Chapter XXX: Domingo ti Kaasi (Sunday of Mercy)
The ICU of the provincial hospital remains tense even though Mercy's heartbeat has already flatlined. A cluster of nurses lingers around her bed, whispering instructions to each other, tidying tubes, shutting machines down. The beeping monitor, now in silence, becomes the heaviest sound in the room.
Jonn, still at Mercy's bedside, stands frozen. Throughout his career, he has seen patients die before. He has even handled resuscitations that ended in failure. But this one is different—this is his mother. He rubs his eyes with his palm, but the tears still manage to escape. His chest feels tight, like he swallowed a heavy stone.
He is about to turn away when, on the nearby counter, a stapler twitches. At first, he thinks it's his imagination.
