"If she’d gotten here 20 minutes earlier, the baby might have survived."
"Running around so recklessly while heavily pregnant... The poor child suffocated. It’s all the mother’s fault!"
Tears slipped silently from the corners of my eyes as I lay there helplessly. My baby was gone.
The sound of the monitor’s alarm jolted me before darkness swallowed me whole.
When I opened my eyes again, the ward was silent.
The night outside the window was pitch-black, like ink spilled across the sky.
I stared blankly at the pale ceiling, my entire body numb and cold.
Suddenly, my phone screen lit up.
I glanced at it and mechanically answered the call.
Ian’s irritated voice broke the silence. "Sherrie, it’s been two days! You won’t answer my calls or reply to my messages. How long are you planning to act like this?"
I closed my eyes, my voice faint and lifeless. "Ian, I’m in the hospital."
"Enough! Stop pretending! You just didn’t want to go back to my family’s countryside for the New Year, didn’t you?"
His tone shot up, sharp and accusatory, like a cornered animal.
I didn’t argue as I usually would. Instead, I replied flatly, "Are you done? If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now."