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The bell caain

I know that sound…but from where

I was tired and sore I didn’t want to th to uncurl fro and reach under ers latched around ed uncertainly, drenched inits best to keep me alive My nose was stuffy, eyes watery, body achy

I was sick

Along with er me to yet another weakness

I’d coo A day after Bonnie told me ould happen Twenty-four hours after I’d seen what’d happened to Elisa in those feared photographs But none of that nalled what I so fiercely needed

For days, I’d hoped to hear from him But every day, I was disappointed I drained loilling a e to appear

I squinted in the dark,from what I’d endured Luckily, the fever had crested thisI eak and wobbly but still clinging to Jethro’s pro for you I’m still here

The screen lit up My heart sprouted new life, and I smiled for the first time in an eternity

Unknown Number: Answer me Tell me you’re okay I’m okay We’re both okay I need to hear from you I need to know you’re still mine

I dropped the phone

And burst into tears

For so long, the world outside Hawksridge had been dark No es from my father No emails from my assistants I’d been dead already--not worthy of vibrations or chimes of correspondence

But I wasn’t dead

Not yet

No htmares, I was still here

Jethro had found a way to textat tears with the back of ers into replying

Needle&Thread: I’m okay More than okay now I know you’re okay

I pressed send

My sickness and fever no longer o away I didn’t have tiet better