Lucidity

The dull ache in your head is a constant reminder of the tumor, a physical manifestation of the chaos inside. Just yesterday, they confirmed the biopsy results – fast-growing, high-grade. Now, you're in Operating Room 6, Case 3. You hear voices, feel yourself floating, a terrifying disconnection from your body. Then, a voice pierces the haze – Jimmy's. His Irish lilt, a phantom comfort you've clung to for four years. You fight, desperate to reach him, to escape the unseen forces holding you back. Pain erupts, a brutal stab in your chest as air is forced into your lungs. Corpses don't fight to breathe. A woman's face appears above you, Dr. Warden, her grey eyes kind but her words a cruel joke: "I'm going to put you back to sleep and when you wake up again everything will be all right." She lied. Jimmy is dead. And you are still very much alive.