C22 TWENTY TWO

Vaulting Ambition

ROSE

I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

And falls on the other.

— William Shakespeare, Macbeth

ROPE DUG INTO my skin, pulling at my bruises and broken bones. Pressed against a cold slab of stone, wearing nothing but a sheer white gown, fear gripped my heart.

Prying open my eyelids