~Elsie's POV
When I woke up, it did not happen all at once.
It came slowly, like I was being pulled up from somewhere deep and heavy, where everything had been quiet and numb. The first thing I felt was the weight of my body, then the faint ache in my stomach, and then the strange awareness that something was… different.
My eyes opened gradually. The ceiling came into view first, unfamiliar and still, and for a moment, I just lay there, trying to understand where I was and why everything felt so distant. Then I turned my head slightly, and I saw a line. It was thin, clear, running from my arm.
My gaze followed it slowly, my mind dragging behind, trying to understand what I was looking at, trying to make sense of something that felt too heavy for how quiet the room was. The line stretched across the space between us, steady and unmoving, and then it connected to another arm.
Salvatore's.
