CHAPTER EIGHT (Conclusion) audiobook on YouTube

excerpt

It was dark outside when I awoke on the couch in the front room, nestled among piles of apparel like a fast-fashion dragon lounging on her gaudy hoard. My phone flashed beside a crushed carton of cold McNuggets and a half-empty bottle of wine. I had no memory of leaving the apartment. I definitely didn't remember phoning the hospital administrator's cell number, but her business card was on the coffee table and my outgoing call log proved I had.

She left a voicemail confirming my appointment at Moorfields Eye Hospital at eight o'clock.

Please dress comfortably and get plenty of rest. You'll be sitting through a marathon of procedures that normally take place over the span of weeks.

Clearly the NHS were eager to do the right thing in short order and close the book on their burden of care.

I bit the tags off a pair of sweatpants with sequined broadswords running down the legs. Pulled a snakeskin-patterned peasant blouse over my head and tried to keep the floppy sleeves out of the sink as I washed up and waited for an Uber to take me to Moorfields.