I was surrounded by white. White walls, white ceiling, white sheets. There was a smell in the air that tickled my nose in a bad way and I squinched my face. I tried to move but found that my body ached in a lot of places when I did, so I laid my head back on the pillow. Devan appeared at my bedside and smiled at me. “Hey beautiful,” he said and his voice was the best thing I’d ever heard, “how are you feeling?” “I’m okay,” I said, feeling everything but okay, and my voice came out in a crackle, rather than the smooth, confident hum it usually was. “You gave me quite a scare there,” he said, and sat down, placing a cup on my bedside table, “I brought you some water. Depending on how you feel, you can eat, but the doctor said definitely a lot of fluids.” I frowned and closed my eyes, trying to single out the areas of my body that hurt the most and block them out.
