Lucy sat quietly in the library staring at a poem, trying to force the words to make sense, when her phone began to vibrate violently against the wood. She saw her mother’s name on the screen. Her mother almost never called during the day; she preferred long, rambling texts in the evening.
Lucy grabbed the phone and walked towards the reading room doors. "Mom? Is everything okay?"
Her mother’s sob came through the line. "Lucy... oh, Lucy. You need to come to the hospital Now. Your father... he collapsed in the garden. He’s in the ICU."
Lucy felt the world tilt. She didn't even go back for her books, she just ran down the library stairs and sprinted for the campus gates. She stopped a taxi, her voice shaking as she gave the address.
When she arrived at the hospital, the private wing fel
