LAUREN'S POV

My eyes slowly slid open, the faint sting of light forcing me to squint. At first, all I saw was a hazy blur, the outlines of shapes swimming before my vision like shadows under water. My breath came slow and uneven, and it took me several seconds before the realization hit me — I had passed out.

For a moment, I just lay there, my mind trying to piece together the events that had led to this. My chest rose and fell as I remembered the last time something like this happened, the first time I collapsed from stress and exhaustion, only to wake up in a hospital...