~Aaron~

I stayed at the hospital day after day, only switching shifts with Rhoda to go home, shower, and change. I didn’t bother going to the office. It was either home or the hospital—nowhere else.

When I walked into Joan’s hospital room, the sterile smell hit me first—antiseptic, mixed with the faint metallic tang of IV fluids. The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound aside from Rhoda humming under her breath, wiping Joan’s forehead with a damp ...