Volume VI - Chapter 1: A Crippled Body

As my eyes slowly twitched, the first sound that whispered in my ear... was the sound of machines beeping incessantly.

Strange, I thought. Usually, I would wake up to the non-existent chirping of non-existent birds, the sensation of the gentle movement of the fake soft grass beneath my body. Then there would be the fake sun on my face, a brief moment of silence... and then two people reminding me that I was not alone.

But now, it was different.

There was no grass, just... a comfortable bed. No sun, just the LED lamp on the ceiling. The silence was replaced by the sounds of machinery. The two people who reminded me that I was not alone... were simply absent.

Normally, I would have sighed in such a situation, but I didn't. I just... watched the ceiling, not moving a muscle.

There were too many things going through my head.