CHAPTER 22
She was frozen. Paralyzed. Somewhere in the back of her head, she felt her vocal cords screaming but wasn’t sure if the sound came out or not. Her ears buzzed. Swarms of angry, high-pitched mosquitoes.
“Get down.” Raphael’s voice was garbled, as if he were talking under water. Her vision was blurry. Like watching a scratched DVD where everything appears in freeze frames.
Raphael’s hand on her shoulder. Stronger than she would have guessed. Pushing her to the ground. She hit her hip on the floor. Banged her head on the hospital bed. Shouldn’t she feel the pain?
Another gun shot. Why did they have to be so loud? A scream. Raphael’s scream. She had never heard a person make that noise.
Drops of blood splattered on her blouse. Was she injured? She couldn’t feel anything. Had he
