BISHOP
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
The incessant noise cuts through the heavy, thick darkness I’m swimming in and slowly starts to draw me out of its depths. I groan and try to roll away from the sound, attempt to escape back to the soft, warm, floaty place where I’ve been, where nothing else existed.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
That goddamn incessant beeping…
The dark gray around the edges of my mind continues to eke away.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I draw in a deep breath, about to yell at whoever the hell is making that racket, but as soon as the familiar smell I hate so much registers fully, I know where I am.
The hospital.
There is nothing else that smells like it.
Nothing I dislike as much as the scents that cling to everything here.
Why am I at the hospital again?
I search that grayness that coats all my memories, trying to find a reason, but all I find are strange flashes that make my heart lurch in my chest.
What is happening?
It takes far too long for my eyelids to comply with my attempt to open them, but when I do, Mom is staring back at me, her worried eyes wide, the lights of the room glowing behind her like a damn halo.
I wince at how bright they are, blinking groggily to try to clear the spots from my vision.
She releases a relieved breath, squeezing my hand while she swipes away a tear from her cheek with the other. “You’re awake.”
I nod, groaning as the pain hits me with the movement of my head, throbbing in my temples. Trying to roll toward her only earns me agony in every bone and muscle in my body.
Mom squeezes my hand again. “Don’t try to move too much.”
God…that hurts…
I reach up to rub my forehead, but the IV line stuck in my arm tugs at the skin, only causing even more discomfort. “What happened?”
Now that my vision is starting to clear more, I can see how red-rimmed her eyes are. She’s been crying—a lot. “You don’t remember?”
I close my eyes again, wracking my brain, trying to come up with the answer through a cloud of confusing, jumbled sounds and images that won’t align in any understandable order.
Meeting with everyone…
