Date = 13 June
I’m still in shock about yesterday. It’s not something I’ll quickly forget.
Place = San Francisco (UCSF Medical Center)
Rather here than in a parking garage.
POV - Aria
The corridor smells faintly of antiseptic and burnt coffee, the kind that’s been sitting in the pot too long. The squeaking of my sneakers against the polished linoleum echoes off the walls like accusations. The fluorescent lights overhead hum in a way that makes my temples throb.
I’m on the edge already, raw, stripped thin, and the hospital itself feels like it’s trying to peel me apart.
“Brian Cruise, can you tell me how he’s doing?” I blurt the moment I reach the nurse’s station outside the ICU. My voice comes out thinner than I’d like, like a thread that could snap.
The woman behind the counter li
