The air outside the clinic felt heavy, even though it was cooler than it had been inside. I paused for a moment, closing my eyes and letting the outside world wash over me. It smelled faintly of rain and dust, and it reminded me that life kept moving even when someone else’s story reached its end.

Julian was leaning against the car parked across the street. He straightened when he saw me, his expression unreadable but his eyes fixed only on me. When I reached him, he did not ask a single ...