36 - Raised Like Soldiers

ARAH

She woke to the dim glow of lights. The steady beep of machines and the distant sounds of footsteps and hushed conversations filled the thick silence. The room smelled of antiseptic and clean linen, and the air was cool against her skin. She was lying on a bed, not too soft but still comfortable, with a tube connected to her hand.

Where was she? A hospital? She tried to move, but a familiar ache shot through her ribs as if she’d been kicked there. Her muscles were sore, her throat raw, and her mouth dry.

She turned her head, pain flaring in her neck. Gildeon was asleep on the couch, one leg propped up on the other, his elbow on the armrest, his head resting on his fist. She noticed now that his clothes were dirty and torn, with dried blood on his sleeve and collar. It wasn’t his own, as he didn’t seem to have been hurt anywhere. Still, what had happened to him? All she remembered from their last encounter was what she had told him right before everything went black.

Her chest tig