Page 88 of Her Sloth

“Please, Miss, you need to calm down,” says the young woman in scrubs. Doesn’t she understand⁠—

“WHERE IS SHE?”

The woman has this pitiful look on her face.

No.

No.

NOOOOOOOOO!

I can’t breathe.

There is no air.

I am falling.

Falling into the depth of a hell I didn’t know there was.

And then everything turns blank again.

When I wake again, I stare into neon lights on the ceiling.

My entire body feels like ice.

Impossible to move.

Frozen by the horrors in my mind.

Images.

Sounds.

The crash.

A scream.

And I cannot escape any of it.

I stare into the lights.

And the God I always thought would lead me—he has left. Everything I have done was for the love of family. To avenge what was taken. To do it right.

And now, I am lying here.

Lost.

Alone.

With nothing left but an empty shell of a body.

My fists clench.

The nails of my fingers dig into my palms.

Pain.

Pain I need to feel right now, because there is nothing else left.