Brink of Exposure

DAPHNE

The hospital ward felt suffocating, like the walls were caving in, pressing against my chest with an unbearable weight. My heart pounded so violently I thought it might burst, and no matter how deeply I tried to breathe, the air felt thin, like I was gasping for something that wasn’t there.

I gripped the edge of the examination table, my fingers digging into the cold metal as though it coul