122. THE GIRLS

KATERINA

When I finally stirred awake, the world around me felt heavy and strange, like I was caught between a dream and reality. My eyelids fluttered, sluggish, as though they weighed a hundred pounds each. The first thing I noticed was the darkness—the evening had settled in, leaving the room dim, with only faint traces of light creeping in from the window. My mind was foggy, thoughts slipping away before I could catch them, and for a moment, I didn’t know where I was.

Then it hit me.

Panic flooded my chest. I shot up too fast, my head spinning violently, and had to grab the edge of the bed—was it a bed?—just to steady myself. A deep ache throbbed in my temples, and my limbs felt like they weren’t mine, like I was moving underwater. My mouth was dry, my throat raw, and a sickly sweet taste lingered in the back of my throat. My muscles were stiff, sluggish, as though I’d been in this forced sleep for far too long.

No matter how I looked around, I could not quite pinpoint where I was.