Hands trembling, she tried calling Jake again, her thumb tapping the screen with desperate repetition. The call went straight to voicemail. No ring, no delay. Her heart thudded painfully at the possibility that he didn’t have his phone, or worse, wasn’t allowed to answer it. Silence had never felt so ominous.
Her breathing quickened, each inhale shallow and uneven. Nurses avoided meeting her eyes, offering smiles that were thin and polite. Whenever she asked them what was going on, their carefully measured words felt rehearsed. With every ambiguous reassurance, Sandra’s suspicion grew, feeding a dread that threatened to consume her.