Sara and Daphine raced to the fourth floor of the hospital. A police officer sat near the doorway and eyed them. She and Daphine were unable to enter Pierce"s room. At least a dozen people in hospital smocks crowded his bedside. Some stared at the floor, maybe praying. Others watched his face.
“I can"t see him,” Sara said as she bobbed around trying to see through the crowd. Fluorescent lines on the monitor screens were flat except for an occasional blip. A woman with a notepad stepped back and shook her head as she wrote. Sara caught a glimpse of Pierce before the group closed in around him. His eyes were sunken. Both arms lay limp at his sides. The covers were up over his chest and tucked. Nothing more. His face held that vacant look of death that Sara knew so well: Starla without a smi
