TESSA.
The first thing I felt was a weight, as if someone had placed a stone on my chest. Heavy, unmoving, sinking deeper with every breath I tried to take. Something beeping close to my ear dragged me back into my body. My eyelids felt glued shut, but I forced them open.
A white ceiling. Too bright.
For a moment I didn’t understand where I was or who I was supposed to be now. Then my vision steadied, and I saw the thin tube taped along my arm, the wires stuck to my skin, the monitor blinking beside me, my heartbeat tracing small trembling lines on the screen.
A hospital.
I blinked again, slowly, because even blinking felt like work. The air smelled like disinfectant, like something sharp and distant. My throat was dry, my lips cracked. When I inhaled, my lungs felt tight, like they d
