017
Mirabella
The hospital’s sterile air pressed against my skin like a second layer of ice. I did not know what I was hoping for when I came here, but each footstep felt heavier than the last. My phone was clenched tight in my hand, the text from the unknown number still glowing on the screen, its words burning into my thoughts: He never stood you up. Check the hospital.
So I ran to the one hospital Cole and I were accustomed to.
I could not breathe. It was not from fear or panic, but from the sheer weight of everything crashing down at once.
The receptionist gave me a strange look as I approached the desk, her eyes flicking down to my unsteady hands and then back up to my face. I must have looked a mess; my hair was all over the place and unkempt, and my eyes were bloodshot from cr
