She’s coming ’round.”
They were words that Hettie knew, a language she understood, but the meaning wasn’t clear.
The pain grew, unfurling like a tightly closed bud until it had fully blossomed into every inch of her being. Fire erupted in her limbs, her bowels. Her head throbbed as an intense rainbow of color flickered behind her eyelids. Blood pushed up through her until it swelled against her skull, threatening to pop the top of her head off.
Something prodded her side, and she flinched from the touch. Feeling was such a strange sensation. She opened her mouth and experienced a new agony as her lips cracked and blood welled from the new gaps in her flesh.
Was this the hell she’d earned for killing that man?
“Easy.”
Something cool touched her lips, filled her mouth. She swallowed.
