50

Aurora's body felt numb. She heard the sounds around her before she opened her eyes. She felt the rough blanket under her hands. The monitors of the hospital beeped around her. It wasn’t the first time that she had found herself in a hospital bed. She hoped it would be one of the last though.

Aurora slowly began to blink. Her eyes felt heavy and weighed as though they were not ready to open quite yet. "Aurora," Arden breathed. He stood up from the chair that sat near her hospital bed. He moved to sit on the side of the bed. He grabbed her hand and held it close to his chest.

Aurora blinked more. She worked to remove the sleep from her eyes to be able to register what was going on around her. She looked up into Arden's eyes. They held a large amount of concern. Aurora tried to speak but she could not. It felt as though someone ad rub wool over her throat.

Arden leaned forward and grabbed a glass of water off the side table that sat near Aurora's hospital bed. Arden put the glass