"Heavenless"
21. Head Spin
The spiral gradually headed downwards and she felt the existence-bubble of the bed expand and give birth to the universe once more, to the universe as she knew it. The room, in all its dreary glory, all its desolation was still there, and so, she assumed, was everything else.
She felt the sweat on her brow and the rough, worn out bed underneath her. She choked and realized that she had a pillow stuffed into her mouth, almost to halfway point. After taking it out, she choked on her own saliva and started coughing.
A slight pain in her arm reminded her of the needle. She reached and took it out. She set it on the mattress, her head still reeling in from the experience, and tried to catch her breath.
Wait. She had used her left hand to... the cut. The dirty cut.
She looked at her palm. There was a slight scar, but the wound had healed.