The clock above the nurse’s station ticked too loudly.... a slow, cruel reminder that the world didn’t stop for anyone. Not even for someone whose entire life was unraveling in a hospital room.
I tried to ignore it at first, but the sound dug into me.....tick, tick, tick .....until I finally lifted my eyes to the face of it.
1:45 p.m.
The numbers blurred for a second before my stomach twisted in realization. My shift started at 2.
Fifteen minutes. That’s all I had before everything fell apart again..... at least, on the other side of my life.
For a moment, I didn’t move. I just stood there in that too-bright hospital room, the smell of antiseptic burning my nose, the faint beeping of machines playing a cruel kind of rhythm behind the thin curtain where Mom lay. Her chest rose and fell
