The air was stale, the walls cracked and yellowed at the edges.
It felt like limbo.
A waiting room between worlds.
Like I wasn’t alive. But not dead either. Just... stuck.
I shifted under the thin blanket and winced.
Everythinghurt.
A woman passed by in a white apron over a light blue dress, her arms full of folded sheets. Her hair was tucked into a white cap, not a strand out of place as she moved with careful precision.
At the cot beside mine, she peeled back the sheets. Dark stains had sunk deep into the fabric. She stripped the bedding without flinching, replaced it with clean sheets, and smoothed her hand across the fabric until it lay flat.
Then her eyes found mine.
“Good afternoon, miss,” she said, voice low and composed, every word carefully chosen.
I blinked up at her, my vision drifting in and out.
“There now,” she soothed. “No need to fret. You’re at Tallenbacken Infirmary.”
She paused, adjusting the folded linens in her arms before continuing.
“My name is Ingela. I’m one of the nurses here.”
Tallenbacken.
The name sat strangely on my tongue. I didn’t remember going there. I didn’t remember anything.
“The doctor will be along shortly to have a word with you,” she went on, but her voice was already growing distant. The panic had begun to rise in my throat — sharp, tight, relentless.
She stepped closer, brushing the back of her hand across my forehead, cool, practiced, almost motherly.
“The fever’s broken,” she said. “You gave us quite a scare. How are you feeling now?”
I didn’t know what to say. My throat ached. It felt like I’d swallowed sand. I forced myself to speak.
“Am I… am I dead?”
Her smile wavered, just briefly, before she forced it back into place.
“No, miss.” Her voice was careful, practiced. “You are very much alive. You survived.”
Survived.
What did I survive? Why was I in an infirmary? The word sat wrong inside me. It felt wrong.
“Survived what?” My voice cracked.
She didn’t answer. Just repeated, “The doctor will be by shortly.”
A moment later, the door burst open. A voice I thought I’d never hear again filled the room.
“Kera!”
At first, I didn’t believe it was him.
