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All I saw was darkness around me.
All I heard was the crunching of glass under footsteps.
Then the sound of my curtain against its rod whipped through the eeriness.
Two gloved hands grabbed me from the corner and yanked me from the stall.
I fought against them but was unable to get a solid grip. I reached out to grab their face, but it was covered. I tried to find hair to pull, but a hood was over their head. My bare feet slid along the glass, and jagged edges sliced through my skin. Water dripped from my hair, falling to the floor, and mixed with blood and glass.
The figure pushed me back across the floor; my healing wounds broke once again. Fear gripped me as I fought against them, crying out for help. I screamed until my throat burned and all the air left my legs. Hands yanked my ankles, pulling me through the glass until something hard struck my head.
I went limp for a moment when all I wanted to do was fight. I had no control over my limbs. A hand fisted my wet hair and dragged me across the floor until my back was against a wall. They said nothing as tears rolled down my cheeks. My cries came out as whispered pleas, and I was afraid to move. Each time I tried to lift myself against the tile, the pain of the glass cut deeper.
And then they took a piece of glass to my thigh. It burned, and I screamed out from the excruciating pain until another blow to the head silenced me.
“Please, Jude,” I begged. “Please stop this.”
The silent figure moved the glass up to my center, and before they could slice another part of me, I pushed them onto their back. I tried to stand to run, but they were faster.
My head slammed back against the tile, and I spiraled through the blackness.
Cold air surrounded me as I floated. A light beamed overhead behind my eyelids, merely warming me, though not completely. For a split second, it was beautiful—until my consciousness kicked back, and the pain replaced the peace.
Death would’ve been easier, but the agony in Ollie’s cries never would’ve made it worth it. “Mia! Someone fucking talk to me!” he screamed out. My eyes shot open to see a crowd of unfamiliar faces staring straight ahead. I tried to get up when someone pushed my shoulders back down. Ethan appeared out of nowhere, taking my hand into his at my side as I was wheeled across Dolor grounds. Ollie’s frantic voice drifted through the morning chill. I couldn’t see his face, but the sound of his voice caused what was left of my soul to rip into fragments, small enough to be carried away by the wind.
“She’s losing too much blood,” one of them said. Big brown eyes peered down at me. “You have to stay with us, darling. You have to stay awake.”
“Ethan, go with her,” another male’s voice stated as Ethan’s face expressed nothing to my left, his hand gripping mine tightly, showing more than his eyes could say.
“Get off me!” Ollie screamed. “Mia!”
The doors to the ambulance closed. I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat was thick, and my brain cloudy.
Ethan pulled my hand over his lap as he took a seat, eyes locked on mine, jaw tensing.