Redemption (Enigma Black Trilogy Book #3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

alive, I would never fully understand.
    Painful step after increasingly painful step, I walked over to the drawers, finding bandages and strips of cotton in the first one I opened. It must be my lucky day . I unwrapped the blanket from around my arm, grabbed a strip of cotton out of the drawer, placed it over the still-bleeding puncture wound, and then secured it with a bandage. After one last glance at the still-sleeping Drew, I climbed over the hospital bed so as not to risk falling on him by tripping over his outstretched legs and walked to the door of the recovery room, first peering down the hall.
    With no one in sight, I made my way through The Epicenter’s surgical room and opened the door to one of the many hallways. My energy seemed to make its way back ever so slightly with each step I took, as though my movements were charging some kind of internal battery. Hanging loosely from each one of my shoulders, the cloth gown I wore closely resembled one from an actual hospital, except without the opening in the back, for which I was thankful. However, it was still short, and even though I was the only one in the hallway, my self-consciousness kicked in, and I found myself tugging the hem down every so often. With no socks or slippers, my feet felt as though they were turning to ice on the floor.
    I needed to change. I needed a shower. I needed to do something that would make me feel human again.
    As I drew closer to the vacant sitting room, I began to realize that I might have lucked out on running into anyone. It must be nighttime , I thought as I rounded the corner to the final hallway that would take me to my plain, but somewhat strangely inviting, living quarters. When I reached Ian’s room, I paused at his door, wondering whether he was asleep or whether he was even in there at all. It was strange not being next to him, almost like a part of me was missing with his absence.
    My room was exactly as I’d left it, nondescript, with the only signs of my existence being a balled-up pair of socks on the floor and my photo album on the nightstand. “Home, sweet home,” I muttered, making my way to the bathroom. The room lit up as I flicked on the light switch, and I saw my own reflection for the first time since the day of the address. Pale and arguably emaciated, I looked like the very definition of death warmed over. I freed my right arm by tugging the sleeve of my gown down, leaving the garment clinging to my left shoulder. Then I took a deep breath, braced myself for the inevitable pain, and gingerly allowed the gown to slide down my left arm.
    The wound had been dressed and sewn together, a sight I didn’t particularly want to see. Still, I couldn’t keep myself from undoing the gauze bandaging that hid it to see exactly what damage had been inflicted upon me. As I lifted away the gauze, I saw the entry wound for the first time. Although it still had a long way to go, it had healed at a miraculous rate, and wasn’t nearly as unsightly as I’d imagined it would be.
    My shoulder throbbed as though reminding me of the actual severity of the damage, and the fact the bullet had deflected off my scapula before coming to rest in the tissue of my shoulder, somehow missing a major artery by mere centimeters. Centimeters. The difference between life and death, between an inconvenient injury and a life-ending bodily catastrophe, had been less than an inch away.
    I allowed the rest of the gown to fall to the floor, revealing the flesh of my naked body. Bruised, scarred, beaten, and broken, my body resembled a human punching bag. Absentmindedly, I traced one of the darker scars that ran crookedly across my chest. Where this marking came from, I didn’t know. My body had been marred so many times since coming to The Epicenter, it was hard to keep track of where they all had originated. And as I stared at my beaten, naked form in the mirror, my mind couldn’t help but wander to thoughts of Blake. I remember seeing him