A Warm Comfort

Emily’s POV.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was met with a soft, warm glow from a dimly lit room. My vision blurred as my head throbbed painfully, as if I were waking from a fever dream.

I felt weak, my limbs almost too heavy to lift, and I had to blink a few times before my surroundings came into focus.

This room… it felt different. Familiar... in a way that comforted me immediately.

Almost immediately, a cold shiver coursed through my body as the memory of the hospital seeped back in. My mother’s cold gaze, the sterile smell of antiseptic, the way she looked at me as though I were nothing but a means to an end.

My stomach churned, and without thinking, my hand flew to my abdomen, pressing against the softness there, fearing they might have gone through with it—cut me open, taken what they wanted. I waited, almost frozen, trying to feel for any pain or incision.

But there was nothing. No ache, no wound, just the pounding of my heart against my ribs and a lingering ache in my