“You were here…”
The words barely leave my mouth before something inside me breaks.
It doesn’t crack cleanly. It doesn’t shatter all at once. It splits unevenly, jagged and loud, like something tearing through bone. I feel it in my chest first, then my throat, then everywhere at once.
And then I scream.
It rips out of me before I can stop it. Raw. Loud. The kind of sound that doesn’t belong in a place like this, but also the only sound that makes sense anymore.
The nurse flinches like I’ve hit her.
“No…no…no…no…”
The words tumble over each other as I stagger backward, my shoulder slamming into a metal tray. It crashes to the floor, instruments scattering, clanging sharp and loud against tile. The noise echoes, bouncing off the walls, too big for the room.
I can’t breathe.
My chest
