Chapter Thirty-Three

I wake up in darkness. The kind of darkness that seems to swallow me whole and like I didn't even open my eyes. The ground was damp, adding to the biting cold that seeping through the thin night shift I'm wearing. For a moment my mind drifted back to a memory from a year ago, the time when I snuck out of my chambers in the middle of the night, thinking it was a good idea to lay outside and soak under the gentle glare of the moon and stars. There has been no moon or stars that night, only the thick swirling mass of clouds that seemed to descend on me and kiss the ground. Stubborn that I am, I lay on my back and waited and waited until I fell asleep only to be awakened with the loud boom of the thunder and lightning followed by fat and cold drops of water.

Obviously, I'm not in a garden or under the sky. I'm in a room, probably a basement that was made into a shelter by hundreds of rats and roaches.

When my circumstances finally sank in, I scramble up, only to fall