CHAPTER 382

Emily’s POV

I stirred from my slumber with my mind a huge jumble of foggy thoughts and fragmented images. My body felt heavy, and my chest ached as if I’d been holding my breath for too long. I tried to focus, but everything around me was just unclear.

Then all of a sudden, everything came rushing back — the whole confrontation with Isabelle. But she was gone now, and I wasn’t sprawled out in a hallway. I was lying on some hospital bed.

“Isabelle!” I croaked in a whisper. “I need to—”

I wanted to report her so the police would know that she’d been here. But where the hell is my cellphone? I tried to sit up, but my whole body seemed to be in pain. I also had a very bad headache.

I have to find Isabelle again! I thought with desperation.

But then, as I slowly got up on the bed, I felt an intense pain in my abdomen. It felt like a steel band was tightening around my insides, gripping with unyielding pressure. “Aaaahhh!” I screamed as the pain worsened.

“Help! Someone, please!” I cri