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The world tips.
As I collapse, the darkness takes over and my consciousness slips away.
HANNAH
The sunlight is scorching as I stand next to the meadow. Sweat trickles down my temple, and my eyes hurt from the brightness. The bees are buzzing around all the flowers, and the sound is so loud I almost feel like it’s inside my head.
I don’t know how I got here, but something isn’t right. An air of panic hangs in the atmosphere like an unsettling fear I can’t shake.
“Hannah!” The call is far away and echoey, but I follow it to the other side of the field.
Ellister is there, and his head swings back and forth as he searches for me.
“I’m right here!” I try to raise my arm to wave, but it’s too heavy to lift. “Ellister! Ellister, can you hear me?”
He doesn’t respond to my voice. He just keeps pacing frantically and yelling my name.
We aren’t separated by that much space. He should be able to see me, but his wild eyes just pass me by.
“Hannah? Hannah, where are you? Hannah!”
Tears of frustration fill my eyes as I will my body to move. Heart pounding, I tell my legs to go to him, but it’s like I’m paralyzed. Although I’m upright, my legs are deadweight. Have I lost all mobility now?
“Ellister,” I whimper, helplessness and heat overwhelming my system.
I think my fever is back. It makes my head heavy.
Suddenly, a bee lands on my arm. A sting quickly follows. I want to shake it off, but I just can’t move.
More bees swarm around me, and before I know it, they’re everywhere. Another sting happens on my cheek. My neck. My hands.
Why would the bees attack like this? They’re not aggressive. They’re my peaceful little workers.
The stings keep coming. It hurts like I’m being repeatedly stabbed by a branding iron, and I’m so afraid.
When I look down at my arms, I gawk at my skin. I’m covered in painful welts.
I want to run. I want to crumple to the ground, curl up into a ball, and hide. Anything to get away from this. But I’m stuck.
“Hannah!” Ellister’s voice has taken on a note of anguish, and I want to be with him.
I want him to make this stop, but I can’t form words.
A cry erupts from my hoarse throat. Tears leak from my eyes, and I’m shaking.
I’m trembling so hard my body is jerking this way and that. Convulsing? Probably having a seizure. I don’t know how anyone could withstand this many stings without bad effects.
“Hannah, wake up.” This time, the demand comes from the sky, and it sounds like my dad.
Slowly, the flowers, the bees, and the bright sky fade away to nothing but a black darkness.
That’s when I realize my eyes are closed. When I open them, the first thing I see is the shadow of my dad’s concerned face hovering above mine.
There’s a bright light behind his head, and his voice is echoey. The reason I’m being jostled is because he’s got me by the shoulders and he’s throttling me.
“Stop shaking me like that,” I croak.
“Oh, thank God,” he huffs out before calling over his shoulder, “She’s awake!”
