a

ain s

e first thi

ing on my knees, the crushing weig

floa

utching a small, limp body. Her hair was matted with rain, her shoulders shak

boy...

a pale, waxen stillness. I felt a strange sensation wash over me, like a heavy, waterlogg

y empty vessel-slumped o

ouble doors

ct wal

ed but undeniably handsome. He rubbed his temples, that

ed you in Bay 4," a nur

right past the corner where my body lay cu

no sound tore from my thro

s if he had heard a whisper caught in the draf

where a nurse was frant

we have?"

voice tight. "Brought in D.O.A. No ID on the

the gurney-my Jeremy. He looked at the

him! Look at his fa

t the face. He lo

death?"

ago," the nur

A heavy,

l the coroner. I have a hea

boy who had his eyes, the boy he had sworn to protect

to his pocket and pulled ou

s the note I had written him. The one I had shoved into his mailb

e found it and

it out again

Please meet us

issive sound that echoed

mself. "She uses the kid as an ex

ght ball and tossed it into the tra

But something deeper. The last thread that tied me to him. The last shred of hop

victim. He

leave this wretched place, to f

ould no

red to Benedict. I floated inches behind his s

. Jensen, said, falling into s

flat. "The patient load is insane. And Yvon

peaking of Yvonne... the nurses were saying she was acting wei

rolled

hen she is tired. She is just prot

man who had barred us from entry, l

hollow silence. I did not love him. I did not hate

e my body away. I watched them cov

but the sound died in my throat.