Every inhale feels like glass scraping my ribs.
Some birthday this turned out to be.
The car swerves and my vision swims.
Stay awake.
I have to stay awake.
The world smears at the edges like spilled ink.
I can’t die.
I won’t die.
Faces loom above me, they are telling me something, but the words won’t stick. The sounds slide past me as distant as shouting into a void.
I’m so tired.
My fingers won’t obey when I try to clench them.
The strength I’ve ruled with, bled for, killed for, drains out of me in warm, sticky pulses against my skin.
Cold creeps in to take its place, sinking deep, and settling into my bones.
I can’t stop shivering.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to end.
The dashboard lights blur into stars.
Someone is pressing a shirt tight to my side while a hand strokes my head.
A phone rings, over and over.
Queens don’t die like this.
I still have debts to collect.
Promises to keep.
Enemies who haven’t paid yet.
My eyelids are too heavy to lift now.
Darkness rushes in and I don’t know whether I’ll be joining my Father or fighting to stay alive.
Chapter two
Farfalla
Darkness surrounds me like a black velvet fog.
Fuck! Where am I?
Farfalla. Keep fighting.
Dad’s voice calls to me.
