The Library at Hellebore

by Cassandra Khaw

This was neither the first time I’d come to with a body at my feet, nor was it even the first time I had returned to consciousness in a room transformed into a literal abattoir, but it was the first time I woke up relieved to be in a mess.

This was the second time today someone’d taken an unwholesome interest in my name, both of whom were white as cocaine.