Linsy stayed for a few more hours in the hospital and decided to check out. She called her friend Charlie to pick her up.

Charlie’s eyes widened the moment he saw Linsy step through the hospital doors, her figure trembling like a fragile leaf caught in a cold autumn wind. The harsh fluorescent light above only sharpened the pallor of her skin, draining every hint of color from her cheeks. A dark, angry bruise bloomed across her forehead, the wound still fresh and raw, like a ...