This is our better and worse

Cathleen's eyelids fluttered against the sterile white light that invaded her vision. Agony pulsed through her skull, a relentless drumbeat that seemed to echo off the walls of the hospital room. She tried to piece together the events that led to this moment but found only fragments in the void.

"Let me call your husband," the doctor's voice cut through the fog in her mind, his silhouette blurred as he pivoted on his heel and hurried out.

Downstairs, Xavier was jolted from his brooding by the doctor's announcement. "Mr. Knight, your wife is awake." The words propelled him upward, each step a march toward confrontation.

But as he ascended, Olivia descended, her presence an unwanted obstacle. "Xavier, can you please give me some cash? I didn't drive here. I used Uber," she pleaded, her voice a blend of hope and desperation.

Xavier halted, the air between them crackling with tension. "Where were you going without money?" His tone was icy and accusatory. "Don't you think you should not ha