Lorraine's POV
I woke up with my cheek pressed against cold earth.
For a long second, I didn't know where I was, or who I was. My body felt like it had been dragged through fire and shattered glass, every nerve screaming at once. There was a low, shrill sound at the back of my head, sharp and unrelenting, like metal scraping against bone. It pulsed in time with my heartbeat.
Then the smell hit me.
Damp soil. Old stone. Death.
Felix.
I pushed myself up slowly, my hands sinking into the loose dirt as memory slammed back into me so hard it stole the air from my lungs. I was kneeling in front of his grave. No, on it. I must have collapsed sometime during the night, cried until my body gave out and shut down without asking my permission.
I couldn't even remember falling asleep.
My throat burned. My eyes felt swollen and raw, like I had rubbed sand into them. When I swallowed, it hurt. When I breathed, it hurt. Everything hurt.
The sound in my head was still there.
