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There was no hint of hesitation on Dr Begbie’s face as she unstrappedto clean ht red splotches soaked through its white fabric

I reached up and touched ers away, I was only half-surprised to see that they were coated with dark blood It was crusted between ht in the honker

Trying to sit up was the worst idea that crossed my ain before I even registered falling Dr Begbie was beside ht position

"You have some bruised ribs," she said

I tried to take a deep breath, but asp Sheat , "May I ask a few questions?"

The fact that she askedin and of itself I studied her, searching for the hatred buried beneath the layer of pleasantness on her face, the fear hovering in her soft eyes, the disgust caught in the corner of her s Not even annoyance

Soht; I could see his dark outline like a shadow against the curtain There was no one sitting with hi his hand Just hi beats out of fear that the fairy-tale princess sitting next toShe didn’t knohat I was--she couldn’t have known

You’re being paranoid, I told bie pulled a pen out of her messy bun "Ruby, when they turned on the Cal your face?"

"No," I said "I was…already on the ground" I didn’t kno much to tell her The s about it

"Do you usually experience thisfrom the Cal to do with my ribs

"I’ll take that as a no"

I couldn’t see what she riting, only that her hand and pen were flying across the paper, scribbling as though her life depended on it

I always took the White Noise harder than the other girls in my cabin But blood? Never