Gabriel stood frozen in the middle of it, unable to blink, unable to breathe properly, as the raw sound of her terror poured into the hallway. It was not the voice of a woman waking gently from unconsciousness; it was the desperate cry of someone reliving something they had fought hard to survive.
“Please… don’t hit me… please…”
The words sliced through him.
Gabriel felt something heavy shift inside his chest, a weight he could neither name nor carry, and for a moment it stunned him so completely that his hands dropped loosely to his sides. His breath escaped in uneven layers, as though he had been punched squarely in the lungs. He didn’t hear the hospital sounds anymore. He didn’t see the nurses walking past the far end of the corridor. All he heard was her voice, shaking and small, li
