DECEIT

KAREN'S POV

I opened my eyes to a white acoustic unfamiliar ceiling tile. Took me seconds to process that I was lying on a hospital bed.

For a split moment, I tried to rewind back but only earned myself a numbing pain from the needle stuck in my arm.

A drip was connected to my body and seemed to have completely drained but no nurses were around to relieve me of the pin.

My mouth parted to call for assistance but croaky sounds came out instead.

I tried getting up and I wound up in pain.

“ouch!”

The seething pain traveled through me as I tried to raise my body. I had to pause for a few seconds before I tried again.

Clenching my teeth, I finally managed to get myself to sit up on the bed. Blue curtains surrounded me.

The first time Dad was admitted into the hospital, he was admitted into a place like this. Guessing from the curtains demarcation, I expected other patients to be next to me. The sound of what I imagined to be a stainless food flask confirmed my suspicions as it struc