The silence in the room was heavy, almost tangible, as if the air had transformed into a dense, heavy mass that enveloped my skin. I woke up with a sharp ringing in my ears and a racing heart, beating with the urgency of someone who had been running for hours without rest. I blinked several times, trying to focus on what was in front of me, but everything felt slowed down, confused, as if my body didn't quite belong to me. My head throbbed with a dull pain, like a hangover without alcohol; my throat was dry, my skin hot, too hot... and my entire body ached. Not with obvious violence, but with an intimate, deep heaviness, as if every corner had been claimed, marked, used.
I barely sat up and the world spun abruptly. I breathed deeply, blinked once, twice.
I didn't recognize the place.
