Each sound reminded him that the world kept moving, while his life had frozen three years earlier on a rain-slick highway during a violent storm.
Michael wasn’t used to losing. In business, he was relentless — a titan whose decisions shifted markets, whose signature carried millions.
But inside that sterile hospital room heavy with disinfectant and grief, he was powerless. His tailored suit hung wrinkled on his frame. Dark circles shadowed his eyes. He looked like a man hollowed out.
On the bed lay his daughter, Sofia.
She had been six when the accident happened. Now she was nine, yet her small body seemed suspended in time, unchanged.
Three years in a coma. Three years of whispered promises, bedtime stories read to unresponsive ears, and nights spent waiting for a squeeze of her hand that never came.
The crash replayed in his mind endlessly — screeching tires, crushing metal, spinning headlights, then dreadful silence. He had survived with minor injuries. Sofia had taken the impact meant for both of them.
“I should’ve protected you,” he murmured, brushing her cold forehead. “It should’ve been me. Daddy’s here. I’m not leaving you.”
That morning, however, the air felt different.