”
I felt her body go limp.
“Gran?”
Her head had arched off the pillow while she was staring at the creatures, but her body now lay heavy in the bed. Not relaxed, as in sleep, but stiff in death.
She couldn’t be. She couldn’t be dead. My aunt wasn’t here. Gran couldn’t die without saying goodbye to my aunt.
“Nurse?” I cried. I knew there should be a button to press, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Where was everybody?
The room was empty, now.
Even the creatures had gone.
I put my face near to my grandmother’s open mouth to check for breath. Did I feel it? Or was that my own breath? I couldn’t tell. I was crying.
