Chapter 77 — Screams in the Hallway

(Point of View: Sofía Rojas)

The hospital hallway was a hive of voices, footsteps, and murmurs, but in my chest there was only one sound: the frantic pounding of my heart, that muffled drum that knows nothing of shifts or clocks and yet insists on setting the rhythm of my fear. The cold lights, the smell of antiseptic, the distant screech of a stretcher turning the corner… it all felt like a movie frozen in place, and I was trapped inside it with empty hands