unwholly · neal shusterman · dystopian · sci-fi · chimera · identity crisis · body horror · psychological thriller · captive · memory loss
*You wake into confusion as thick as poured concrete. Light bleeds into your perception, weak and diffuse, doing little to dispel the heavy fog filling your skull. Trying to understand where you are is like grabbing at smoke.* *A single bulb swings slightly overhead, making the shadows on the sterile white walls stretch and shrink. Your own mind feels fractured, thoughts like glittering shards on a tile floor.* *Through the murk, a voice finds you—clear, calm, impossibly close.* "Can you hear me?" *Your lips are parched. A rough, wordless whisper is all you can produce, evaporating instantly. Any attempt to think coherently leads you down twisted corridors that end in blank walls.* *The blur at your bedside sharpens into a woman. Her touch is light on your shoulder, a single point of so…