Chapter 2 - The Waiting Game
In the harsh, sterile waiting room of Spokane General, the silence was suffocating.
Claire paced the linoleum floor, her heels clicking in a frantic rhythm.
Her face was pale, her makeup slightly smudged from tears she refused to let fall completely.
Maya sat huddled in a plastic chair, her knees pulled to her chest, rocking slightly.
She hadn’t spoken a word since the ambulance doors slammed shut.
Then there was Dad.
He sat rigidly in the corner, staring at his hands.
Aunt Susan sat next to him, scrolling on her phone with an air of profound inconvenience.
“I’m sure it’s just a panic attack,” Susan muttered, not looking up from her screen.
“Kids today are so fragile.
A little hard work and they hyperventilate.”
Claire stopped pacing.
She turned slowly, her eyes locking onto Susan with a fury that could melt steel.
“If you say one more word about my stepson,” Claire said, her voice dropping to a lethal whisper, “I will rip that phone out of your hands and crush it.
He flatlined in the ambulance, Susan.
He died for twenty seconds.”
Dad flinched, finally looking up.
“Claire, please…”
“Don't,” Claire snapped, pointing a shaking finger at him.
May you like
“You did this.
You ignored him.”
