Chapter 48

I didn’t expect to hear her voice. Every cell in my body explodes with happiness. I wait for what feels like decades to listen to her voice once more.

I try to call out for her, but the words weren’t forming. Was I imagining it? No, I can’t have. It felt too real. It felt how it used to.

As I panic in the blackness, a familiar light reaches out to me. Nia calls my name once again. The gentleness of her tone finds me in the darkness – as it did once before. 

“Valerie!” She calls louder. I reach out with greedy hands. Desperate and excited. 

I don’t need to reach for when the light curls around me. My body feels relaxed in this place. Nothing hurts. I