Melody's POV
The first thing I felt was pain.
A dull, heavy throb settled in the back of my head, pulsing with every shallow breath I took. My mouth was dry. My limb stiff. And the smell, sterile, sharp, too clean told me exactly where I was before I even opened my eyes.
The hospital. Again.
I blinked slowly, the world coming back to focus in muted shades of white and gray. Same hospital back twelve years ago. Same lights, same silence and same beeping.
My stomach twisted. Was this how my life worked now? Fall down. Wake up on hospital bed. Repeat.
A nurse walked in and jumped slightly when she saw my eyes open.
"Oh! You are awake," she said quickly moving towards me. "Don't move too much. You hit your head pretty hard. A clean fracture but you will be fine".
I barely registered her words. My mind was somewhere else entirely.
The man. The tattoo. I was not imagining it.
That same sunny-dark tattoo I saw on the man who stood by the bridge the night my parents passed away. It was the shooter's arm. I saw it clearly. Just before darkness overshadowed. And if he was here, in my university, then it was not random.
This is a warning. Or worse... a hunt. A plan to kill me.
"Was anyone hurt?" I asked, my voice shaked.
The nurse hesitated. " There were injuries. One student critical. No deaths... Thank God. But the campus is on lockdown until further notice."
I nodded slightly, sinking deeper into the pillow. That thudding behind my eyes grew sharper.
Why now?
After all years of silence, the same symbol shows up again right when I'm finally finding a path forward?
That man... recognized me. I could feel it in the way he looked at me. Not like a stranger. Like someone typing up loose ends.
I was at the loosened end.