“Awake”

Eloise’s POV

Something was pulling me, like fingers wrapped around the thread of my soul. Gentle, steady, then suddenly urgent.

Pain blossomed through me like a scream underwater. I gasped without air, the weight of it pushing against my chest. My eyelids fluttered open to a cold, white ceiling, too bright, too still. The scent of antiseptic stung my nose.

I wasn’t dead. But I didn’t feel alive either.

Beeping. Somewhere nearby, rhythmic and slow. The beeping that only came with hospitals.

My lips parted. “Water…” I croaked.

A rustle. A gasp. Then—

“Eloise?” Mike’s voice, tight and shaken, barely audible.

I turned my head, every inch of movement...