#Chapter 71: ABX

ELENA The nurses were shouting. "Vitals are dropping—get him inside, now!" "Pediatric trauma team is prepped. Let's move!" A stretcher appeared like magic, and they lifted Aiden from Derek’s arms. I tried to follow them into the emergency bay, but a nurse stepped into my path. “You can’t go in yet,” she said gently. “We’ll come talk to you as soon as we can.” “But I—he’s my—” My voice cracked, splintering at the edges. They were already disappearing down the hall. Someone handed me a clipboard. Another nurse gently took it back when I couldn’t hold my pen steady enough to sign. There were voices, monitors, beeping. So much motion. Too much. And then it stopped. The double doors swung shut. And the quiet swallowed me whole. I stood there in the silence, blinking at the space where my son had just been. My arms ached, phantom limbs searching for the little body that wasn’t there anymore. For the weight, the warmth, the life. I took one step back, then another. Tur