The Next Morning came too fast.
One second I was half-asleep, tangled in a memory of warm skin and running water. The next, the sharp, pulsing alarm ripped through the room dragging us all out of sleep, yanking me out of a half-dream, half-nightmare.
I sat up slowly, eyes squinting in the dim, artificial light.
My eyes cracked open. My body was sore, my neck ached. My whole body felt stiff, like it had folded wrong overnight. Maybe it was the cramped mattress. Maybe it was the weight of everything.
I sat up on the edge of the bed, heart thudding like I'd been running.
My clothes were still damp to my back, still wet from last night's shower… or what came before it. I ran a hand over my face and tried not to smile, but the memory of her was still there…every second of it, still playing on loop in my mind.
