Mason POV
Distant whispers pull me from the darkness.
They sound soft and muffled, like voices underwater.
My head throbs, like someone is using a hammer to pound my skull.
I wince, forcing my eyelids open. At first, everything is blurry.
I blink severally before my vision clears. Rough walls stare back at me. They are cracked and the plaster is peeling in strips. A single bulb hangs from the ceiling on a frayed wire, casting weak yellow light over a dirt floor scattered with old crates and a thin mattress where I'm lying. The air smells musty, like wet earth.
Where the hell am I? That's the first thing that comes to mind.
I shift, trying to sit up, but pain shoots through my spine, like a sharp knife carving through.
My mind races, grasping for memories. The engagement party— H
