Page 53 of A Place Not Found

“Levi.”

“Three minutes.”

“Stay, Levi.”

Hayden?

It’s cold. Broken glass inside my eyeballs. Acrid taste inside my dry mouth. A brush against my eyes.

“—Get ready.”

“Stay, Levi,” That voice, so broken.

I’m alive?

I’m alive.

Why am I alive?

The roast chicken.

The peace lily.

Nicholas’s wedding suit.

The vomit in the hallway.

Hayden?

And then nothing.