AISLYN

A cough breaks past my throat as consciousness begins to slip back in like smoke, pushing the death that I was only a hairsbreadth away from farther and farther out of my reach.

I grasp for the peace that comes with the lack of life I desperately crave, coming up empty. This cannot be happening! I was so sure that death was just on the other side of my eyelids, why then am stirring back into a life I don't want.

“I know you're awake,” a warm voice calls out from somewhere beside ...