ARIA'S POV
The ceiling of room four was white.
She'd been staring at it for ten minutes, maybe more, because looking at it required nothing from her. Just white ceiling and the steady beep of the monitor beside her and the dull, persistent throb behind her left eye that the painkillers hadn't entirely reached yet.
She felt hollowed out.
Not broken....she was clear on that distinction, had been clear on it even sitting in that chair in the warehouse, had held onto it like something physical. She was not broken. But she was hollowed out in the specific way that happened when your body ran on adrenaline for hours and then suddenly didn't have to anymore.
The door opened.
She turned her head...too fast, the pain spiking sharply....and then he was there and everything she'd been holding together very carefully for the last two hours just fell apart.
