NIGHTINGALE

~

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was how badly my breath smelled. I was lying on a hard surface, facing sideways, and when I tried to turn, it hurt like I had landed on that side and maybe fractured something. My head felt like it had been thrown into the washing machine and spun around till every component in it was shaken loose, and my eyes ached even though they were closed.

“Wake up.” I heard someone say.

The voice was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t remember who it belonged to, not just because my head was still ringing, but because I instinctively knew that...