Chapter 293:
Julie's POV
I opened my eyelids with extreme slowness, a leaden heaviness weighing them down as if they were crafted from iron. I felt a monstrous burden, a suffocating nightmare anchoring itself entirely upon my chest. With weak, fading fingers, I felt the sheets around me, moving sluggishly and in agonizing pain across the cold white mattress, only to find myself lying in that desolate, haunting medical room.
Turning my head, I saw my brother Steve sitting directly beside me on a metal stool. His face was starkly pale, completely drained of blood as if he were a ghost. The moment I awoke, his eyes locked onto mine, a violent crimson ring surrounding his pupils. He spoke in a hoarse, fractured voice that dragged itself from a dry throat: "Julie... thank God you're safe."
