My body was already studded with glass shards from the shattered windows, each one buried in my skin.
"Ahhh!"
They snapped my leg while I was barely conscious. The white-hot burst of pain ripped my eyes open and tore a scream from my throat.
When they were done, the van sped off without a backward glance.
I lay on the ground, watching the blood from my own thrashing pool beneath me, spreading and spreading.
The grief stacked higher. Layer upon layer upon layer.
I blacked out.
I didn't know how long I was gone. Voices filtered in, distant and overlapping.
"That should do it, right? When she wakes up this time, it should be Miri."
My eyes stayed shut. My consciousness drifted in and out like a bad signal, but my ears caught every word.
Finn paced back and forth, his anxiety filling the room.
"It has to be Miri! So why isn't she waking up?!"
Malcolm's voice was rough.
"To trigger Lorna's most primal, genuine fear of death, the van wasn't told to hold back."
"Don't worry, though. It's not life-threatening. Otherwise, how would Miri take over the body?"
My lashes trembled. Inside, I was screaming, clawing, sobbing.
Why are you doing this to me? Why?