Chapter 194

Silvia After six days at Noah 's bedside, my back throbbed from the unforgiving hospital chairs, and my eyelids felt like sandpaper. The world had shrunk to the antiseptic walls around me, the steady beeping of Noah 's monitors, and the hollow ache in my chest that deepened every time I missed another call with Orion. I jolted awake at the soft buzz of my phone. 9 :37 PM. I'd missed bedtime. Again. My stomach turned as I opened Sherman 's message :[ Orion waited by the phone for the last hour. He's starting to get really upset you're not calling at night. ] The words landed like a punch. I looked at Noah—pale, unmoving, tethered to machines that hissed and beeped like they were the only things keeping him here. I was caught between the brother who needed me here and the son who needed me there. My fingers shook as I typed :[ I'm trying, Sherman. I really am. ] I stared at the screen, waiting for the three dots to appear. Nothing. [ I lost track of time, ] I added. [ Noah 's fever spike