Ethan
The night in the hospital is formless, stagnant… it doesn't breathe… it doesn't change.
It hangs suspended, heavy, as if time itself were waiting for something. As if the whole world had stopped at this exact spot where I am… sitting, elbows on knees, hands clasped, staring at the floor without really seeing it.
I haven't left… I can't, and frankly, I don't want to.
Beside me, Clara's mother sits, smaller than I remember. Hunched over, as if pain has reduced her. Her hands keep moving, clenching, unclenching, going to her chest, her face… nowhere.
I hear her breathing… ragged. I hear her trying to hold herself up. And I can't help but turn my face toward her.
Her eyes are red, swollen… lost.
"I can't lose her…" she says suddenly, her voice breaking, almost a whisper that seem
