SIXTY-ONE

There was a crash, turbulence like a rushing wind, and then darkness. After the darkness came a blinding light.

I woke up in a hospital room with someone clutching my hands. The room was stifling. The hand holding mine was unwelcome and the light hurt my eyes. I pulled my hand from the ones holding me but they held me tighter.

"You are awake." I'd never seen Valens look as relieved as he did then. "Oh, goddess –" He paused and changed the direction of the conversation. "I'll get the doctor." He pressed a button on a strange-looking device, still holding me.

A man came in wearing a white coat, a woman in blue scrubs following behind him. They gave me water that wasn't plain water and the doctor checked my vitals.

"How do you feel?" He asked as he wrote something down on his file.

"Like I got hit by a truck," I answered and I suppose I was right. I did get hit by a truck.

Before the darkness, I'd been trying to get out of a car because I suspected the driver and then from nowhere,