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Chapter 25 - Suture Suitor

last update Last Updated: 2025-04-15 11:41:29

Aria

Light penetrates my eyes before I even open them.

It's crisp and clinical, and everything smells like antiseptic and plastic. There’s a quiet hum beneath everything—machines, perhaps. The continuous beep of a monitor next to me confirms something I don't want to admit.

Hospital. Again.

I try to move, but my arms fail me. There's an IV in the back of my hand.

I open my eyes.

Fluorescent ceiling tiles hang above me. A hanging drape is drawn halfway around the bed, and a hard sheet covers me up to my chest. My body feels as if it has been dropped down a precipice and then regretfully sewn back together.

My lips are dry, and my tongue tastes like metal. When I try to speak, all I manage to let out is a cracked, hollow rasp.

The memories come in fragments.

Running. The park. Barking dogs.

Damon—shouting, furious.

His tight grip on my arms. Me yelling.

Then the ground. A jolt. Everything turning black.

The monitor beside me spikes with my heartbeat.

The door swings open, and Dr Jenna
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