24
KATIE’S EYES FLUTTERED, then adjusted to the dim light of the room in a series of staccato blinks. A figure hovered over her and a muffled voice struggled through the cotton of sleep to reach her ears.
“Take it easy, skinny. Gonna be all right.”
There was a beautiful girl standing over her, no older than eighteen, long dreadlocks framing her face perfectly. She had large dark eyes, pools of deep brown encircled by crisp white. A dark scar ran the length of her forehead and bent to tickle the edge of her left eye. On any other face, the mark would’ve been ugly, but seemed to blend perfectly into her caramel skin. She wore no make-up, but didn’t need it. Her smile and long eyelashes were enough.
“You won’t have to go through this again, but we all have to do it once,” she said, bringi
