Page 139 of Ruin Me Gently

“What does she mean?” The man whispered.

“I don’t know, honey.” The woman replied.

“Lilith, I need to ask you something.”

I let out a sigh. “Shoot. Go for it.”

“Do you know who your psychiatrist is?”

“I don’t have one of those,” I scoffed.

“Do you know who your doctor is?”

“Uh… Riverside Family Medical Clinic. Meadowbrook Drive.”

The woman started packing up her things, tucking gauze and alcohol wipes back into a small metal tray, snapping a cap back onto a vial, then securing the IV line.

“That’s in Maine, Lilith.”

“Yeah?” I frowned.

“You don’t live in Maine.”

“Okay, next joke.”

The quiet stretched and stretched, until something cold and uneasy started to settle in my gut.

I forced a smile. “Seriously, what kind of—”

“Lilith.” His voice was soft. Careful. And it made my skin crawl. I felt him step closer, the shift of air, the faint sound of movement.

“You live in Seattle, sweetheart.”

I let out a sharp laugh. “No. I definitely don’t.”

I flinched as the woman’s hand met my arm, every muscle locking up. “I’ll be back later on to check on you. You try to get some rest, okay sweetie?”

I nodded, still too focused on the IV taped to my arm, the throbbing ache in my skull, the way my whole body felt like one giant bruise.

“I’ll be back in six hours, Mr. Graves,” she said.

He hummed in acknowledgment. “Okay. Thank you.”

Mr. Graves? Who the fuck was Mr. Graves?

A chair creaked somewhere in the room. I tracked the sound, my pulse flickering unsteadily beneath my skin.

“Do you remember what happened?” he asked.

My tongue went dry as I shifted on the bed. “Do I remember what happened when?”

“Five days ago.”

I frowned. Five days? What the hell happened five days ago? My last clear memory was… what? Wait. Whatwasmy last memory?

I tried to claw into something solid, something real, but everything was loose threads slipping through my fingers.

White-hot pain explodes, my head snaps sideways with a sickening crack. Stars burst behind my eyes.

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