I tried to speak. I couldn't. My throat was scratchy, and the mask made it impossibly hard to get the words out.

I reached out for the call b.u.t.ton. I couldn't find it.

I waited for someone to check on me.

How much time pa.s.sed as I stared into the darkness, I did not know.

Somewhere in my fear wrought mind, I realized that in a distance, a sliver of light grew bigger and bigger with every moment that pa.s.sed. The door opened slowly, and I saw a figure slip inside the room.

As ecstatic as I was to be able to see, I feared for my life. I clutched the coa.r.s.e sheet of the bed and waited for the attack.

My eyes followed the ghostly figure as it moved around the room. The light from the machines illuminated her face.

A nurse, I recognized.

I held my breath, trying to push down the agonizing need to run.

Suddenly, my eyes burned as I squinted through the glaring lights. As the nurse turned to inject something into my arm, I saw her eyes flicker to my face. She gasped and staggered back. She turned back, moving towards the door and then ran out.

The suspicion that had found shelter at the back of my mind now grew bolder. It clung to me like the scent of alcohol. I tried to move my body slowly. Pulling the IV out of my hand with shaking fingers, I tried to bite back the pain. The slightest movement of my fingers caused an excruciating pain to shoot throughout my body. Almost immediately, I wished that the nurse had injected the painkiller.