Chapter 107
ELENA
The nurses were shouting.
“Vitals are dropping–get him inside, now!”
“Pediatric trauma
its prepped. Let’s movel”
A strelcher appeared like magle, and they lifted Alden from Derek‘ nurse stepped into my path“You can’t go in yet,” she said gently.
“But I–he’s my-“My voice cracked, splintering at the edges.
They were already disappearing down the hall
arms. I tried to follow them into the emergency bay, heat a We’ll come talk to you as soon as we can.”
Someone handed me a clipboard. Another nurse gently took it back when I couldn’t hold my pen steady enough to sign. There were voices, monitors, beeping. So much motion. Too much.
And then it stopped
The double doors swung shut
And the quiet swallowed me whole.
I stood there in the silence, blinking at the space where my son had just been. My arms ached, phantom limbs searching for the little body that wasn’t there anymore. For the weight, the warmth, the life.
I took one step back, then another. Turned. And stumbled into Derek’s embrace
He didn’t say anything. Didn’t flinch. Just opened his arms, and I stepped into them like I was stepping off a ledge
His arms came around me immediately–strong, warm, anchoringne to something that wasn’t the screaming in my head.
I clung to him.
Not because I had forgiven him. Not because I wasn’t still angry and confused and broken. But because I needed to breathe.
Because he was solid and warm and here. Because my son’s blood was still on his skin, and it felt like the closest thing I had to Aiden
His breath was steady against the side of my head. Mine was rag
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