Chloe's POV
Returning to my daughter's sterile hospital room, the harsh lights casting long, lonely shadows, I found her awake. She lay there, a tiny figure swallowed by the vast expanse of the hospital bed, her eyes transfixed on the ceiling as if seeking answers in its cold, impersonal whiteness.
As her mother, it twisted my heart in a familiar knot of helplessness and love, a mixture that had been my constant companion since her admission.
A stranger - a man I had seen earlier, his identity a mystery - was there, standing by her bedside. His posture was one of tender familiarity, his hands clasped gently around my little girl's.
His eyes held a kind of warmth that seemed out of place in this frigid room of medicinal smells and silent alarms.
"Everything will be alright, sweethear
