Joanne somehow managed to put one sore bare foot in front of the other despite the rigidity in her muscles as Alex steered her into her hotel room. The lock clicked into place behind them, sounding overly loud to her heightened senses. Her heart rate still hadn’t normalized. She took slow, deep breaths to calm herself. It wasn’t working.

“Let’s take a look at you,” he said, ushering her into the bathroom with a solid hand on the small of her back. The warmth of his touch registered more than his voice did. She winced when he flipped a switch and bright white lights flooded the room. With a nudge forward he settled her on the closed toiled lid and grabbed a facecloth from the rack above it. He ran the tap and moistened it before turning back to her. “Here. Clean up your cheek while I check your feet.”

Feeling stiff all over, Joanne turned her head to look at herself in the wide rectangular mirror above the vanity. Her eyes looked huge in her too pale face