His mouth moves, but nothing comes out.
His hand lifts weakly from the ground, searching without direction.
I take it.
“I’m here,” I say, gripping his fingers tightly. “I’m here.”
Emma kneels beside me, her hand warm and steady on my back.
Phil’s fingers tighten around mine.
Not strong.
But enough.
Enough to tell me he’s still here.
Chapter 16
Phil
The first thing Inotice is the smell.
Clean. Artificial. The kind of clean that doesn’t belong to places where people actually live.
Antiseptic.
It sits at the back of my throat, sharp and unmistakable.
I keep my eyes closed.
Not deliberately. They just don’t open.
There’s a heaviness to my body that doesn’t feel like sleep. It feels like weight. Like something has been placed on top of me while I wasn’t paying attention.
I try to move my hand.
Pain answers immediately. Deep and insistent and impossible to ignore.
Memory arrives more slowly.
Dark alley.
Footsteps.
Christina’s voice.
The sound of impact.
My eyes open.
The ceiling above me is unfamiliar. White, flat, interrupted by a long fluorescent light that hums faintly to itself. I stare at it for a moment, trying to understand why I’m looking at something that doesn’t belong to my life.
Hospital.
The word settles without resistance.
I turn my head slightly.