Evelyn
Everything slows way down.
My eye lids close. Then open again. A blink.
Max’s face contorts, pressed up against the bars as he yells words at me that I cannot hear.
His head snaps to the side as he stands, springing for the stairs. The smell of bile seeps into my clothes and my hair.
I try to roll away, try to sit up, try to scream, but none of my muscles move.
There’s just my line of sight: black when my eyelids close, then the bars of my cell door when they open.
A creak slices through my fog. Not the creak from the door at the top of the stairs but closer.
My cell door.
“Evelyn.”
My name is a muted scream as if yelled underwater.
“Evelyn!”
Strong hands lift me up, carrying me out of my own sick. He sits down against the far wall, laying me gingerly on my side. He res
