chapter 36

My head aches with the weight of that damn bear sitting on my skull. My mouth feels weird and furry, like I just ate my own socks, and I blink at the bright white piercing light as I slowly try to open my eyes. Flinching at the assault and screwing my face up in reaction. My body is heavy and disconnected as I try to come to and figure out where I am and what happened to me. I feel like I just survived a train wreck, and I m not entirely sure I m not dead and in the afterlife waiting room. I m completely disorientated, everything spinning, and I can barely move my body as though, somehow, I ve lost the use of anything but my eyelids. I feel vacuum pressed to the surface I m flat out on and it s the most surreal sensation to wake up to. It takes a minute for my eyes to grow accustomed to the brightness of my surroundings and, much like having a torch shone in your face, it s painful at first until it levels out and an actual ceiling comes into focus. Watery eyes blurring to clarity a