I stirred at the noisy, chaotic sounds and forced my heavy eyelids open.
A flat, white ceiling stared back at me. Following a long, transparent line upward, I found an IV bag at the end, a pale liquid dripping steadily through the tube.
Not knowing where I was, I simply blinked, trying to clear the fog from my brain. That was when Alex suddenly appeared in my field of vision.
"Lyra! Can you hear me? Are you awake?"
His eyes were bloodshot and red, as if he had been crying. Crying over someone who wasn't even dead.
Seeing tear stains on his haggard cheeks after so long made me smile weakly.
I tried to push myself up to sit, but the world spun violently, and I immediately fell back onto the thin pillow. I thought there was an earthquake, but the tremor was coming from my own body.
"Why am I...?"
"Just lie down. Don't move."
Alex's expression was utterly dejected. He looked like he was standing at a funeral.
