My laughter echoed through the ward, shrill and grating.
Lucas’s expression grew darker and darker, as if I’d pushed him to some breaking point.
“Stop laughing,” he said through clenched anger.
I laughed anyway.
Laughed until tears nearly spilled from my eyes.
Not because I was happy,
But because I hated him.
Hated him so much I trembled.
He finally snapped. “I told you to stop laughing!”
The next second, he lunged forward, clamped a hand over my mouth, and shoved me back onto the bed.
His eyes were frighteningly bloodshot.
“Why have you become like this? Why can’t you just behave?”
His weight pinned me down, leaving me unable to move.
I wanted to struggle, but I was no match for a grown man.
His hand covered not only my mouth,
It sealed my nose as well.
Air vanished instan
