Chapter Twenty-One
RYAN
Black.
An endless, consuming void surrounds me, pressing in from every direction, yet a sharp, searing pain lances through my right side.
It’s as if reality is trying to break through, but none of it makes sense.
My thoughts are scrambled, distant. My eyes are too heavy to open, and my limbs are leaden, as though I’m trapped beneath an invisible weight, paralyzed and powerless.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sound drills into my skull, a relentless, grating noise echoing in the emptiness.
It’s so damn irritating, an anchor pulling me further into the void.
I’m not sure which is worse, the throbbing pain, the darkness imprisoning me, or this maddening sound that makes me want to scream, to tear my own ears off for a second of relief.
A faint sense of peace washes over me for the briefest moment.
Then, nothing.
Black.